Her Tiny World

Chapter 4. The Ride

Benjamin

"Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty! Ready or not, here I come!"

I opened my eyes and turned to the forest. Mina and Gadry were gone. The leaves on the trees were greener, and the day was sunnier. It's finally summer. Summer was my favorite season of the year. Everything seemed more alive and cheerful. I loved the sunbeams which had the power to warm the forest which was normally cold and humid most of the year. I was riding Lucky, my bird.

"Let's find them, Lucky!"

Then, with a command, Lucky took off and flew through the leaves that danced in the wind. It felt wonderful to fly. Not all of us had a bond with an animal, especially a bird. Most of us were afraid to even leave dry land, but when you had such a deep and unique bond, it was impossible to be afraid. I'll never get tired of it.

We flew through the treetops and over the bushes, the foliage was dense and although it made it harder to find them, I always enjoyed the challenge. Hide and seek was our people's favorite game because it was what we did best. When you're smaller than most things around you, you learn to hide. A smart way of teaching children how to survive, after all. The forest was a huge place, with plenty of places for people our size to hide. Most of our people hid in places on the ground. Inside holes, under rocks and mushrooms, in cracks in tree trunks. But we could hide above all else. And that was our personal game.

"There Lucky, we found them!"

Lucky flew over to them, when Mina saw us, she took flight towards the tree where the game started. The first one to get there would win. I was much more skilled than Mina was when it came to leading a bird. The entire forest was just a blur of green past me. It wasn't long before we were neck and neck. Lucky and I detoured along a route I had memorized whenever we played in this place. As they went forward, we climbed and then skirted a few more trees, flew over a stream, and then it was just a turn into a blueberry bush and... victory!

Lucky landed on a branch and we waited for a little until a fast dot came our way. When Mina's bird finally landed next to us I helped them both to get down from the animal carefully. Even though we had experience with heights now Gadry was with us. Any misstep could lead to a massive fall to the ground.

"And once again the great Benjamin remains undefeated." I said proudly.

"You're really good at this, Ben!" Gadry said excitedly fixing her messy hair.

"It's no big deal. No one can stay undefeated forever." Mina said challenging me.

"I bet I can." I returned with a confident smile.

"So, Gadry? How did you like your first ride?" Mina asked.

"It was amazing!" I could see the amusement in her childish face. "I've never felt the wind like this before."

We spent the morning flying. Riding a bird could be uncomfortable, but Gadry couldn't be happier. At first we flew low, practically low to the ground so she would get used to the feeling. We stayed like that for a good part of the morning before heading higher. The flights weren't as fast as usual, but fast enough to make the kid enjoy the ride. Flying a bird wasn't exactly safe. There was nothing we could hold on to but the animal's own feathers. Mina and I had tried using ropes to control the flight, but the birds never took it well so we got used to doing it the hard way. Gadry kept her arms around Mina's waist the entire time to keep from falling, but no discomfort could take the sparkle out of her eyes.

As soon as everyone was firmly on the branch we sat in a circle feeling the wind gently pass us by, listening to the soft sound of the leaves stirring. The sun was shining brightly over our heads and it felt like it was already midday.