"Fiction Friday”

(An excerpt of a short story inspired by this drawing)

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Sander put his hands on the wide rail and hoisted himself up. He leaned over almost flat, his stomach pushing against the warm steel. He sat up, swung both legs around, and put his feet on the lower rails. Jack got up the same way, and they sat side by side. 

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Behind them the commotion of kids high on breaking rules stirred the air, but they just leaned over, looking at the creek below. A few kayaks floated off down the way. The water was dark near the shady banks and almost foggy, translucent green towards the middle. From their view, the calm surface below them didn’t sparkle. But it did reflect the blue sky in shifting colors. It even mirrored the dark underside of the bridge with two small bodies peering over the edge.

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Without a word, Sander stood up. He pushed with one hand, his fingertips grazing the edges of Jack’s, turning to pull his feet up and under him. Sander thought he would be scared or at least a little nervous. His legs shook the last time he stood on a high diving board, but here, it all fell into place. All of it. 

 

By the time he stood all the way up he realized his power. It all came to him, the strength he had to adapt to a new city. The joy of being a good brother. The ownership of his life he found in the secret kept from his parents. He knew, as he looked out over the tops of the trees and into the water below, that there was strength in discovering who he was without his family knowing. 

 

When everything else in his life depended on the whims of another, who he was -- who he was finding himself to be -- was up to no one but himself. Here, standing on the high rail of a bridge over a green creek reflecting blue skies, he was calm. He had something no one could take away. 

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Before Jack could stand to join him, Sander kicked off. Arms out as if reaching to embrace a future of his own making, he fell.