Musing Minds Meeting (open)

It seemed as if it was just nothing but rolling clouds before a reddened sky. Beautiful really. For some reason he felt content with just viewing the sky as the patterns of illumination in the clouds changed from bright red, pink and orange. Such a work of art had not yet been created by human hands and he was determined to not miss a second of light before night would cloud the skies in darkness. This was an evening to remember well, for it were these days that helped to get through the darker ones. The feeling of awe and smalnesat the marvels of nature was somethng he did not enjoy very often.

He did not see it coming as he was just enjoying himself. It was a jumping redhead. Jumping and also not looking. It was easy math. A simple equation: What makes one jumping person plus two not paying attention to the road? The crack was unlike anything that comes from nature. It sent a few birds flying off into the pink night sky with screeches of protest. They had been enjoying themselves too.

“Ouch.” That was not screeching protest. That was the protest of a man-boy dressed in elegant gray and green (dark green long sleeve shirt and gloves, gray pants to be exact), well formerly elegant as the clothes were now covered in dust from a cloud that was just again settling on the ground. The content was gone. It was replaced by cold anger. Cold anger and a tinge of fear. He unconsiously clasped his hands tightly together.

It took him a while to recompose himself, but then he gave the offender an icy stare.

“A very good evening to you too.”

His words were bittersweet.

Her friendly smile did melt away some of the ice in his stare. Now it was just a sunny winter day hidden plainly in their gray just as the sky was hiding its beauty again and the lights faded into a gloom that hugged the trees and skyscrapers, obscuring the clouds that now only were lighted by the city below. There even seemed to be a smile twitching at his lips. But it never showed, while he kept his hands busy with dusting off his clothes ignoring the offered hand. This girly was some special one to just bump into him and then smile like that. She could have... No lets not go there. Not even in thought, as those are dangerous ways to walk down.

“I am Mr. Stein.”

He deliberately put the distance between them. It was not only a verbal one, but the hands, that had once been dusting himself off, had finished a movement and were now folded across his chest. He was disapproving of her behavior and it was very obvious. Maybe he would tell her his first name later. But only on his conditions and when he deemed the time to be right. Now the thin line in his face finally opened to show his teeth.

“You should be more careful or one day you might hurt yourself.”

The concern in his voice sounded almost fatherly, which might have been just a little off considering the situation. He didn't care. And he was not fatherly. He just wanted the girl to find her way home without running into people that would really hurt her. Uhm, thats not fatherly, is it? The that dragged behind his last words was uneasy as the last rays of sun had vanished a minute ago. Night had claimed the park. It was rapidly starting to get cold so a slight shudder made its way up his shoulders.

"Why dont you walk with me for a while?"

He turned around without looking at her twice. Everything he did said just one thing. I know you will.

This girl was just an odd one. So cheerful that it seemed unavoidable to put a grin on his own face while considering her words. He saw that she was small and there was some distance in age between them. She might be around 16, somewhere in High school at best. That might explain her sweetness. She had probably not come into much contact with the darker side of the world yet. A side she should at least try to avoid for another few years.

"You do stick out somewhat. Maybe they should learn how to look out better." So it was good that he walked with her in another way. And he was much better then many other things that could be found at night. The words were delivered without any intentions behind them, even carried a certain dryness, a crisp sound, he hoped would avoid any ambiguities. Not that he saw any here. But making double precautions was not a luxury. It was a necessity. He looked at his hands, or more precisely at the gloves. Precautions would also require something else. An oddity for him really, but it might be a working one. The patterns of his language, the intonation, changed slightly, to a more colloquial one that might just be used in her kind of surroundings. A conscious effort it was to hide what was obvious. Maybe it would work.

"I was stressed so I came to hang out here. It's relaxing, isn't it?" Friendly smiling he was.

"Hey, maybe they will. I hope the clouds will go away." His eyes wandered upwards, where the city lights around them were faintly illuminating the clouds from below. Light pollution this was named and most clearly seen from the seas, when a boat came near a greater harbor and the dome of light that always surrounded them today as everyday, tonight as every night, became visible. A beautiful sight it was, but it could not compare to the sight of the stars under a sky that was still what it was meant to be. A void with some little lights strewn into it. It was a faint longing in him, to go out and see the seas again. The rolling waves, the winds that carried the salt and freshness. It was only faint now. Too long had it been gone. Faint but it would never leave him. His walk slowed down to near halt. Face was lifted upwards in a calm expression. Here were memories of sweet taste where only a touch of bitterness remained.

So she carried similar feelings around with her. His own sigh sounded in the air. It was the slow letting out the air of a balloon not the explosive huff some preferred. He had time and it continued for a time. And her words and their song of melancholy mixed with his own creating something new. It was not dissonance, neither discord, but certainly not accord either. It bordered all of them yet was none. It was a beautiful mood, neither here nor there. In his ears the sounds of rustling leaves turned into waves rolling ashore and the wind on his face still seemed to carry a hint of salt from the sea it had passed over to get here.

Her story was typical for a short girl in her teenage years. At least he supposed it was, as he was of average height and had always been, so he did not know her situation firsthand. But he had seen small people snap viciously at others for little things, others had found much more pleasant ways of what seemed to be coping with the fear of being overlooked or more accurately in her case: Being frowned upon. This one was... jumpy. In every sense of the word. He followed her explanation with sharp, almost hawk like looks.

