wings.

Myia threw her bag into her trunk and dropped into her car with a sigh of relief that she had survived the day. And that everyone else in her office had as well. She loves her co-workers and her job on most days but today had tried her patience. She was inches from an explosion of frustration and luckily everyone else had slid out of the office before she was ready to leave so she didn’t have to talk to anyone on her way out to the parking lot.

She looked at her watch and read her daughter Teddy’s text: where are you, Mom? Please hurry. She started the engine, responded that she had been hung up in a meeting with the mayor and swung quickly out of the nearly empty parking lot.

Teddy was patient with her mom’s work schedule and if she was asking her mom to hurry, it must not have been a good day for her either. Myia blew through three yellow lights as they slid to red, praying that the local police weren’t looking for an easy ticket, and pulled up in front of the red brick high school. One of the black metal doors swung open and her daughter approached the car with her head down. She chucked her backpack, with some force, into the back seat. Teddy was in her AP year and the backpack thudded with the weight of her books. When Teddy got in, her eyes were red and there were tear stains on her shirt.

Myia knew not to push Teddy. She would open up when she was ready. All she said was “Hi hon” and she sped toward home.

Myia was standing in the kitchen over the stove in the same outfit she had worn to work. She worked for the city and she had been there for nearly seventeen years now. It wasn’t amazing money but it helped pay the house payment and the extras so they could put her husband Tayar’s paycheck in the investment account. They were desperate to be able to retire early so they could travel together. Myia turned on her music. She needed to dance this day out of her mind.

Teddy had spread out on the kitchen table with her laptop and her sound cancelling headphones. She wasn’t ready to share her day yet. Teddy pretended to hate her mom’s music and always had to be prepared with her Bose to look like she was tuning it out. Sometimes, she didn’t even have anything playing and she had the right one far enough back to be able to hear her mom’s music. She would always give her mom an annoyed grunt before singing with her in the kitchen or the car.

Teddy needed to get her chemistry homework done and study for her history exam. Her mom was now dancing at the stove, and she rolled her eyes at her but laughed internally. Most of her friends complained about their moms but Teddy was a fan of hers. She loved being able to say anything to her mom; her mom never yelled. Her mom loved to dance on her frustrating days. Clearly, it was a tough day all around.

Myia was pan frying the ground beef; she had done it so many times that she could keep cooking and be a million miles away. She was glancing out the window over the sink to the expanse of green lawn and thinking that they needed to plan a trip. She and Tayar had been hording vacation days, but they never really got away. Her back was to the front door when she heard the garage door go up and descend again. They should get that fixed. It was old and threatening to come off track.

It was a long couple of minutes before she heard the door close to Tayar’s car. He often returned texts before he came in so he could give his wife his undivided attention while she told him about her day. He enjoyed how Myia told stories about her office. He wondered how she was able to get any work done with all the excitement happening in the lives of her tight-knit office. The way she told stories was one of his favorite things about her. He would come into the kitchen first and ask her about her day. He would often join her at the stove to help with dinner. His law office was stressful and intense, so their turnover was high. He was on his third paralegal assistant this year and he was weary with training new employees in the process. It slowed him down and lengthened his hours. He was going in earlier and earlier these days.

It took him longer than normal to come from the garage to the front door. She heard the chimes from the Ring doorbell announce his presence. His key turned in the lock and the hinges of the old screen door squealed as it opened and banged to a close and shuttered to a stop. They needed to replace that too. It wasn’t a matter of finances but of time to get all the trivial things done. Both had been spending a half day on Saturday at the office to catch up.

Myia went to pause her music, but Tayar did not come into the kitchen like he normally did, he grunted a hello and set his work bag down in the hall.

Tayar went straight to the living room and turned the tv on. He collapsed on the couch. Myia stepped into the room behind the couch. Tayar’s head was bent, and he wasn’t even looking at the tv. She felt like she was losing him a piece at a time.

That’s it. She said to herself. This family needs a wings day.

**

Myia knocked on her husband’s office door. He opened it slowly and looked surprised to see her. “Hi.” He grabbed her hand. “My, is everything okay?”

“I think we need a wings day. Can you come with me?”

Tayar’s eyes widened in surprise. He looked back at his desk which was covered with half-finished work and yellow post-it notes about what needed to be done next. His phone was blinking red with unreturned phone messages. He looked back at Myia. He broke into a huge grin. Myia knew she was right about her choice because she had not seen that smile in weeks.

Tayar unlocked his top desk drawer, swept all the papers covering his desk into the drawer and locked it afterwords. He was already undoing his tie and taking off his suit jacket as he took her hand and headed toward the front door of his office.

“Are you already loaded?” he asked.

“They are in the trunk.” She responded. She handed her phone to

Tayar and asked him to find them a soundtrack. The music was shaking the windows of her car when they pulled up in front of the high school.

Teddy looked worried when she saw both of them standing in the office straight-faced when she returned with the student who had gone to pull her out of class.

Myia whispered in her ear. “We decided it is a wings day.”

