A. Nicky Hjort Books

The small child looked up unto the Sky in awe of its beauty and smiled.

“So red and gorgeous,” she called and laughed as she spun round.

Surprised by her pleasant expression, the Sky grumbled and grimaced.

“Do you not see the fury on my horizon?” the Sky replied. “Don’t you fear me?”

 

“No, never. What fury? For I cannot feel anything but delight under your cover.”

“See how red and angry I am?” the Sky claimed.

“No, never. What anger? For all I see is your glory. One day we will be red together.”
Silenced the Sky, could do nothing but watch her.

 

“Here I shall paint you and show you what you look like to me,” the little girl said.

And she did and called her masterpiece Heaven.

 

The small child looked up once more unto the Sky in awe of its bounty and chuckled.

“So nourishing and forgiving,” she called and danced as the rain poured down.

Surprised by her pleasant expression, the Sky boomed and flittered.

“Do you not see the storm consume my landscape?” the Sky replied. “Don’t you run for cover from me and my downpour of suffering unto you?”

 

“No, never. What sadness? For I cannot feel anything but precious under your gifts.”

“See how I rain down and soak you to the bone?” the Sky claimed.

“No, never. What rain? For all I see is your life-giving blessing. And one day we will be together through your generosity.”
Silenced the Sky, did nothing but watch her.

 

“Here I shall wash myself pure and show you how much more beautiful you have made me and my home,” the tiny girl said.

And she did and let the extra water flow from her onto the ground and called it Garden.

 

Taken aback the Sky said, “Then I will banish you to darkness.”

“And I will rest and slumber until you change your mind,” she said and called it Night.

Silenced the Sky, did nothing but watch her.

 

Annoyed the Sky said, “Then I will wake you and burn you with the sun.”

“And I will bathe in it too and turn a bronze color that will make it even safer to be with you until we are together forever,” she said and called it Day.

Silenced the Sky, did nothing but watch her.

 

Surprised by this, the Sky puffed with pride that he would get the best of her yet and she called it Cloud threw all her best dreams of them being together into the air towards him.

Silenced the Sky, did nothing but watch her.

 

And for years this continued…. Until the Sky finally realized there was nothing she didn’t love about him.

And the child became a woman quite dear to the Sky, who wished they could really be together… yet the Sky never told her so because that was not his way.

And then she was a mother.

And a grandmother.

And then she was no more.

Certain they would never be together now, the Sky mourned for forty days and forty nights– until even he, exhausted, ran out of fury and tears at missing her so.

And in honor of her he placed a brilliant stream of colors into his heart and called it Rainbow.

 

Then the water receded and the ground returned for the Sky to look upon once more.

And oh how he missed the little girl, the woman, the grandmother who had loved him unconditionally.

So in remembrance he shone brightest over the place that had once been her home until she had turn to ash, never knowing how he felt about her.

Forlorn, he wished she knew how precious she had been to him.

Oh… how he wished that he had told her.

Oh how he wished he had changed his ways.

And wished and wished.

But mostly he wished they could still be together.

 

And up until just a few years ago, the Sky spent more time than he should have over her old home, thinking only of her ashes that have turned to dust and scattered.

 

And before too long had passed, the bit of her dust that remained deep in the earth underneath her old home birthed a single green blade from his generous attention.

And that blade birthed a sapling.

And that sapling birthed a red, red redwood tree.

All of which the Sky watered with his tears of sadness over not telling her how beautiful she was, how precious, how rare, how irreplaceable, how grand, how much he longed to be with her once more.

 

Until…

Just yesterday, when a redwood tree finally reached high enough into the Sky to touch the horizon’s edge– the branches tickling the Sky’s nose with a shocking familiarity.

 

“See,” the tree said, “I told you one day that we would be together.”

And the Sky smiled and named the tree True Love.

 

The end….