“Be aware of the fact that forcing yourself will do you no good. What about the jumping is it that makes you afraid is the question to be asked.” He questioned half to himself. She was not the type to be afraid of loosing control was she? Maybe it was a matter of trust then. Just maybe.

The nighttime sky revealed so many pictures and legends tat had been woven around the stars in an attempt to give them meaning fitting their position above the observers head. The stories were beautiful enough to be told for their own sake, even though the belief in heroes in the sky had long been abandoned. He could, maybe just tell her one, but that would have to wait a little longer. “See, there is Sirius.” He pointed at a brighter star in the sky and smiled back at her.

He was simply waiting for her response. Having turned to an unmoving figure, devoid of any signs of life, eyes locked again on some point in the distance between sky and ground. Not even the sound of his breathing, his heartbeat carried farther then to his own ears. And in the beginning there was silence. Silence of feeling, void of emotions. There might be nothing to be heard from him, but there was from the wind, playing its soft song with the leaves and branches of the trees, the background song. Waves of nature rolling besides them, passing by the way they were standing on. Seemingly passing by. The floating of sound was unimpeded. The washing. For what was he waiting really? The void shattered, eyes turning to the small and unsure girl on his side.

Her words were revealing in themselves. Not only in a literal sense. It mattered how they were aligned, connected, connotated. Natural process. Dissecting. Vivisecting her words. He smiled at her. It was easy to figure some things out. A teenagers thoughts were not one of them commonly. They were far too chaotic, the influence of hormones was strong then, but so was their random outbursts own spirit in a way that he admired in some of them.
The question to be asked was, whether he wanted to start a little therapy session here, to make an attempt at helping her. It might be a good thing to do, as he could still see the pictures in the news of some things that had happened through lack of control or lack of fear. Fear was her answer.

“The stars are a guide for us, especially on the seas. You see America was discovered by the Vikings with nothing but them as their guide.”

He started off simply. Yes the statement was true. Vikings had sailed farther then Greenland with no compass to guide them. They had broken that barrier long before Columbus ever came along to name the continent a new India. It was one of the instances that technology had proven itself. It was an instance at which the irony of history was clearly visible. Stars as guides..... They might still be used today ins some remote areas despite GPS and Satellite telephones. It was comforting in a way. That the old things were able to prevail at least for a while before losing.

Thinking. Feeling. Reason. Three words set in opposition here. Opposition apparently was a common trait in teenagers. He went a few steps farther away from her and turned his back on her.

“If you want my opinion:” He began politely.”The new has nothing to be feared. The old is nothing to fear. Moving between them may not be easy, but it is nothing to be afraid of, just a transition, nothing more or less. Have faith in yourself. In your abilities. Reason will not stand in your way then.”

So had started a little therapy, but nothing just for her. A little reminiscing, rambling. Maybe she would listen closely. Maybe she would understand someday when she was older. He had certainly found it quite difficult to see transition and what it led to. It was a gift he did not have, but he was not overly envious of those who had it. Not overly. He had a gift, that so many of them aspired, took great strain to even come close to and fail again. And he was not overly jealous of them for having that luxury.

He flashes another smile at her. Now that I think of it I'm smiling a lot lately. And I like it a lot. I haven't done it much in so long it seems like ages. Well it might just be ages for all I know. He casually glanced at his watch only to realize, that very little time had passed. “I don't know why the others always think bad of reading. Its so much fun. But I don't know about being older.” How well he did know actually, but he was not about to tell her, since his light hearted sentence brought him back to playing youth. To being young for a change. Change was good. Change was invigorating. Change was life. Maybe a little beyond her still, but most certainly younger then he had been before. Another set of masks to be perfected. But her statement about being old made his smile broaden. It was this ambiguity that could always be found. The young ones wanted to get older, while the old ones were willing to get younger at any cost. There never was the right age it seemed, or so it was supposed to seem.

He walked a few steps closer in her direction, the gravel under his feet protesting against the sudden shifts in weight and pressure. It was now that he was standing directly by her side, that he looked up at the stars again only to be overcome by melancholy. Beautiful and unspoiled they were by hands of man. Beautiful they would be in milennia still. Milennia he would hopefully get to see. But a side of him found it quite odd to be standing next to a small girl with spots here. What if someone saw them? Another part of him, the major part at the moment, did not care at all for those logics. Assumptions, deductions, inductions. They all were just useless crap. Things old people used instead of hiving fun.

Her little speech was interesting. Wrong in some points but interesting. He restrained himself mentally from telling her though. Keep the masks on, he thought as he caught his thoughts slipping. Keep them going. Be. “So lets live then. Lets try it out!” He started walking a quick pace in the direction of one of the bigger rocks in Central Park. The unique thing about this one was that it had a steep cliff like end from which she could most certainly try out her jumping abilities. And there was grass on the ground so she would not fall very hard. His laugh and his waving hands were certainly daring her to try.

It was a strange feeling to be young again. To feel the adrenaline, to enjoy the feeling of freedom in his veins. It had all been too much beyond him he realized now. Another hit at what was to come. Another step in the right direction maybe. He would have to write this down, lest he forget it ere he could draw some use from it. Note to self: Get together with young people more often. He ran and laughed.