Celestial JoeA Story by H.M. HearingA short story about a very old man and his love of the moon.Celestial Joe
A wizened old man shuffles slowly across the dusty old timbers of
his home. With each movement of his
aching feet the floor moans in protest.
Step by agonizing step the man makes his way to a dry rotted door that
barely swings on its hinges. It seems like a lifetime
before the rotted door looms directly in front of him. With a weary wrinkled hand, which shakes from
age, he turns the oblong iron knob trying to free himself from the dreary
confines of his dilapidated home. For breathless moments
the rotten door would not open, mocking him in his old age. Anger consumed the old man. His wrinkled face looked comic as he bared
his teeth. The layers of ancient flesh
rose up creating a false sense of life, but in the middle of his mimicry of
living his gaping maw lay void of any teeth. A guttural growl escapes
his lips as he pulls the iron knob with all his might. With a loud squelch and a whoosh the rotten
door releases his grasp. The man
stumbles back crying out in fear. If he
fell it would be his end and that could not be.
The Moon, his lovely Luna, and her children, the stars, beckoned
him. Gaining his precarious balance he
pushed his hunched failing body through the frame of the rotten door. He barked in laughter at his victory over the
mocking door as he passed. His hacking laugh was
silenced as the night enveloped him. The
serene beauty emanating from the inky skies made his old heart thrum like a
flittering hummingbird. As many years as
he has seen, nothing else made him feel more alive than the celestial sky that
surrounded him. As much as he wanted to
stand where he was and gaze at the glory of the night he could not. His bones screamed for release from their
agony. Moans escaping his cracked lips
the ancient man gave into his pain.
Endless time he stood there hunched, pain burning through his shriveled
veins. His body begged for him to sit,
to release his ramshackle body from the crushing pressure of his feather-like
weight. He shuffled on desperate
to reach his wooden perch. The gnarled
old stump of a tree he had cut down long ago in his youth lay in the middle of
a field that was perched high atop a beautiful outcropping. The tree had blocked the most magnificent
view, apart from the celestial night, that he had ever seen. His steps slow, the
spindly sticks that were his legs shone ghost white against the glow of his
beloved Luna. Around his bony ankles and
slipper covered feet the verdant grass felt feathery as he took each step. The insistent breeze bent the grass and
whipped the wispy strands of white hair that still clung to his pale head. Reaching the gnarled old
stump he perched almost delicately into the wallow his backside had worn into
the wood over the many years. His ratty
old bones popped and moaned as he settled into his perch. Off to his right, over the edge of the cliff
he sat upon the ocean spread out in all her glory. The dark waves crashed into the black rocks
below lending their roar to the symphony of the night. With the chirps of the crickets the inky
blackness was alive with music. He had no eyes for the
splendor of the ocean. His only desire
was to look to the heavens where his beloved Luna and her many children
resided. Craning his sagging neck he
turned his ancient eyes up to the beauty of the black. There he saw her. Luna, in her full glory, giving her shining
radiance to the world below. Bushy stark white
eyebrows arched over a shocking pair of eyes.
Bags hung heavy underneath his sagging eyelids. Small little orbs of color peeked out of the
abundance of flesh around his eyes. Although
small. The orbs glow a shocking blue. No
man this ancient should have such startling eyes. The glowing orbs pointing
toward the celestial sky held an uncanny power.
Through the sea of wrinkles young eyes peered. They were lively, kept young by the beauty of
the moon he worshipped. He always loved her when
she was full with child. Soon another
celestial being will be born to the heavens.
After she birthed her young her glorious glowing frame would shrink
until the new cycle would begin. One day
of darkness that she spent with her lover to come back to Earth again
impregnated with child. The old man envied the
Sun who was Luna’s lover. He loved her
and had watched her every night for a forgotten number of years. She was his only love, but he could never
reach her. It weighed heavy in his
slowly thudding heart. A sigh escaped his lips
and wafted toward the inky sky above.
His only wish was to be with his Luna.
Slouching on his perch to old man gave himself up to fate. Tonight would be the last night he would be
able to see his love. Death was hanging
over his shoulder blowing cold breath down his nightshirt. A shiver crept up his spine from the touch of
Death’s cold breath. The cold spread through
the old man freezing his muscles and joints.
His blood slowed before stopping altogether from Death’s touch. Thud…
Thud… His heart died. As his shocking blue eyes began to fade he
looked one last time at his lovely Luna.
When the last ounce of life left him and he succumbed to Death’s whim he
heard his love. Come to me Joe. At last… my love. © 2013 H.M. HearingAuthor's Note
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