Life

Kitten jumped into the vast sky of blue and soared downward and sideways and back and forth. As he moved farther downward he moved faster. He moved faster until he knew something would have to be done so that he could land and be safe. Kitten felt the cool air brush between his soft orange hairs and thought to himself, “What shall I create?”

The soft yet persistent buzzing of a housefly intruded on his thoughts so he looked right and left, searching for the source of this noise.

“Buzzzzzzzz,” said Housefly.

“But I cannot see you, how will I tell you my name if I cannot see you?”

“Buzzzz.”

“Ok, I’ll look harder.”

Kitten looked to the left, and then to the right, finally he looked straight ahead and sighed in frustration. He still could not see Housefly and the persistent buzzing was distracting him from his planning. He wanted to ask Housefly to be quiet, or move farther away, but he did not want to do it rudely.

Suddenly the buzzing was getting louder, louder, LOUDER! Until with a gentle plunge, Mr. Housefly landed himself directly upon Kitten’s nose.

“There you are! Now I will tell you my name. I am Kitten, who are you?

“Buzz.”

“Hello, Housefly. Can I ask you why in this vast sky you’ve flown so close to me?”

“Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”

“You wanted to know what I was doing? Why, I am falling. Can’t you see? It is quite a trip but I must say it needs to end soon.”

“Buzzz?”

“How will I end it? Well, just like any other fall it must end in a landing. And so I am working on creating a place to land.”

“Buzzz.”

“I’m not sure yet. I am really having trouble decided where exactly I want to create. There are so many possibilities, so many things to think about!”

“Buzzzz…. Zzzzz… zz….”

“I have never done this before either. But you can try to help me if you want.”

“Buzz. Buzzzz?”

“Well one of the things I know I want is a soft and cozy place to live. And I want someone to play with and… I want to be important.”

“Buzzz!”

“I know, but those are only a few things, there are so many other things to think about before I begin to create this place and as I fall for longer, I begin to fall faster, and it becomes harder to think.”

“Buzzzz. Zzzz. Buzz?”

“Well I never thought of that. I guess I could just start creating, and think as I go. Yes! That’s a grand idea, thank you!”

“Buzzz?”

“Yes I think I could use your help. Could you crawl into my ear and pull out the sound?”

Housefly made his way up the top of Kitten’s nose, above his eye and into his ear. With his consistent soft buzzing he quickly found the sound in Kitten’s ear. He gave the sound to Kitten. Kitten took the sound with his tail, closed his eyes and flung the sound down below him.

“Thank you Housefly, now will you come to my eyes and help me catch what I see?”

“Buzz,” said housefly and he crawled back onto Kitten’s nose between his eyes.

“On the count of three… one… two… THREE!” Kitten opened his eyes and Housefly saw what Kitten saw and it was so much clearer than they both thought it would be.

“Buzz.”

“I know, it is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Now quickly and at the same time, let’s look down and send what we see down below me.” They both looked down and sent the vision far below them to catch up with the sound.

“What’s next?”

“Buzz?”

“Good idea, now crawl into my nose and reach for my smell.” Housefly did this and they both faced downward for an instant to breathe the scent downwards. It met with the sight and sound and Housefly and Kitten turned back to how they were falling before.

“Now my taste.” Housefly crawled onto Kitten’s tongue and they imaged together the many tastes of Kitten’s new world, they sent it downward. Next they needed to feel Kitten’s world. At this point that was very easy. Kitten had begun to move so fast, and they were getting so close that the pull of the air and the pull of gravity heightened the senses on Kittens paws and Housefly’s little legs as he grasped Kittens fur in an attempt to stay with him for the entire process.

“Quickly!” said Kitten. Now I need a heart but I am so close I am going to need to you to do this part for me so I can concentrate on landing. Housefly agreed and with determination he crawled onto Kitten’s chest and listened for his heartbeat. Once he had Kitten’s heartbeat he buzzed a confirmation and began to send the heartbeat down below them.

But without warning Kitten flipped out of nervousness, for he knew he was getting close to his world. Housefly lost his grip of Kitten and before he got the chance to follow through with the sending of Kitten’s heart, poor Kitten landed with a “THUD!” on a hard dirt road at the end of a curving driveway connected to a cozy little house with a great big picture window.

“Buzzz...” House fly circled around Kitten’s body that did not have a heartbeat. He was telling Kitten all about the cozy place he had created, that he had found someone to play with, and most of all, he told Kitten that he was important.