𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐈𝐒𝐇// 𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐗𝐎𝐂

𝐱𝐱. ✭ 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄

MAY, 1977; EDDIE

"Chance, come back!" My legs burned from running after Chance. Her red plaid summer dress disappeared into the ocean of wheat outside of the trailer park. "Chance, come on! Come back!"

She wouldn't respond. I'd have to chase her down if I wanted her to talk to me. To speak to me. All day she hadn't uttered a word to me. Not one.

That was the day her mother left her. She abandoned her. All she had now was her daddy and me. Her mother was gone. Just like how mine was.

Pushing past the golden foliage, I was able to find her on the floor of the field. Chance had fallen to her knees as her dark little eyes gazed up at the dripping sun. Nightfall was bound to come, creating a watercolor sunset to distract from its transition.

"Please, God. Please. Please bring Mama back." She prayed earnestly, clasping her hands together. "I promise I'll be good. I'll be perfect. I swear. Please just bring her back!" Begging to the sky, she remained in a mess on the dirt even when God didn't talk back.

"Chance..." Converse crunching across dried strands of the earth's yellow hair, I moved beside the girl. "Please can we go home? Please?"

"He's gonna bring my mama back." Chance muttered, her hair glowing copper red in the sun's golden hour. "He's gonna bring her back, Eddie. I just have to pray hard enough and he'll bring her back. You'll see."

"God never brought my mother back." I softly reminded her, taking a seat on the dusty patch of wheat. The taste of summer lay heavy on my tongue. It was fast approaching, sucking both Chance and me into it. "He can't do everything, Chance."

"That's a lie." Shaking her head furiously, May sent its breeze to her, unspooling the wisps that framed her face. The hair rippled in the wind, whooshing around her head. "God can do anything. You just have to pray hard enough. Then he'll bring you a miracle. I just have to pray-"

"My mother's never gonna come back from heaven, Chance." Cutting her off, I played around with my shoelaces. "She can't. She's dead."

"Are you stupid?" Chance narrowed her eyes, scowling at me. "Of course, God brings you your mama." Looping her arm around mine, she pulled me closer. "Look! She's right there."

Her multicolored painted fingernails gestured toward the ground. I saw her. Creeping along the dirt with wiry antennas was my mother. Chance nudged the firefly onto the palm of her hand, raising it up to show me. I understood. All it took was a brief moment for me to understand.

"It is her." I breathed, letting the bug crawl onto my knee. Even if she wasn't here. She was here.

"She keeps watch of you through all the pretty things, Eddie." Chance shifted around to hold my hand, saying. "Through all the butterflies and dandelions and bugs."

Through freckled knees and strawberry blonde hair and sparse eyebrows.

"Let's pray then." Getting to my knees, I joined her chanting. Whatever she'd say, I'd follow with something else.

"Please, God. Turn me into a bird. So I can fly away. Far far away to find Mama." Her eyes were tightly closed, pressed together tight.

"God, make me into a bug." Glancing over at my best friend praying with all of her might, I spilled out the rest. "The crawly kind that makes your skin tickle. So Chance can eat me up and won't go hungry as a bird."