Can You Hear the Stars Calling?

A Warm Spring Day

He rolled his eyes. "Sure. Come on, Lynette. There's not a lot of space to cover, but there sure is a lot to show," Grinning, he led me through a small walkway and out of the kitchen.

Walking into the next room, sunlight shone brilliantly through the three windows reaching from the floor to the ceiling. It was a small and open rectangular space bursting with colorful furniture and peculiar decorations. Everywhere I looked, there was something to catch my eye. 

Various trinkets busied the yellow painted wooden walls. Three dimensional shadow boxes filled with various assortments of shriveled flowers to small toys to marble figures to things I didn't recognize were arranged inside. Different works of art hung in both large and small frames, leaving virtually no space on the wall. 

In the middle of the room were two small couches. One dark blue and the other a bright red, facing each other separated by a white coffee table holding colorful drink coasters, several magazines, and an antennae radio. The whole room was a kaleidoscope of color and textures.

"This is the room I spend most of my time in so I tried to make it as lively as possible," Milo started stepping forward and gesturing his arms outward. "There's collectibles from all of the places I've been. All around the world. I've been to the stars Lynette," he smiled with a reminiscent sigh, "but you can't bring back stardust. You can only watch it fall through your hands like grains of sand through a sifter, hoping to never forget such a brilliant feeling." He looked to me smiling that radiant smile.

What beautiful words. The words of someone who knows what they want in life. The words of someone who has seen it all.

I returned his smile. "Your excited talk about the stars and adventures is infectious," I admitted. "I don't mean to sound rude, but what are you? Are you like Sam? An Angel?"

"Ha-she wishes." he smirked.

"I heard that!" Sam yelled from the kitchen.

Milo chuckled. "No, I'm something much more special. I'm a Misce," he laughed when I made a face. "Sometimes angels fall," he continued. "And they fall hard. Not in the biblical sense, but for love," he clasped his hands together.

"But here's the thing, Angels are made of stardust. So what does the Angel do?" Milo shrugged his shoulders, "It releases its physical form to became half of that baby. Half Angel. Half human. I've been around a long time, kid," he said proudly. "Seen things you wouldn't believe," He stopped, basking in the room. "But what am I doing, this is a tour. Let me show you around."

His personality bubbled over itself. The rest of the tour, he was here and there picking up various trinkets and telling the story behind it. It was hard to keep up with all of the things he was saying, and there wasn't a moment that he wasn't animated.

It turned out the room I was staying in was the least decorated room in the house. He spent at least 20 minutes on the bathroom alone. An hour in each of the other two bedrooms. I absorbed the information eagerly. The hours flew by.

His basement was even more clustered. A maze of suited armor, various different mirrors, bright furniture, and other larger decorations. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that every single thing in the house had a story, one way or another.

"I like being able to change things up every now and then," He said. "And I can't bear to part with any of my treasures."

Returning upstairs, he showed me outside of the house. Sam joined us being done cleaning the kitchen. Though, I felt like she stalled a bit to give Milo extra time to show off. It was one of the first warm days in April. The sun shone down on us warmly. A calm breeze gently shook the trees.

Lawn ornaments ran amuck in the miraculous wildflower gardens and around the small pond in his backyard. How he already had a fully grown garden in April was beyond me. I asked him, but he only replied, "I've been around a while, remember? You pick up a few things when you've been around the block." He winked and continued on. That was his only explanation.

Around the back of the house was not only the pond, but also a tall set of two swings. I gave him a questioning look, but he smiled and explained, "Never too old to swing. Fun doesn't just vanish when you get older, kid." Sam laughed, but didn't disagree.

Talking about the things in his house lit Milo's spirit up with childlike wonder. It was infectious and soon I was smiling the entire time, too. That didn't stop the back of my mind from being curious of how Milo retained his child-like whimsy, though. True, I didn't know how old he was, but if he knew Sam then I'm sure he knew about the Angels and demons. How anyone could stay that happy after know about all of these horrible things.

He bet Sam he could beat her to the swings and the race was on. I'd never seen two adults have more fun in my life as they sprinted across the lawn. I relaxed watching them. The laughter that bellowed out of me that afternoon as I lazied around in the grass watching them was real.

The sun was low in the sky when we headed inside. My stomach growled walking through the door. "Is there a stampede of horses outside? Or thunder in the distance?" Milo asked, cupping his ear. I shoved him and laughed.

"Dinner?" I asked. "I'm starving."

Sam looked to Milo. "Don't worry, madams," he started, making his way to the refrigerator. "For your dining experience tonight I will prepare the finest cuisine. An Italian delicacy for your eating pleasure. I present to you," he reached into the freezer and pulled out a cardboard box. "the frozen pizza."

I paused, but suddenly laughter roared out of me almost sending me to the ground. It was such a stupid joke, but it felt so good to laugh that I couldn't stop.

I clutched my side in pain, but the laughter wouldn't stop. Tears spilled over. I couldn't believe him. I'd just met Milo today, but it felt like I'd known him all my life. Like I was seeing an old friend for the first time in years. The tears of joy slowly turned into ugly sobs.

Sam and Milo were too stunned to move at first, but soon snapped out of it and quickly rushed toward me. I hiccuped. "Lynn, what's wrong?" Sam asked, kneeling in front of me. Concern furrowed her brows. My dark hair fell across my eyes and clung to the side of my wet face. Sam brushed it behind my ear.

I took a very shaky breath and stifled another cry. "No-nothing..." I trailed off crying harder saying the word.

Sam and Milo led me to a  couch and sat at both of my sides. They let me cry for what seemed like an impossibly long time.

When I'd hiccuped for the last time and could finally hold a breath, I explained, "Really, nothing's wrong. In fact, it's the opposite," Now it was Milo's turn to give me a confused look. I smiled and wiped my red eyes. "Even with everything happening, today was the happiest I've been in a very, very long time. I-I don't remember the last time I smiled this much."

Milo and Sam's shoulders both sagged in relief and they smiled at me warmly. Both of them wrapped one arm around my back and leaned in hugging me. It felt a little awkward at first, but after a couple moments, I relaxed as well. 

It was now dark outside. Wind howled outside the window and shook the trees, but it was warm in here.

It was finally warm.