My lovely sky

Last night, someone left a mattress on the roof, so I went outside and lied on it. There was a wonderful breeze caressing my skin that brought me into my senses. I looked up at the sky, my lovely sky. The sky somehow looks so different here! The strong wind blew the clouds quickly across the sky like fluffy boats sailing away into the twilight. The clouds made wispy, whimsical shapes, morphing from a gift box to a truck to a dog’s head. I was scared of the dog’s head, afraid of the sharp teeth I knew must be hiding inside the mouth, so I was grateful when it changed into a robot.

I wished upon the first star I saw last night, but I was happier when lots of stars appeared in the spaces between the clouds. I think it was bats, however, that made me the happiest. I lied on my back, watching them move eerily across the sky like little black rowboats. There were so many bats! I smiled as I watched them, wondering if I’d ever see anything more wonderful than the bats and the clouds and the stars and the fading colors of sunset.

Just then, a corner of the sky lit up bright white. A lightning storm! It was too far away to hear thunder, but close enough to see the lightning turn on the clouds like a flickering night light. The wind blew a strand of hair across my face, and I blew it back. The bats glided on above me, and I could hear their wonderfully eery bat noises that sound like a noisy wristwatch.

I’m in Africa.

Hanna came out and joined me. We lied on the mattress together, and all I could talk about was how much I love the sky. She started singing a church hymn, asking me to join in, but I didn’t know all the words, so I sang Silent Night instead. Hanna was so delighted by my singing that I didn’t stop with just Silent Night... I sang Hark the Harold Angels Sing and Deck the Halls and Santa Claus is Coming to Town and The Twelve Days of Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and Oh Holy Night and Jingle Bells and many more. Hanna knew two or three, but was surprised by how many Christmas songs I know. And I was just getting started!

I ami desa mi wa a. I am happy to be here. There was only one way I possibly could have been happier: if my friend, the moon, had decided to join us instead of hiding out of sight. Little brat.