Learning to Fly, Part 3

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Effanbee

The Fly
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Aug 6, 2006
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Here's Part 3, been a bit distracted in the past week (see band meetings and sightings!!!!) :angel:

Thanks to all who've given me encouragement and positive feeback :hug:

Learning to Fly
Part three

I had a few days to recover some equilibrium, to reclaim the peaceful order of my mundane life. Apparently, Bono was off to meet some of our more prominent politicians to talk of some weighty matters of economic policy and Third World countries.

I had gone for a long ride that morning, following the stream down to the sand dunes and sea. It gave me some time for reflection on the past few days and the possible consequences. The weather suited my mood, darkly pregnant clouds bellying up over the horizon, promising a deluge as they lumbered toward land.
It felt oppressive in the house, the humidity was way up, so I threw all the ranchsliders and windows wide to catch any breath of wind. The bread dough I had put to prove before riding was ready to bake, and I left the heat of the kitchen to sit on the front deck and watch the storm approach.

The riding and baking had had the effect of centering me, but I just could not let the thoughts go. They raged between excited anticipation of maybe seeing Bono again and confusion at the way I felt carried along by events and people who had crashed into my life from nowhere. And the awful, nagging feeling that I may be getting well out of my depth with my feelings for someone I didn’t know and was, after all, married with a family. And with that, the knowing that however I felt I must not allow anything other than friendship. Which is, I thought, in many ways better than a love affair …

I became aware of a clamour coming from the front yard. Not being particularly fond of dogs, I keep a small flock of geese which are just as effective at seeing off unwanted visitors. I could see a car down by the gate, the driver must have missed the ‘Warning – patrolled by guard geese’ sign. The geese were rushing towards the car, making a terrible racket, enough to daunt anyone. The car made its way slowly to the house, surrounded by honking, hissing demons in goose form.

I ran down the steps calling ‘Stay in the car,’ and feeling like a member of the LAPD. Grabbing a feed bowl, I called the geese, who came belting up as if drawn by a magnet. With the guards distracted, I could release the prisoner from the car.

‘Do they welcome all your visitors like that?’ My heart missed a beat or two, hearing the Irish accent. Bono got out of the car with caution.

‘Only the ones they like. They eat the others,’ I told him, meeting his smile. ‘I call them the Stormtroopers. They’re great at protecting me from strange men who appear on my doorstep with no warning.’

Bono’s face fell a bit, then he realised I was just pulling his chain a little.
‘Come on in, it’s getting a bit wild out here.’ The wind had risen and was howling in from the sea. Rain was not far away, and the sky had turned a peculiar reddish-purple.

We went inside, where the smell of baking bread enveloped us. Bono sat in the kitchen and told me about his day with the politicians as I set the bread to cool. But why are you here? I thought. Does it matter? If he wants to spend time in my company, I’m not going to stop him. Enjoy.

A rumble of thunder preceded the first raindrops that splattered the window like thrown pebbles.
‘Want to watch the storm? It’s going to be a big one.’ A flash of lightning punctuated my words.

Bono had been eyeing the fresh bread. ‘Can we take some of that too?’ So we carried bread and some good cheese and a pot of tea out to the deck and sat in the long swing-seat to watch some of Nature’s fireworks. With his feet up on the deck rail Bono looked very much at home. I could feel the electricity in the air, raising the hairs on my arms and making my teeth tingle. Then the clouds burst, pouring a deluge of almost Biblical proportions all around us. Thunder cracked and rolled, echoing from hill to hill.

Bono softly applauded the volleys, talking was impossible through the thunder and rain. We were lost in the storm, reduced to insignificance by its power. At some point Bono put his arm around my shoulders, which I only became aware of when the rain eased enough to allow coherent thought. I reached up to take his hand, gently remove it, but instead held it against my cheek, could not let it go.
If I could be stuck in this moment, for ever, it would be enough, I thought. In that time all my reservations and good intentions blew right away.

I looked up into the looming thunderheads in the sky, at once totally at peace and totally in conflict. It was a time for honesty, I thought.

‘What am I going to do about you?’ I asked Bono quietly.

‘Whatever you want to,’ was his reply.

This was the point where, maybe, I could have taken him into my life, my bed. I looked for the inner pilot, who had never before failed me. But he had bailed out, floated serenely down on his white parachute, this is too much for me, see you. Leaving me about to spin out of control.

I don’t do crying, not often anyway, and then in the privacy of my home, in the company only of my cats and horses. I could not, however, stop a tear from spilling down my cheek and onto Bono’s hand. I knew he was looking at me, but turned my face away, not wishing him to see my weakness.

‘I am lost,’ I said. ‘You have walked into my life, made chaos of it, and you will soon walk out again, and I will be adrift.’

Bono very gently pulled me closer. ‘Then let’s choose not to hurt each other,’ he said. ‘Chaos can be good, you know, and yes, you’re right, I will have to go back into the world. I wouldn’t want to do that knowing you were hurting because of me.’

‘I need to trust you,’ I said. ‘You have control right now, and that’s very alien for me. One of us, at least, has to keep some sense.’

‘We’ll both keep our senses,’ he said. ‘Our lives meeting, it can be good or bad, whatever we make it. Can we not live in the moment, let the future take care of itself?’

‘We can at least try,’ I said, but recalled Siobhan’s words ‘he will pursue it with astonishing tenacity’.

The storm was moving off to the east, the dim light brightening a little. Whatever happens, I thought, he is here, now, and I will always have this time to remember. And in the years to come I did hold that memory, often took it out and gazed on it, then carefully put it away like a precious heirloom. An afternoon, a storm, a passing rain.

*****

The quiet after the storm brought to us a kind of peace. We were silent for a long time, watching the sky change colour as the sun lowered behind the house. The only sounds were the dripping of raindrops and his heart beating. I put my hand to his chest to feel the pulse, and felt I had attained some kind of state of grace.

‘I am in a state of grace,’ I said to Bono. He laughed quietly. And we talked, talked all through that long night, when time was suspended and the world hushed. About his music, my flying, his work in Africa, my journey to New Zealand. About past and future, friends lost and found.

At first light we roused ourselves, Bono to go back to his friends and no doubt to field a few questions. I watched him drive away down the track, then stumbled to my bed and slept, deep and dreamless, for six hours.
 
Oh, yeah, Jobob, it's written from beginning to end (March to August this year) in my crappy handwriting in my journal! I've keyed in a whole lot more and will keep posting it.

There's also a sequel, it WON'T be posted here as it would probably offend :reject:
 
:applaud: WOW!! WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!?!?! Oh that's right...stalking with YOU!! hehe

Effanbee....that....was....brilliant!!! Awesome job!! Can't wait to read more!! Feel free to email the sequel!! :giggle:
 
I like this! :) But I had no idea that Bono was married in it!
That complicates things.....but in a good way:winks:
More soon?:happy:
I'm always interested in sequels.....what's it about?:hyper:
 
Yeah, he's married! It's set in the not-too-distant future ...

Heehee not telling what the sequel is about. It wouldn't make sense anyway until you get to the end of this one! :wink:
 
Another fantastic chapter...

I love the storm - so descriptive. I think you manage to capture the moods not just with the words, but something about the rhythm or the story. I've said it before - but I find your writing very relaxing... the tone the rhythm - something?

I really liked
"‘What am I going to do about you?’ I asked Bono quietly.

‘Whatever you want to,’ was his reply""
I could just imagine this husky voice - and it chilled me in a good way. Very nice.

PS: YOu should so keep posting this - and of course the sequel too. Don't worry about offending - we all know this is fiction.....
 
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