Winged

11: Falling

I woke up the next morning and rolled over, forgetting my precarious position on the edge of the bed. The loud thump landed me square on my back, giving the bases of my wings a bruise that would probably last a few days. I groggily sat up and wiped my eyes. The noise drew Toby up the stairs munching on a bowl of granola.

"Come on Ez, the sun's already up. You know what they say, early bird gets the worm!"

"I think I'll stick to eggs, thank you very much." I paused. "Wait. Is it cannibalism to eat eggs now?"

Toby laughed. "Granola?"

"Better than worms, I guess." He turned to go back down to the kitchen.
"Shut the door behind you!" He gently shut it, and I heard his footsteps going away.

I stood and dug into my cupboard. I found a t-shirt, and thanks to a pair of scissors, cut a low back into it. I'd do the rest of my clothes later when I could hem the edges, but this would do for now. I reached to pull the shirt on, only to have it catch on my wings. Great. I took it off and stepped into it this time, tugging it up over my shoulders. Much better. I finished getting dressed and brushing my hair, then headed to my dad's room to doctor a shirt for Toby.

I found him in the kitchen washing his bowl, still only wearing his swimming suit from yesterday.
"Oh, put a shirt on." I tossed the t-shirt over his head.

"What? You want me to cover up this beauty?" He turned around with his belly stuck out, t-shirt still covering half of his face.

"No, I want you to cover up that thing you call a torso."

"Hey!"

"Hay is for horses, Toby. You're a bird."

"I am?" He pulled his wings in front of him. "Oh, would you look at that. I am. I didn't notice."

I rolled my eyes. Dad walked in as I was pouring a bowl of cereal.

"No eggs? Oh, right. I hope you don't mind if I have some. It does take awhile to get over the mentality of it."

"Sure, dad."

"So what are you guys planning on doing today?"

"First up I'm gonna cream Ez at Twister, then I might crush Ez at Twister for a bit, then... I dunno, more Twister?"

"So confident... Such a shame that pride comes before the fall, and boy, you're gonna fall hard."

Dad shook his head. "Well, I'm off to the study. Stay inside, kids."

"Kay." I locked eyes with Toby and grinned. We both took off for the living room, and I found the game of the day amongst the other board games on a small shelf. I opened the box and Toby stole the mat from under my nose. He shook it out and I helped him smooth it out on the rug.

Within minutes we were all tangled up, a laughing mess of limbs. So it continued through the day, winning and losing forgotten, just enjoying each other. And the break from school. That was pretty awesome, too. By late afternoon we had created our own makeshift wheel, including blocks for right and left wings. That only made us get even more tangled, landing us in some potentially awkward positions. My heart was racing for more than one reason at times.

The game had turned into a wrestling match, me currently pinning Toby to the ground. It didn't bother me that he was probably just letting me win for entertainment. I was going to savor this moment. I struck the most ferocious pose I could, my wings stretched out behind me. Toby stopped pretending to struggle. His eyes smiled, and I melted.

"What?"

"You just... You kinda look like an angel like that."

I moved my knee off his chest and lay down beside of him.
"Toby, do you realize that soon we'll be heading off in the adventure of a lifetime, and all I can think about is how I haven't gotten to try those apple oatmeal cookies of yours..."

"Well I guess we'll just have to fix that, then."

Neither of us moved.

***