Stars and Turtles Page 3

she knew it was true. She had known all along.

  The teacher moved An over to the stars. An did so well for the remainder of the year that the school had her skip grade three.

  Now, with the same knowingness she’d had when she turned into a star, An was waiting for her name. “An, you will repeat the fourth grade.”

  An made her way to the front, took her report card and pretended to read it as she walked slowly back to her desk. She held it as closely as possible to her reddening face so that she could cover herself up and no one could see her. She bathed in acrimony, but for some reason, she could not wipe the broadest and most uncontrollable smile from her face, and she couldn’t figure out why. She sat down and almost closed her eyes.

  That summer, in the park, the pigeon man wasn’t there anymore.

  *****

  The woman came back to bed and curled up beside the sleeping man. She was holding back from crying. She would now have to reach into places where her heart would become known and might not emerge unscathed. But here she stayed after all, her clothes back off, her naked body beside his, and a crumpled up note she had written him an hour earlier now residing at the bottom of her purse. She reached out and draped her arm over the man’s warmth, finally accepting the feeling of being his princess. She looked out the bedroom window into the black night up at the glowing stars, and wondered what would come next.

  ###

  Michael McLaughlin as there is more to come!