The Son and the Sparrow

Chapter Fifty Five(v3)

Chapter Fifty Five

The single, greatest moment of Philip's life was when Daniel opened his eyes in that hospital bed. After sobbing and holding Daniel tightly and telling him how much he loved him over and over again and sobbing some more he asked what the last thing Daniel remembered was.

Daniel replied, "That fucking idiot Leon locked me in his garage."

Knowing that he had Daniel truly back, body and mind, was the second greatest moment of his life. It made his life's agony, hurt, and betrayal all worth it.

Daniel was dressed handsomely in a black suit, top of the line. He hadn't any idea what type it was, but since Philip had picked it out for him he assumed it was extremely expensive. The quality and feel of the cloth seemed to support this theory. He held it against his face, smelling it (for some reason or another, it smelled like matches and Daniel loved it) while rubbing it against the rough side of his scruffy face. Philip was next to him, walking stiffly, mind clearly wandering. Their hands were entertained and Daniel stroked Philip's thumb fondly. Philip had refused to let go of Daniel's hand since he had woken up to the point of utter ridiculousness. It was strange; usually Philip would never show any kind of affection in any sort of public area, but Daniel found Philip on numerous occasions reaching up and giving him a kiss in plain sight of everyone. He even cried in public once, out of joy Daniel supposed, and seemed unabashed by it. Daniel supposed that Philip now treasured every gifted moment, and wasn't about to waste those moments because of embarrassment.

Philip looked utterly, hopelessly adorable in his stiff, professional suit. Daniel clamped down on Philip's hand tighter, and Philip looked up at him questioningly.

"You look amazing." Daniel told Philip with a warm smile.

Philip allowed himself to smile at the compliment. "You do too."

They walked across the grass together, and Daniel enjoyed the feel of the warm sunshine on his face. It was getting warmer now; the nights were pleasant to walk through. I should build a hammock in the backyard, Daniel thought to himself dreamily. He'd love to swing in a hammock during lazy summer afternoons, read a book or two, drag Philip outside although Philip's idea of fresh air was turning on the air conditioner.

"We should put a hot tub in the backyard." Daniel stated.

"A hot tub?"

Daniel nodded.

"I hate water." Philip replied.

Daniel laughed, narrowly avoiding hitting his foot on a tombstone.

It was obvious to see where the funeral was. There was an enormous cloth over it for shade, with white clothed tables. It seemed that there were more servers running around with oeuvres that actual guests.

"Oh wow Blue," Daniel whistled in admiration. "You really went all out."

"This is the man who saved your life," was Philip's plain reply.

As Daniel and Philip approached the set-up, little details became apparent, such as the roses winding all around the overheard cloth, each spray-painted black and speckled with gold sparkles. Somehow, they managed to get them to look so real you would swear they were genetically grown that way. White Chinese lanterns hung, their insides glowing with fire. But the most breathtaking object, far overtaking everything else, was an absolutely gorgeous ice sculpture. It stood about seven feet high was of a tree. In the tree five birds perched, a mockingbird, and bluebird, a crow skulking at the bottom, a finch, and at the top, a marvelous little sparrow, looking down at them all. At the bottom was a dog, his nose to the ground as though hunting for the birds. To keep in the sparrow theme, there was a large cage in the corner holding dozens of twittling sparrows.

The decorations were so amazing it was a bit humorous to see the lack of guests that were there to enjoy them. Joanna was at the food table showing a red ripe strawberry to a toddler in a stroller. Daniel smiled at the scene. Apparently after she had lost her own child she found out one of her own clients was into the child trafficking business. A few days later he existed no more and Iris found the toddler in her hands. Perhaps it would have been better if the child had been returned to its own parents, but seeing the love in Joanna's eyes he couldn't imagine a happier future for the lucky kid. She had so much cash saved up from dancing it was easy enough for her to retire.

Daniel began to approach Joanna when he accidently ran into Houston. They stared at each other in surprise for a moment or two, and then in a sudden burst of intuition he realized what the dog in the ice sculpture represented and began laughing.

Houston stared at him, puzzled, as he couldn't figure out the source of Daniel's humor.

Daniel finished his jaunty laugh, then looked over at Houston. He wasn't quite sure what to say. After a few seconds he said, "I still hate cops. But at the very least, I shouldn't have to deal with them too often. The most contact I want with you people is getting a speeding ticket."

Houston smiled. "The system works." He laughed softly, almost sarcastically.

Daniel was surprised by the exchange, and excused himself. After munching on a small quiche, he noticed a girl standing around awkwardly, clearly unsure what to do.

"Can I help you?" Daniel asked while approaching her.

"My name is Cecelia," she replied. "I'm...well, I'm Leon's sister."

"Sister?" Daniel repeated. "I never, ever heard of Leon having a sister."

"We were quite a few years apart from each other and he moved out when I was very young. He...well he didn't like me very much. I was the good child." She laughed lightly.

She had the most piercing blue eyes. Leon's blue eyes. "What do you know about your brother?" he asked.

"Not much." She replied. "Not much at all."

Philip stood in front of chairs, and in response Joanna and Houston sat down.

"We should go sit," Daniel said. He quickly grabbed a napkin and pen and wrote down his phone number. "Here. We'll go out for lunch sometime. I have a great many things you might like to know about your brother."

"Oh!" she sounded surprised. "I'm sorry...but I have a boyfriend."

"So I do Love." He said with a chuckle, and took a seat.

Although the crowd was painfully small, Philip was still visibly shaking. Daniel smiled encouragement. Finally, he said the simple words, "I thank Leon. He gave me everything I needed in life. And...I think he's finally at peace." With that, he opened the bird cage, and sparrow wings made a fluttering noise as a flock of those little birds grabbed a piece of the sky. They all watched the birds, and somehow, that action said more than any words ever could.

The sparrow was finally free.

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