The Dawn settled the duck into its nest. We could only see it through the 1's and 0's of the digital camera... or rather she could see it. I huffed out another puff of steam over my chilled fingers as I glanced wearily over to the small brunette woman fully laying on her stomach in the grass. She was too cute to glare at, but it was everything I could do not to do so after she woke me up before the ass crack of dawn after hearing the call of a damn bird. My glance finally morphed into a hard stare of disbelief as she shushed me, her hand motioning for me to crouch even lower onto the ground.
The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, the chill of the night lingered over everything in a blanket of fog that I wished would dissipate so I could at least see the reason for my torment. My nose and cheeks were red and I just knew I looked like some kind of Raggedy Anne doll in my holey pajamas and curly hair tangled over my head. I would have snapped something witty at her, but the moment I turned my eyes away from my ice blocks that were once hands, my voice caught in my throat. She was looking up at me, her eyes shining in an almost childlike glee.
Suddenly a large camera was shoved into my face as she jumped up, damn near startling the duck as much as she had me. I turned the body of the camera to face me, looked at the screen, and froze.
It was beautiful.
The creeping dawn had somehow cast a pink and lavender hue over the mist that cascaded through the tall grasses consuming almost the entire frame. The grass in question stood proudly around the nest, where I noticed the ever so slight bulge through the soft down feathers where an egg laid, surrounded by safety and warmth. The duck looked bleak and boring with my eyes, but somehow through hers she was able to summon an array of warm khaki, deep caramel, and hues of russet on the wings of perhaps the plainest bird in existence.
The female Mallard called out a warning as a radiant voice broke my trance from the image.
"See! I told you she'd be beautiful!" Puffs of steam crossed the short distance between us as she gazed up at me. Her brown eyes were alight with excitement, her nose and ears just as pink as mine if not more so; her ponytail offering no shelter from the cold morning. My eyes trailed over her as I saw her in the grass, as beautiful as a damn duck apparently could be. The cotton candy fog surrounding her and a slow golden light rising from behind, turning her into some sort of swamp faerie glowing before my eyes. What was it like, to see the world in such a way?
I bent down to ask her that very question, but before the words could escape me she bounced and captured my lips with hers. They were hard, practically frozen, but I couldn't care. I wrapped her up in my arms, suddenly aware that in my frustration of my own discomfort I'd ignored the fact that she must have been even colder than me, wearing nothing but silk pajama which were now soaked from the dew she'd nested in. Reluctantly I broke the kiss, concern winning out over temptation.
"Come one little bird, lets get some coffee going. I'm freezing my nuts off." With a wink, I pulled her into me as we turned towards camp. I noted the goosebumps and regretted not bringing a blanket - which I would have if she hadn't torn out of the tent like a bat out of hell.
In a matter of time a fire was lit, a pot of coffee perfumed the air, and I was satisfying warm. I almost laughed as she came out of the tent wearing one of my hoodies - the one that was large even for me - and happily waddled over to me. With a sheepish grin she slowly took the mug out of my hands and graced me with a smile. I was once again off kilter - how could such a simple creature be so radiant? Oblivious to my awe, she made a happy noise as she slipped my coffee again, and took her place on the opposite end of the fire.
"Mallory?" I asked, my voice almost dreamlike.
"Yes?" she asked, her narrow face tilting to the side.
"Marry me." I breathed, hardly aware I had actually said the words out loud. She blinked in shock for a moment and I suddenly realized what I had just done.
"Shi-" I cursed, but she stood suddenly and startled me by practically shouting.
"Okay!"
"Okay?"
"Okay!" she chirped again, more confidently. Nodding her head enthusiastically and breathing hard, as if she had just run a marathon.
"Okay." I said, my voice barely contained my laughter and joy. She gave me but a moment before her tiny frame barreled into me, throwing me on my ass. Her shrieks of laughter were contagious as she climbed on top of me and began pelting my face with quick kisses.
"Okay." we breathed, embracing as the sun finally settled above the horizon.
No comments:
Post a Comment