By The Sea, Gently

His first solo, my first ever promise to him -- kept.

I'm watching his little wings as he taxis back to the ramp, to me, and -- I hear it then.

A voice so familiar to me now, then laughter.

I know that voice, I tell myself. And that's Liz laughing, here on the wind all around me.

And then I feel her behind me again, close now, closer than forever, and I feel her hands on my shoulders, then her arms as she comes closer still, as then she's all around me -- again -- the way it should be.

"You forgive me?"

It's a whisper, really, just something passing on the wind. Then I feel something pinch me on the ass as a whirling gust crosses the ramp, and another gale of laughter comes for me...

...as Ben turns and brakes to a stop. He sets the parking brake and retracts the flaps, then opens his door and runs into my arms. I feel her there with us under the sun, and while I'm not sure whose tears I feel on my face, now I understand a father's pride -- and her's, too.

*

(C)2016 Adrian Leverkühn | abw | this is a work of fiction, of course, though a few names and places have been changed to protect the guilty.