A Day In The Park

Something's wrong with the sky.

When was the last time our sky was that blue? It's got to be artificial. I
mean, someone's up there with a can of spray paint or something, filling in
all the gray and brown areas--even the creamy beige--with this electric blue
shade. Or maybe it's someone with a paint-soaked sponge, blotting out all
the muddy colors, then sweeping across the sky with a sable brush.

I turned around and around, marveling at this change of environment, getting
a bit dizzy, I admit. People started to stare at me, then at the sky, and a
murmuring rose to a cacophonous pitch.

They saw it, pointed at the solid blue sky until the moon began to appear,
first outlined in indigo, then filled with filled in with a luminous palette
of golden umber and a hue for which I had no name. Once the moon was full
in the sky, one-by-one, two-by two, and so on, stars began to appear, some
drawn a askew, like Matisse, then as if the process was being rushed, a
multitude of constellations appeared.

We joined together in awe until a child's voice rent the silence. "Let's
play connect the dots and see what shapes the stars make!"

This idea went over well, and nearly every person raised a finger to the
sky, traced a shape or two or three.

"Where do I begin? There aren't any numbers!" a young woman exlaimed.

After awhile, people started oohing-and-ahhing, exchanging ideas, even
arguing a bit about what they discovered there in the sky.

"It's a dragon."

"It's a space ship."

"No, it's a bouquet of flowers."

Someone even said, "It's nothing at all."

It wasn't long before one-by-one, the people tired of the game, and I was
left alone in the park, toying with this conundrum.

As if to reward me for my efforts, part of the blue peeled away, and a
little girl peeked through and waved at me. Behind her, stood a woman who
was probably her mother.

"You've done such a great job coloring this picture, honey. Let's do
another."

"Can the woman on the bench be in that picture, too? You drew her really
well, momma."

The mother smiled, reached down, tore my universe away at the seams.

"Ok, honey. Let's pin it up on the refrigerator for inspiration."