Birds in the Storm

“…Mum?”

“…Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!”

Somewhere in the darkness a candle coughed and flickered to life—the power was out again, and even if it hadn’t been electric lights weren’t allowed due to the recent rash of bombings. Lillian Grey cradled the little flame with a cupped hand to keep it from going out as she picked her way to a room down the hall. Once there she found a small, tearfully frightened face peeping out from under the shelter of a bedspread. Something that wasn’t thunder rumbled in the distance and the face abruptly disappeared behind the safety of the covers. Somewhere nearby a mechanical banshee began to wail.
“They’re back, mum.” mumbled a snuffling voice.

Lillian carefully set the candle on the bedside table where it wouldn’t spill over and moved to sit on the bed, carefully peeling back the blankets to reveal the little boy who promptly clung to her. “I know, love. They woke me up too.”

“Do you think they’ll get us this time? They were just over the hill yesterday.”

Pressing a kiss to Donovan’s forehead, the woman picked up the boy under the arms and shifted him so that he could curl up in her lap. He was getting to the age where he didn’t often enjoy as much snuggling anymore, but bad dreams and thunder had a way of making one forget about the rules of being a grownup. Scout whimpered from somewhere underneath the bed and after a moment of gesturing the dog was coaxed out to join the tightly-knit circle of warmth. “No, Donnie. Your dad and his big blue bird will drive them off.”

Donnie sniffled and looked up at his mother’s face quizzically. Her expression was strained as it had been for days now, but that was the first time she’d mentioned his father with that much warmth and sincerity in her voice in a very, very long time. Taking some amount of comfort from this fact he buried his cheek against her chest once more, burying one hand in Scout’s warm fur. “…’is name’s Rigel.”

Lillian smiled and petted the boy’s hair. “That’s right. Would you like me to sing you the song about bluebirds, love?”

The little tousled head gave a small bob of assent, so the woman sat up a little straighter and began to sing. Her voice was soft as a dove’s croon, but somehow it still managed to mask the harsher booming that loomed ever closer.

“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
there’s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby…”

Somewhere high up and far away, a plane labored through a storm. It seemed that the winds would simply whip it away if it weren’t for the vine-laden creature flying beside it that brought with her a small piece of the sun. She and one of the plane’s occupants shot beams of light and heat at snarling shadows that flitted around them.

“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”

Donnie cuddled close as another peal of not-thunder rattled the taped-over windows. People shouted in the street outside. Lillian’s voice faltered for a brief moment, but she cleared her throat and continued on.

“Someday I’ll wish upon a star
and wake up where the clouds are far behind me,”
where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops
that’s where you’ll find me.”

Somewhere else, equally far away but safe from the storm, a priest huddled in the corner of a dark burned-out chapel with his face in his hands and let himself give in to despair for a night. A lioness and a lamb curled about his feet, and a brilliantly colored bird stood by his side. The cat raised her head to rest it on the man’s lap, and Galahad leaned down to bury his face in her mane. The others huddled in, offering what comfort they could to the man who had done the same for them for so long.

“Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly
birds fly over the rainbow, why, oh why can’t I?”

Smoke belched from the plane’s engine. Something had managed to slip in and damage the metal bird’s delicate framework and then disappear as quickly as it had come. Its pilot began to issue frantic maydays.

Back in Goldenrod the siren noise rose to a fever pitch outside, nearly drowning out Lillian’s song. Donnie clutched his hands hard around Scout’s fur and his mother’s sleeve and concentrated hard on summoning his father to chase the demons that buzzed overhead away. His mother wrapped her arms tighter around him and stood, hoisting him up against her shoulder as she began to make her way out the door and away from the windows, still singing but with an undercurrent of urgency to her voice now. Scout leapt after them as a crash nearby caused the very floors to shake. All three knew it would be safer downstairs, even if they couldn’t get to the city tunnels in time.

“…If happy little bluebirds fly
beyond the rainbow…”

And in the last seconds while the world fell down, Rory managed to send out a few more radio transmissions but then watched helplessly as the ground rose up to seize him.

“…why, oh, why can’t I?”

“…Oh fuck.”