"You can come in and see him now, Mr. Stanley. Right this way."
"Thank you." Miles followed the nurse down the hall. Once she had left him with his grandfather he sat down on the edge of the bed, and gently took the wrinkled hand in his own.
"Well now, who is this?" Angus's voice was as creased as his hand, but it was laced with love.
Miles chuckled gently. "Take a guess, Pops."
The older man sighed with contentment. Although his bandaged eyes couldn't show it, you could still sense the loving pride in them. "Batman, you've finally come. I knew you would."

And now, my brother
You've been laid to rest
Your sojourn is at a close
It came so fast
A blink and it's passed
And why, no one knows

Dance with the angels
Sing for our King
Enjoy your new crown
And your heavenly bling
Just tell me all about it
When I see you up there
Someday

Jules was up bright and early Monday morning. She sang while she made waffles and homemade syrup. The sun was shining brightly through the windows. The first buds of spring would soon be making their appearance in the rose bushes in the backyard.
"Jules?"
"Follow your nose!"
"Mm, I thought I smelled something delicious. How sweet of you to get up early and make me breakfast, Chickadee." He patted her on the cheek.
"My pleasure, Grandad. I set the breakfast table already, and I only have two or three waffles left before I'm finished."

A little creature wanders by, is watched by gleaming eyes,
It stumbles on a sticky strand that brings its quick demise.
A flash of black, then ugly fangs are pointed at the prey
A spider full of cunning stealth, his meal he won’t delay.
And yet I wonder what would be if you and I would try
To see those creepy spiders through a different set of eyes.
If we looked for beauty and intelligent design,
Then maybe all those spiders we’d no longer undermine.

If wicked worm bore thee away
Unto his forlorn island lair,
I’d search the world until the day
My telescope should find thee there.

I’d sail out to that sulph’rous place
Borne on a merry-tempered breeze,
And while the dragon slept a space,
I’d steal my girl with thievish ease.

And if he rage on being reft
Of thee, the fairest maid who breathes,
And he repay my cunning theft,
Smashing our ship out on the seas,

My father was a gloomy man. He had been for many years. I could not remember a time when he was happy, although my mother assured me that he had been happy once. Back when my father was the crown prince’s son, a young man and the grandson of the King, he had been happy. And my father himself told me that on the day he married my mother, he was the happiest man in the world.

That was before the accident that took the life of my grandfather and my great-grandfather, as well as my father’s two younger brothers. That was three years before I was born.

“Georgie?”
I opened my eyes from my perch on the rocking chair. Henry wasn’t asleep yet. I hadn’t thought he was. Slightly, I smiled.
“Yes, Henry?” I whispered.
Henry cuddled the threadbare stuffed rabbit to his small chest. The stitching was loose and Mister Carrot was missing a button eye. I wish I knew how to sew so I could fix up the little animal.
“The adults are coming tomorrow,” he whispered to me through a mouth missing a tooth. I cherished his lisp like nothing else in this world.

I only have one memory of my mother: when she kissed me goodbye on her death bed. I don’t even remember my father. For most my whole life, I’ve just been there, in the way, nothing to anyone and nobody to care about. Alone in the world, I’ve struggled to make my life worth something. The only thing I’ve ever succeeded at was failing.

In the car Sunday morning Jules held her Bible in her lap. She thumbed distractedly through its pages. She sighed.
"Jules?"
"Yes, Grandad?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, not really. I'm just-I haven't seen anyone here for nearly three years, and I'm such and awkward person."
Duncan chuckled. "Dear, you've seen Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy. And Martin, too. I'm sure you'll be just fine."
She pulled her curly hair away from her face and pinned it securely. "But there will be so many new members. I've never been good at meeting new people."

I timidly peered out the window at the ground far, far below. My hands quaked hard as I desperately pulled myself back into my seat. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down, but to no avail.
Maybe this helicopter tour wasn't the best idea.