Letters and clouds

 

“How did letters get their names if they can’t be spelled?” Sean, my son, asked me.

“Well…” I though for a moment and came up empty.   I’ve actually wondered about that myself.  It’s odd.  How do you spell “W” anyway?  Dubayou?

Sean was looking up at me waiting.

“You got me kidboy. It’s just a weirdness we all live with.” I said, my mind racing through the alphabet. Did you know “W” is the only letter with multiple syllables? I had never noticed that.

“I’m going to get some fruit,” I said, “Do you want to come with me?”

“Yah!” He said and lit up.

“OK, but it’s night time so we need to be careful.”

“OK.” He said.

A couple blocks from our home is a fruit stand that sells inexpensive tropical fruits. I love the small yellow watermelons. They’re delicious. And the mangos of course. They keep trying to get me to buy a durian, but I keep telling them that my wife won’t let me which always gets a laugh.

Sean and I left the house and started down the street, me holding him by the wrist.

As we walked down the road I looked up into the sky. The sun had just set. During the day It had been raining but now the clouds were breaking up and through the breaks, over the horizon, the sky was a beautiful deep blue. A few stars were beginning to light up as well. I stopped for a moment to take it all in.

“Isn’t that beautiful.” I said to Sean, looking at the blue horizon.

“I thought you said it was nighttime.” He said by way of reply.

“Well,” I clarified, “it’s not quite night, it’s actually twilight. Do you know what twilight is?”

“Nope.”

“Twilight is that time just after the sun goes down when it’s starting to get dark but the sky is still lit up a bit. Not quite night and not quite day. It’s twilight.” I explained and looked down at him.

“The clouds follow us.” He said looking up at the sky.

OK, that threw me.

“What,” I ventured, “do you mean?”

“Well, wherever you go, there are the clouds,” he said pointing up to the clouds, “following you,” he added, “Just like the sun.”

“Wait a second.” I came to a full stop, “If the sun follows us then why can't we see it now?’ I said, pointing over to the blue horizon.

“Because it’s twilight,” he said, holding up both palms, “obviously.”

Right about then we were passing by his grandmother’s home.

“I’m going to visit Nanay,” he said and vanished.

Like a thief in the night.


Calbayog City 2023

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