SPRING AWAKENING(Charles E.J. Moulton) SPRING AWAKENING
Flash Fiction by Charles E.J. Moulton

He somehow felt impelled to remain seated. Something in his soul longed to rest. Although his active, worldly self sprung up, that voice inside him pulled him back, not because of laziness. It sprung from an almost Buddhist feeling of being centred. That sensation came from an urge to calm down. Internalizing reality promised him a solution to every single question his soul asked. This life, this society, this world promised only hectic stress. The need for acutely tranquil bliss proved an oasis of sweet fragrance.
The noises of the world seemed remote now. They sounded like echoes barely audible to any human ear. Far into the distance, cars could be heard only registered as a soft buzz. A louder car approached and Kevin reminded himself of having people around him, after all. The breeze whistled a soft tune around the corners of his house, asking him to listen for the movement of the swaying branches. Which branch moved at which corner of which edge of which tree? He looked up, trying to find if that wind actually made the leaves move. An indeciphrable sway of the smallest bud could be seen from a short distance. The smallest leaf opened and displayed the pink insides. An almost sensual gesture of natural romance appeared. The feminine grace of that bud gave him a glance of what might be.
Through the open window, he could smell the evergreen magnolia. The smell of rich cherry blossom and floral vanilla meandered through the help of wind through the air into his nostrils. That bud seemed to open itself even more, showing an opening of its natural glory.
The branch swayed again and he wondered why.
A bird chirped. A small bird. Maybe the sway originated in the rocking of this bird. Its short tweet sounded like the beginning of an elegant Renaissance ballad. However, Kevin knew too little about the bird to tell by its chirp what ornithologists called it. The animal sounded as if sat right outside Kevin’s view. A smile appeared on his lips. That something so small actually could provide so much positive energy. Kevin waited for it to jump over to the branch with the bud. The chirp seemed to promise to show itself in physical form. Then, suddenly, the bird flew a foot over to the branch from out of Kevin’s view with the moving bud that swayed in the wind. The chirp belonged to what Kevin knew to be a Robin Redbreast. Wasn’t that the name of the bird? The bird named Robin waited there, lowering its beak toward the bud. It didn’t peck at it. It seemed to glance at it, even smiling in its own natural way.
Somehow, the bird knew that Kevin watched him. It turned its head and gazed back. For a moment, Kevin and the bird gazed at each other. Just gazed for no reason at all. Just two of God’s creatures exchanging glances like strangers in the morning. A slow and solemn tweet reached Kevin’s ears.
Time stood still, while communication occurred completely without words.
The bud continued swaying in the wind and now the bird swayed with it.
From this perspective, the bird looked like a ship on a sea. This rocking quality made Kevin sleepy and soon, he found himself smiling his spirit to sleep.
In his dream, he saw a bird on a branch that nibbled on an elegant bud.
The bud opened and revealed a large pink flower, so bright and radiant that it dazzled his eye. It smelled like love, springtime, sweetness and romance. Kevin bathed in a sea of sweet sensuality and fell into a sleep of dreams.
When woke up to find reality kissing his cheek by the sound of the wind, he made love to the bud again. The wind grew stronger. The whistle turned into an almost human tone. One that inspired the clouds to fly faster across what used to be a blue sky. Darkened at the horizon, the sky now produced one drop of rain. It fell on the window pane and made a clinging sound on the steel outside. One more drop landed outside the window and then that drop received another aquatic friend. Soon, that window overflowed with heavenly water. The tree swayed and the bird swayed with it, never moving, never reacting to the violent shower the sky produced.
Kevin watched this scene attentively and realized that now nature gave him the reason to sit still. The best show on Earth? Not the circus. Not Broadway. Not Opera. Not Shakespeare. Not Universal Studios. The best show on Earth? Right here, watching the sky, the tree, the bud, the bird and that sweet rain falling from the sky. When it stopped oozing out of the grey fog of the stratosphere: the result of rain and sun appeared. It arrived out of nowhere as a hint of distant glimmer in a relaxing sky. Then, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple waved its proverbial head like Paul MacCartney waving his hair at Hollywood Bowl. At once, Kevin saw a rainbow.
Kevin had forgotten the bud, the bird and the branch.
Calmly, the man looked back at the tree and saw that the bud had now opened. A huge flower had replaced the small baby infant of sunshine. Little bits of rain had fallen on it and when the sun again fell on the new flower, a second rainbow appeared. A new addition to the little sweet scene presented an amorous theatrical piece of lovemaking between Vitamin D and H2O. And so, the bird came and landed on the branch again.
Now, the bird had brought some guests. Guests? These birds obviously belonged to him. These were more than guests. This was family. A small bird danced around the bigger bird and behind him one little, sweeter and cuter creature appeared. The wife. Kevin smiled. That smile turned into a laugh. At once, Kevin started laughing like crazy. A happy laugh that bounced like sunshine.
The doorbell rang.
Still laughing like crazy, he ran to the door, crazy with energy.
Opening the door, Beatrice stood there in her flowery dress and frizzy spring hairdo.
She started laughing along with Kevin.
“What are you so happy about?”
Kevin just couldn’t stop singing with joy.
“I just saw a bird,” he laughed. “He, the rain and the sunshine turned a bud into a flower. Now, he and his family are sitting on the branch tweeting like webmasters.”
Beatrice didn’t know why, but Kevin’s happy mood made her laugh, as well.
“You are completely nuts.”
“No,” Kevin laughed. “Blossoming.”
With that sensual comment, the couple fell into each other’s arms, kissing like newlyweds.
By the swaying of the branches and the blooming of the magnolia, their spirits mingled, creating their own form of spring awakening.

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