Of Sandstorms and Burning Rocks

in

In the Green Age, everything you see had something growing and green. Not green like the algae we eat, but a bright green, a shining green that had its own light. That was when we still knew the secrets of smooth steel and the burning rocks. It was those rocks that we were forbidden to touch. We knew they gave the great Useh His power, and He knew we were too weak to control them. But when the rogue Isaiah snuck into Useh's vault, one of the treasures he came away with was the fire rocks. Isaiah taught us to use them, and for a long time all was well.

Until we used them for war and burned a tree favored by Useh. Enraged by grief, Useh breathed out His fury, sweeping the land with fire and burning away all that was green and good. Only the most faithful escaped his wrath. Now Useh's burning rocks lie scattered across the land, where any fool can find them. When Useh remembers our foolishness, He sighs, sending hot winds swirling across the lands. That is why they sandstorms come, and we must use them to remember to touch only what we understand.

Houseplane

in

"The whole house is a plane!" Ollie said, swinging his arms wide. I smiled. A warm breeze blew from the lake up through the trees, and only a motor from the distant road reminded me that anyone outside our cabin existed. I put my book on my chair and stood. "Great! How do we fly it?"

"We fly over here." Ollie ran over to the deck. "You stand here, I stand here. You're flying, I'm shooting the guns." He started making boom noises. Across the lake, someone was setting off fireworks.

"There are guns?" I took up the imaginary steering wheel and piloted the plane back and forth. I must have stood up too fast, because I felt a little unsteady on my feet. The distant motor grew closer, and I wondered if someone was coming to visit.

"We're fighting pirates," he said. He shot more. The fireworks sounded closer. "Turn that way!" He pointed. I turned the wheel hard and nearly fell off my feet. The deck beneath us vibrated in time with the motor, and I could feel the wind in my face.

I peered down at the land far below, and hoped I was a good pilot.

To Walk

in

He wanted to walk, so he walked. "You'll get tired and wish you hadn't gone so far," the said. He didn't get tired. "You'll get homesick," they said. "Once you've been away too long, you'll come back." It turned out he didn't get homesick for people who told him not to walk.

"You'll get lost in the woods! Bears will eat you!" He did get lost, but as long as he was walking he didn't mind. The bears left him alone because he left them alone.

"You'll walk off the edge of the Earth," they cried. He did walk off the edge of the Earth. Drifting in the void, he relished all the walking he had done, but wondered if perhaps he should have turned.