Fly

“I wanna fly one day,” said Jimmy watching his stone skip out across Blue Lake.

“What do you mean?” asked Marvin his little brother.

“I mean one day I’m just gonna take off a fly! You know like a bird. No! Like Super Man!” Running with his hands in the air Jimmy continues, “Like this!” Whooshing noises flew from his mouth as he ran circles around his charge.

“I want to fly too!” Marvin shouted.

Together they whooshed around the shore. They peeled off in opposite directions circling back to each other and caught each other before falling out in laughter. Their bellies shook, time was irrelevant. The sun set behind the mountain and took the day’s warmth with it, which prompted Jimmy to light their fire.

“There’s nothing like a good fire, huh Marv?” Jimmy asked admiring his handy work.

“Yeah, fire is cool,” Marvin said as he put lemongrass on the fire as his brother began to roast the rabbit they caught earlier. Marvin sat back down, staring at the darkening sky. The ringing silence was only disturbed by the crackling flame.

“We should keep moving tomorrow,” Jimmy said fixated on the flame.

“I like it here though. Can’t we wait one more day?” Marvin asked with a hint of pleading.

“It’s my fourteenth birthday in two days, I don’t want to still be out here by then,” Jimmy said with a look that shut down further questions.

Watching as Jimmy rotated their dinner Marvin asked, “Are Mom and Dad coming back for us?”

“Honestly, I hope not. We’re better off without them,” Jimmy responded his words filled with hurt and rage, “They obviously never loved us. They left us in this godforsaken park a week ago! Fuck Them! We’ll get out of here and have a better life than we would have with them around.”

Equally shocked at his reaction they both took a beat. The rabbit turned. Jimmy gazed into the fire. Marvin searched for a shooting star.

“Where are you gonna live when you grow up?” Marvin asked lying back on a log.

Startled, Jimmy glanced up, and said, “I don’t know. Umm, I don’t know. Paris sounds nice.” He paused thinking about fresh baguettes, then asked, “What about you?”

Pleased by their new subject, “I think I want to live in New York. It looks like a nice city in the movies. Paris looks nice too. I mean I’ve only seen pictures. Yeah, I’ll come visit. It’ll be fun to hear you speak French. Bon jurr,” Marvin laughed at his poor accent.

“New York City huh? I guess I’ll have to visit you too” Jimmy said with a chuckle. The U.S. though, I hear it’s a crazy place… New York does have a lot of famous people though.  Are you trying to be famous?”

“No, I want to be a CEO,” Marvin said sitting up and puffing up his chest, “I want to run a four-ton 500 company.”

Looking his little brother in the eye Jimmy laughed to himself. “You mean fortune 500 company,” he said over-enunciating the “t”.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Marvin replied.

They continued to talk through their half a bunny dinner. Discussing how they would live, who they would marry, their children, hobbies, clubs, Sunday brunch places, until they drifted to sleep.

—

Fifteen years later, Jimmy was an alcoholic lawyer in Auckland getting a grip on his cocaine addiction to be the father his son deserved, while Marvin was an under-paid over-stressed optimistic realist social worker with trust issues and suicidal urges who called New York City his home.