Castles In The Sky

Two figures lay on the their backs on the quarterdeck, staring up at the sky. The one on the left raised her arm and pointed at a cloud. "Seahorse."

The other figure frowned. "That one?" The first figure nodded. He shrugged. "It looks like a rooster to me."

It was just before nightfall. The sky had turned a pretty pinky-blue and the clouds, little more than wisps that rolled in before nightfall and rolled away even quicker, had caught the attention of two very bored individuals on the deck. She trying to avoid cleaning up after dinner, and he trying to avoid the other crewmembers, one of which (ET), had started taunting him about a small pile of pictures that he'd uncovered in the Seaman's cabin.

"Dragon." He pointed to another cloud.

She laughed. "Are you serious? It's a dog!"

"It's a dragon." He protested. She shook her head. "Okay, fine. But that one is definitely a whale."

"It looks like a map of Antarctica to me." She grinned.

"Are you purposely being difficult?" He asked, still looking up at the sky.

She laughed. "Yes, yes I am."

He propped himself up on one arm and frowned down at her. "Sometimes I think you would literally implode if you were forced to be nice to me." He pouted.

She feigned caring. "Oh Spider, I'm sorry. I'll try being nicer."

He smiled. "Thank you."

"… when you try being smarter." She finished with a laugh.

He grumbled and went back to lying on his back. "You know, when I was little I used to think people lived in the clouds."

"Like angels?" Bomber asked with the hint of a smile.

"No!" Spider protested, glaring at her out of the corner of his eye again. "Like, real people. Like storybook people. People like me."

"So, stupid people then?"

"I'm going to ignore that for everyone's sake." He took the moral high ground as Bomber continued to grin so her cheeks hurt. "I'd just lay on my back in the fields outside our house and stare up at them for hours, thinking that one day I'd see someone."

"I used to see my dad in the clouds." Bomber admitted. Spider sat up with a frown but Bomber was miles away, caught up in the sky above her. "Not literally see him mind, I'm not cuckoo, but you know what I mean right?" She glanced at him for confirmation and he nodded. She continued. "I'd lay in one of the dry back paddocks, after the sheep had been moved on of course, and just have my tape deck and some batteries for when the first lot ran out. I'd sit there for hours with just the tape player playing my dad's old Midnight Oil tapes and stare up at the clouds until it got dark or Jessie turned up demanding I talk to her."

"Midnight Oil? That's old school."

Bomber snorted. "Uh, first of all, I was 12. Second, Midnight Oil are very Australian and we're a patriotic bunch out west." She smiled. "Dad's favourite was Bushfire. But we did a long drive when I was eight, on the old Gunbarrel Highway in WA, and dad played that song over and over until we couldn't stand it anymore." Her smile fell slowly.

"Do you still miss him?" Spider asked, turning back to the sky.

Bomber murmured a reply and Spider sat up to catch the end. "… I think I miss the tapes more." She grinned as he laughed.

"Note to self: find Bomber some Midnight Oil." He grinned and lay back down. "So, do you think there are people in the clouds?"

"I'm not a religious person Spider…"

"But, do you?" Spider asked again, determined for an answer.

"If it helps you sleep at night Spi." Bomber sat up and pushed herself to her feet.

"Bomber!" Spider growled, sitting up as well.

Bomber stopped and turned. "Serious Spider?" He nodded. "Who knows?" She shrugged. "For all we know there could be castles in the sky." She turned to walk inside.

"Hey, you didn't say which one was your favourite Midnight Oil song." Bomber laughed and shot back on last line that made Spider frown and turn his attentions back to the sky. "In the valley I walk, I cried, yes I cried, I was down then I crawled." He repeated the lyrics to himself softly then, lying back down, Spider finally saw that damn seahorse and he grinned.

A/N: All this to deal with having no one to go with to see Midnight Oil in Canberra on the twelfth. Songs are Gunbarrel Highway, Bushfire and In The Valley by Midnight Oil. To note: In The Valley is my personal favourite MO song.