Crusaders of Sky

Chapter 3

          I dreamed of the sky, and clouds that were always changing. The wind whistled through my ears, and I realized I was falling. But I couldn't be falling, because I couldn't see the ground. Then I realized the clouds were getting further below me. I was flying. And of course, the one time I could achieve a good dream, I blinked myself awake into my dark room.

          The moon was alight in the sky, casting a white, eerie glow on the statues my dad had carved earlier. Then, I flinched. Something was scraping in the living room. I picked up the largest statue in the room to use as defense, and took some reluctant steps towards the noise. The living room was not as bright, but I could make out the shape of Dad still experimenting in the late of night. I decided it was best not to bother him, and slunk back to my room, nearly tripping over a basket of arborberries on the way.

          Of course, the silent haunting ghost that was insomnia struck again, and in the morning I found myself crawling out of bed still awake, hoping that I could once again experience flying through the skies of wispy clouds. I was met with Edwyn's face beside my bed.

"Dedric! Rosanne is probably done with the string now! We should go get the cloth for Dad!"

"Okay, Ed. Just one second. I'm barely awake!" I groggily rubbed my eyes and climbed out of bed. Edwyn had already dashed out of my room. I chased my excited brother all the way to Rosanne's place. When we got there, the finished cloth was sitting outside. It appeared to be two stylized thin sections with a thin section in between, almost like an ornate hourglass shape. This was unmistakably a set of wings. Edwyn stood in front of the door, knocking every few seconds apprehensive of seeing Rosanne. Finally we heard a weak "I'm coming," and stood in wait.

Rosanne was very weak, and I could hear a wheeze every time she inhaled. "Oh no, Rosanne! What's wrong?" Edwyn asked, very concerned.

"Sheep flu." She sounded congested. It wasn't possible to get sheep flu through cleaned wool, but Rosanne often got her own from the farmers in Westford. "I must have got it last Saturday when I got fresh wool."

I didn't want to get sheep flu myself, so I kept my distance. Rosanne looked very ill. "We'll just uh- take the cloth now," I said. 

"Bye Rosanne!" Edwyn called out as we left. 

The walk back home was a solemn one. Both of us hoped Rosanne would make it through the bout of sheep flu, and I hoped I wouldn't get it myself. When we got back home, Dad looked very tired. A beard was starting to grow on his normally clean-shaven face. When he saw the wings for his invention, he said "Brilliant! Rosanne always makes works of art!" 

"Weren't you going to pay her for it?" I asked.

"Uh, yes, once we get money from the market Sunday. I'm going to put this cloth on the gl-invention! You kids go outside and have fun!"

I would never object to leaving Dad alone, and these days, Edwyn wouldn't either. We usually played among the trees in the orchard, but we didn't want to run into Roddy and his goons, and we would go to the farm,  but sheep flu was about. We decided to make some arborberry jam and pie to make more money at the market. We would have to go to the grocer to get pastries first for the pie, and having them warm on Sunday would be nice, so we instantly started mashing them for jam, and saved the making of pies for Sunday. Edwyn washed a pair of gloves for the occasion. We started mashing the berries with unrelenting and powerful force. Because we did so in a small bowl, it was needless to say that we ended up making a mess. Reddish violet goop stained the tables and the walls closest to the table, but we weren't nearly done. Over the noise of mashing berries forcefully, we could still hear the faint noise of Dad mumbling to himself as he worked on his invention.