“Really?” Teddy asked. She matched her father’s goofy grin. They all but ran back to their car.

**

They were the only car in the parking lot of Oaklawn park. They opened the trunk and pulled out each of their personalized kites and flying outfits that Myia had packed. They change quickly out of their work and school clothes into comfortable jeans and a sweatshirt.

They lay out each of their kites on the expanse of grass. The sky was blue and waiting for their lift off. Myia, Tayar, and Teddy slid their arms into the wings of each kite and rose to their feet. They looked at one another and nodded. They began to run down the gentle slope until the wind caught their wings. Tayar struggled to lift off the ground. He was usually the first in the air. Myia saw him stumble back onto the grass and tilt to earth bending his right wing at an odd angle. She had not lifted completely so she bent toward the grass and landed as near as she could to Tayar with her own wobbled landing.

Teddy, who was just in the air, circled uncleanly and landed with a tottering, unbalanced landing. She dropped her kite and came over to see if both her parents were okay. Both were laughing at their messy attempt. They hadn’t had this much trouble since their first flight when Teddy was seven years old and had a much smaller kite.

“What happened?” she asked as she joined their laughter. “Is something off balance?”

“This feels like a metaphor.” He chuckled. “Our LIVES are off balance.” He wiped the laughter tears from his face. “No wonder I can’t get off the ground. How did I expect to fly today?”

Myia looked Tayar in the face and took his hand. “I think we’ve been working too hard. And I think maybe you need to get a different job?” she asked. “At the very least, we need to take better care of us.”

Teddy was nodding. “Today is a beginning. We need this. Let’s do more wing days!”

They straightened Tayar’s kite. Luckily, the landing had not damaged anything permanently. They made some minor repairs and alterations. All three of them strapped on their wings and they went back to the top of the hill to try again. It took two more tries before they found the magic they needed.

Their take-off was flawless and the three of them took flight. At the precise moment as before, they dipped their wings and escaped into another time. They landed in the field of yellow rapeseed. Their feet landed perfectly, and they walked to a stop and as the sun was setting.

Their old friends had seen them approaching and had left their cottage to come and see their favorite neighbors. The grey-haired Merlene and her husband Loyal were holding hands and waiting for them at the gate when they approached.

“It has been so long!” She hollered as they neared them. She grabbed Myia in a strong embrace. “You scallywags! You didn’t send word that you were coming.”

Myia smiled at her dearest friend. “It was a last-minute thing. Time has gotten away from us. We have so much to tell you.”

“How have you been?” Loyal asked as his handshake with Tayar became a one-armed embrace. “Actually, I could really use your advice Loyal. I’m thinking of changing my job.” Loyal nodded, “I’d be happy to help you talk it out.”

Merlene had her arms around Teddy and Loyal joined her on the other side. “And look how tall this one has grown!”

They led them into the cottage for tea and biscuits. They talked all evening and enjoyed dinner together. They gathered their kites from the field and folded them down in the yard.

Merlene begged them to spend the night. She perpetually had the guest room ready “just in case.” She made Teddy a bed on the couch with sheets and blankets, Myia, and Tayar snuggled into the queen size bed down the hall. This is the most relaxed they had both felt in months. Maybe years.

“I’m glad we did this. Thank you for being willing to come.” Myia said to Tayar.

“I needed to do this. I’m so glad you thought of it.” He pulled her closer to him. “Do you think maybe we should stay? We could make a life here.”

Myia considered the question. “My only fear is Teddy. This isn’t the life we wanted for her until she was old enough to decide on her own. We have a couple more years before I think it is fair to ask her to leave the world she knows.”

“You’re right.” He sighed. “But we need to do things better. We are killing ourselves and for what?”

“I agree. I meant what I said. If you want to quit your job, we can make it work. We have savings and time for you to find something else.”

“I can’t believe, I couldn’t even take off with my wings.”

“That speaks volumes about how off things are with our life. We should come back here more.” Myia promised.

“Yes, we should. I’ve missed talking to Loyal about my life.”

“We’ll be better.”

**

Myia, Tayar, and Teddy shared breakfast with Merlene and Loyal and got ready to head home. They offered them a room if they would like to come back to the other time. Loyal was desperate to get in the air again but Merlene would hear nothing of it. She had no intention of putting on her wings again. Loyal would not go without her.

They walked them to the hill at the top of the field and watched them go. This time they were successful on the first launch.

**

They landed in the early morning dew on the grass and slid to a stop. There was a parking ticket on their car from the city for being in the parking lot overnight. Myia thought she could pull some strings in her office to get it removed from their record.

They played hooky for one more day from their jobs and school.

That evening, they stood in the kitchen together telling the story of their much needed flight.  A star was on the calendar for their next wings day. With a promise they wouldn’t let themselves get this rusty at flying again.

They turned on some music and danced while Myia made dinner.

And talked about what it might look like to build a place next to Merlene and Loyal after Teddy’s graduation. And make retirement a permanent situation.