Black Wings

Chapter 6

The park was full of life today. The elementary school nearby was having a field day or something. Michael was taking pictures of everything, as the click of of the camera noted. He seemed to be enjoying himself. It wasn't until we were passing a soccer field did we get interrupted.

"Give it back, it's my ball!"

A small boy was confronting a much larger boy. It seemed to be about the soccer ball underneath the larger boy's foot. The smaller boy and his friends had been playing on the field when the larger boy and his friends took the ball. No one seemed to be doing anything about it, which made me confused.

"You can have it back if you beat us in a game." The larger boy challenged.

It was more than obvious that the smaller boy was at a disadvantage. They had simply been kicking the ball around, not actually playing. They were were also at a physical disadvantage and the lack of the proper amount of players. I started towards them when Michael gripped my arm.

"What are you doing?" He growled.

"I'm going to help them. Don't try to stop me Michael, you won't win."

"I wasn't going to stop you, I was going to say good luck. And win."

I smiled and ran over to the smaller boy and his friends. They lacked hope, it was clear on their faces. They looked up at me as I approached.

"Allow me to join you, I will be more than enough to compensate."

"Can you play?"

"I've never played before, but I have been watching it for years. I understand enough to play."

"Alright, you're in."

And we began to play. It was running, kicking, laughing, and victory cheers. It was fun and exciting. We had nothing like this in Heaven. In Heaven, there were no games, just training. I was happy and Michael seemed happy taking pictures of our game. When we had won, it was cheers and high fives. The boy had his ball back and he and his friends went back to playing. They didn't boast about their win, just enjoyed themselves. I jogged back to Michael, wiping away the nonexistent sweat from my forehead.

"That was good, I got some great shots. What now?"

"There's a little ice cream truck down there, let's get some."

"Alright."

*****

"Hey, Michael, let me see your camera, I want to see the pictures."

Michael passed me the camera wordlessly as we enjoyed our ice cream on a bench. They were amazing pictures. Michael watched me as I looked at the pictures. I got to the beginning, the photo from this morning.

"That one's my favorite. The natural light fits the photo better. Plus the angle of the light brings out your eye color more." Michael cleared his throat. "Just from a photographer's point of view."

I laughed at Michael's sudden awkwardness. I nudged his shoulder with my own and passed him the camera. We once again returned to silence, watching the humans. After a moment, it was Michael who broke it.

"Humans are odd, that is all I have seen down here. But it's strange, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad, and that seems to be....normal. They've made good thing and bad things. Their history, full of good and bad. Their actions, their speech, food, politics, everything, right down to their entertainment, good and bad. I think I'm starting to understand humans. Not completely, I doubt I ever will, but starting. Humans are like the Earth between Heaven and Hell, not pure like angels, but not damned like demons. In the middle, just like Earth."