"I soared above the song birds
And never heard them sing
I lived my life in winter
And then you brought the spring"
Why did he write that? Where did that come from? Danny was about
to scribble it up, crumple the paper, and waited to throw it away
when a hand grasped it from him.
"Hey!"
Meg smiled at him, "Let me see, Danny boy." She leaned
back a bit on soft chair of the commercial airplane.
This was it. The date was Thursday, December sixth of the year
2001. Danny could've been at home right now. Safe and snug
in his bed in his cozy one story home in the friendly town of
Lahaina on the island of Maui. However, he wasn't. No
he just had to gain an ounce of courage and fly with his
classmates on over to Oahu. Final destination Pearl Harbor.
Meg being Meg was excited and antsy to visit the USS Arizona
Memorial. It will be her third time in her lifetime, but
it'll be the first time visiting it with her very best
friend and soul mate, Danny.
Danny, unfortunately, felt this sinking feeling of taboo about
this whole voyage. He couldn't explain it, but it felt like
he was about to uncover Pandora's Box and he already knew
the consequences to popping the box open.
The feeling grew as the plane slowly began to approach its
destination. Danny had two options. One, sink into the soft
cushioned chair of the plane and sleep, or two, keep himself
occupied with a book or by writing. Daniel felt no need to return
to his dreams that began to feel like memories memories
that felt so real that it scared him. He only had one option
left—read or write. So, he asked Meg, who had managed to
keep herself occupied with an Entertainment Weekly article about
Josh Hartnett, for a piece of paper and a pen.
With those images, words began to pour from inside. His hand
ached and began to fly on the page as he scribbled those words
down.
The result was that poem. A poem which was meant only for Evelyn.
A poem that was for her and Danny's eyes only.
A poem that Meg was now reading.
"I soared above the song birds/ And never heard them sing/ I
lived my life in winter/ And then you brought the spring."
She looked Danny over, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
The poem was beautiful, no doubt about it but Danny wrote
it. Her Danny. Daniel Kawika Walker James a guy that she
knew hated poetry. Oh, she knew that Danny had a secret
passion for writing stories but poetry was something that
annoyed him. She should know, especially since she's been in
the same English class with him for the last six years.
"Danny I wow." Meg placed the paper back in
front of him. The sarcastic part of her screamed to say
something, but the young female part of Meg encouraged a
compliment.
"Did you who was is there someone in your life
that I don't know about?" She asked, feeling an
immediate sense of jealousy towards whoever Danny wrote the poem
for.
Evelyn "Uh, no. I just—just wrote this.
Just came to me, Meg." He took the paper, folding it up and
placing it into his pants pocket.
"Oh." She paused, giving him a small smile.
"It's very beautiful, Danny."
Nodding, meeting eyes with her. "Yeah"
"The only thing I'm scared of is that you
might love him more than me."
"I do love you, Danny." Danny looked straight
into her eyes, and finding, to his amazement, that Evelyn was
fading away and in her place came his Meghan. Meg was smiling up
at him with so much concern and love in her eyes. It was Meghan,
not Evelyn, that was dusting off his uniform, afraid to look up
at him for fear that she'll break down in tears. It was
Meg's voice that said, "And I'll be here
waiting for you, when you come back."
The words of his poem came back to haunt him, only this time it
was Meg that he saw and thought of. It was her images that made
up those sweet words
"Meg," Danny reached into the pocket, pulling up the
paper. He smiled at it, then handed it to her. "You keep it.
I figure since you help it make sense to me that you should keep
it."
Meg laughed, "Okay, Danny boy. Whatever you say"
She was confused by his words, yet she knew that it might make
sense to her one day. She looked at it again, then placed it
inside her bag. Meg leaned over, placing a light kiss on
Danny's lips.
Danny was so caught off guard by that kiss, that he was left
momentarily speechless. Sure, he'd been kissed by Meg
before. She was his first kiss, of course but this one sent
an electrifying chill down his whole spine. He took a breath,
then, "Wow what was that for?"
"I don't know." Meg answered, just as stunned by
the kiss. It was supposed to feel chaste and platonic but
by her own expression, it was nothing but.
He looked deep into her. His own heart was pounding as he reached
up to caress her cheek.
"I think I'm falling for her"
I soared about the song birds
And never heard them sing
I lived m life in winter
And then you brought the spring
Danny heard his own voice, yet it wasn't him. He heard those
words, knowing that at this moment it rang so true. Gently, he
pulled her towards him. Wanting so much to kiss his Meghan
"Danny! Hey, Kawika!" He felt someone pounding the
backside of his seat. A familiar head appeared above, gazing down
at him.
The moment was broken and maybe it was a good thing. Danny
glanced up at Michael, irritation slowly setting in. "What,
Mikey?" He growled, annoyed by the interruption.
Michael glanced from both Danny and Meg, realizing that he had
come in between something very important.
"Uh I was just wondering" He looked at
Meg's flushed face, then back at Danny's blazing eyes.
"You know," Meekly, Michael began to sit back in his
chair, "Never mind, James. I'll I'll talk to
you, uh later."
Danny faced forward. He was too aggravated at Michael to even
snap at him. Instead, he counted to ten, took a deep breath, and
faced Meg. "Meg," He began, only
"I'm kind of tired, Danny I think that I'm
just gonna close my eyes and rest before the—before
the plane lands in Honolulu." Meg refused to look straight
Danny, which nearly broke his own heart.
Understandingly, "Sure, Kahea. It's gonna be a long
visit." He stared out on his side of the window seat. Gazing
at the late afternoon ocean and orange kissed sky. "A very long
visit"
*******************************************************