The following year was difficult with few rewards. Tori was surrounded by crowds of eager children, their energy and enthusiasm frightening forces too difficult for him to comprehend, and in their company, he felt isolated. He was lost, tossed and tumbled in a river of smiling faces that dragged him inexorably forward, his shame hidden under bulky sweaters.

One blessed day, he bumped up against another lost soul. Bound together by their mutual loneliness, they became friends, joined by the shame of their unmentionable difference. Murmured words, pieces of sentences that made up their conversation, led to the truth. One day, in a private, secluded spot, revelation and discovery ensued. Two boys stood facing each other. Together they tasted the forbidden fruit from their personal tree of knowledge. They removed their shirts.

Tori reached out a hand, drawing back a moment before he touched his friend’s speckled gray feathers. His own were snowy white. “Have you ever, you know, done it?”

The other responded with a look of horror. “You mean, actually flown?” Tori nodded, too ashamed to say the word even in private. His companion shook his head sadly. “And you?”

His eyes darted left and right before answering. “My mother used to let me fly around the house when I was young, but she made me promise that I would stop once I started school.” Words burned unspoken between them as they realized how great was their ability to sin against God and Man. Another fire burned in their breasts, and they took heart together stretching wings that had lain dormant, hidden from the sun. Two pairs of wings stretched overhead, making them gasp. It was truly a breathtaking sight, four wings flapping gently, testing the breeze. It was too tempting for these gentle souls. In their innocence, without intent and before they knew it, their feet left the ground. There was no one to see, and more the pity, for in truth, all of mankind would have been enriched by the sight. It was an image painted by the greatest master of them all; two angels stripped to the waist, cavorting, not like the earthbound children they were expected to be, but like the angels they were created to be. The picture would have been perfect were it not for the snake, jaded and ignored. The innocents had made God smile, but the devil must have his due. The two boys whizzed about in a low-flying cloud while the superintendent watched from below, his face painted crimson in anger.

Tori’s parents were formally notified, called in for a conference to discuss what was to be done, though anyone could see that nothing could be done. No parent-teacher meeting, this was an all-out inquisition the school system deemed necessary to eradicate a heresy before it truly began. The child was expelled since the school board had no choice. There were too many other children threatening to take flight. It was a disaster waiting to spring into the air and the threat was too great to risk for the sake of one child. And there were even more children who managed to hide their condition from the prying eyes of the all-seeing system. Measures were implemented, tools developed. Special restraints were designed and medications developed to induce air-sickness and weaken the muscles. Classrooms were equipped with spikes embedded in ceilings and teachers were armed with stun-guns. What had begun as a trend was now an epidemic. Children who spent more time in the air than in the classroom threatened to plunge all of society into darkness.

It was clear that one child had to be sacrificed to save the many. And even if there were many children with folded wings hidden under their shirts, the greater good demanded that the educational system remain firmly in place, unchanged. Though a more emphatic solution was desired, one that would have eradicated Tori as an example to others, expulsion was the worst the superintendent could manage and it would have to suffice.

Domestic discussion led to arguing and the Tori’s parents were irreconcilably divided. Marital bliss became a cold truce and the subject of flying became unmentionable. One day, while the father was at work, the boy and his mother boarded a bus. Waiting for them was a dream the mother had searched for but which neither of them really believed could exist.  

Stepping off the bus, they found themselves standing transfixed with mouths agape and eyes looking up in awe. A small group of humble cottages were spread before them, surrounding a grassy courtyard, benches and chairs arranged for leisurely conversation. It was picturesque but certainly not deserving of their rapt attention. In truth, it was something else entirely which had captured their focus.

A woman approached. She was old and wrinkled, but a startling mane of silver hair flowed past her shoulders, proclaiming a feminine force which exceeded all social norms. She had been beautiful, but in her case, age had given more than it had taken away. She smiled, displaying strong teeth and the source of her many wrinkles. It was a smile that came quickly and naturally, a gift that she gave freely because it was usually returned in kind. She waited patiently while the mother and son tried to accept the unbelievable sight that was right in front of their eyes.

There would be time later for pleasant conversation and a few formalities that were meant to pay lipservice to the inquisition that had initiated the boy into his first school. The older woman was in no rush. She knew the decision had been made the moment they arrived.

Finally, the woman led mother and son to a table in the shade of an ancient pear tree. Tea was served, but once the shock had worn off and conversation began, the words tumbled out and the tea was  left to get cold as more discussion ensued. The hopelessness that had become the iron bars of despair had suddenly shattered and they were giddy with freedom.

Tori said nothing while the adults spoke, unable to tear his gaze away from the children overhead. He was allowed to wander off to discover the new school for himself. A group of children gathered around him, drawn to a fresh face. Shy advances were made. One of the younger children asked the question they had all come to hear from the new boy.

“Do you fly?”

The question was asked openly, and it shocked him. It brought back the shame that had taken the place of something he had been born with. Afraid to answer at first, he was drawn into the open friendliness and chanced a response. “I can, but I don’t.”

They all nodded, understanding completely. “We are all new here,” the younger boy said. “I got kicked out of my old school.” He pointed at an older girl. “She got sick of arguing every day so she left. That boy became allergic to the medicine so they kicked him out of school. All of us, we had nowhere else to go.”

Tori nodded, picking up his head and smiling. “I got kicked out. For, you know…” He stopped, suddenly afraid. “But it was only once. I promised my father I would never do it again.”

The younger boy took his arm and guided him away. “It’s okay. I want to show you something.”

When the mother was ready to leave, she found him in a grassy area hidden from the front gate by a large willow. Tori was bouncing on a large trampoline, his shirt off, his beautiful wings spread wide. As he jumped, his wings fluttered gently, not yet ready to lift him into the air, but the smile on his face made it clear that it was only a matter of time.

The father was informed of her decision. William remained silent, knowing better than to enter into a battle he had no hope of winning. She had an energy he had never seen in any of their previous discussions.

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