The Moonlighters

The two lovers walked hand and hand under the stars. Their sneakers kicking up the dirt of the walking trail, leaving little lingering dust clouds that trailed behind them. One lover spotted the hill before the other, looking at the grassy area with contempt for the dirty ground it covered. The other, upon seeing the blue light reflected from the nearby water, looked upon the hill with twinkling eyes.  A stage, the young girl thought- pulling her annoyed companion to the grassy spot. The boy watched her twirl, arms wide open under the shifting lights of the stars, reflecting in the dark glass pond and laughing with the chilly breeze. He thought she looked happy here under the moonlight. It was bewitching; he could almost enjoy the wet mush below his feet and the lack of dim industrial lights. The girl danced and danced until her clumsy nature tripped her up, sending her to the ground. The boy chuckled, this was the girl he knew. A girl, bleeding and holding back tears from little slip ups. She looked up at him with her large watery eyes, patting for him to sit and join her. He didn’t want to, but he would. She was shivering in the cold. The boy eased back as she crawled onto his lap, allowing his arm to drape over her possessively. “Isn’t the moon pretty tonight?” She asked him. He shrugged. He was not one for romantics. “It’s just a moon.” The girl looked down at the dark water, watching the reflecting colors splinter off the rippling moon. “You know there’s an old story about the moon,” the girl cooed. The boy laughed. “You’re going to tell me aren’t you.” The girl knew he couldn’t care less, but she would tell it anyways. “Legend says the G-ds’ arranged a marriage between the Sun and the Moon. The problem was the Moon hated the Sun.” The boy giggled. “Was he too blinding for her?” The girl shook her head. “The Moon was in love with the River and so the River asked his Mother Earth to help him see the Moon. The Earth went to the Sky and asked her husband to let them meet in secret. The Sky said the Sun was his brother and didn’t want to upset him. But the Earth begged and pleaded and so the Sky was forced to agree. He gave the River a gift, a surface that could reflect the Sky only at night, when the Sun was asleep.” The boy looked down at his lover, her pale white skin alive and thrumming in the moonlight. “And so we see the stars and the moon in the river every night.” He replied. The girl nodded. “A reflection is a gift of love, a latter for the Moon and River to meet every night.” He pondered that for a moment. “It can’t be every night. The Sun doesn’t seem to be such a stupid guy.” The girl giggled. “The nights the clouds cover the Moon is the Sky’s warning to the River that the Moon is with the Sun. There will be no reflection in the water that night.” The girl snuggled closer. “Are you the moon in the story?” Asked the boy. The girl looked out at the water, tears coming to her eyes. She wiped them away quickly. “I’m the Sun.” The boy turned her head to face his. “Why are romantics always so pessimistic.” The two lovers looked at each other, the girl sniffling. “ We’re truthful that’s all.” He shook his head. “You’re delusional.” The girl hopped up, smiling brightly. “Want to go?” The boy nodded and grabbed her hand, tugging them back onto the walking trail. Hand in hand they walked home; walking away from the grey clouds that began to crawl over the moon.