The Light in the Quarry

The boy walked in front of the man, over the stones in the quarry and the wind blew over the hill.

The boy rolled his ankle and stumbled to the ground and the man stooped to wrap his arms around him. He held the boy’s head in his arm which wrapped it. And he felt his hair against his skin.

As the boy began to cry, the man said, “There, there boy. You are alright. Does it hurt much?”.

“A little.”, the boy said.

“You will be fine soon. Walking on it will help you finds its strength again.”

He stared at the boy and saw the same eyes and mouth he had always seen in himself. He saw the nose and face of the woman he loved. And it made him love him more. He had the same curls he had hated as a boy. But now, he saw them and he loved them.

“You’ll be alright.”, he said to the boy.

He leaned his face into the boy’s cheek and neck and kissed him. And there, he smelled his wife. He smelled his daughter, and he smelled his son. He breathed in air and he breathed in his life. He stood the boy up and put out his hand and the boy reached up to it.

They walked together in the sun, to the top of the quarry. There the man and the boy stopped and looked at the part of the sun that they could still see over the mountains.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”, the man asked.

“Yeah.”, the boy said and he smiled.

As a boy, the man walked the quarry to see the sun set over the mountains. The man looked at the boy and saw the amber light on his face and he smiled.