Eleven
DAY 2: SUNDAY 20TH AUGUST, 2017
DAY 3: MONDAY 21ST AUGUST, 2017
DAY 4: TUESDAY 22ND AUGUST, 2017
On the I-81, heading for Nashville, a yellow Buick comes to an abrupt halt.
A girl swerves onto the hard shoulder and hits the brakes.
Then she checks the message on her phone again.
Damn it!
She thumps the steering wheel.
She checks the clock on the dashboard, takes a breath and then puts the car back into gear.
She takes the next exit, gets back onto the I-81 and heads back to DC, praying that her brother’s plane will be on time.
A continent away, a pilot looks at the paper model sitting on the dashboard in his cockpit: a warbler, a tiny bird that can fly for three days across the Atlantic without landing.
He never takes it for granted: how miraculous this is, to be up here, hundreds of miles from the earth. And at night, to see the stars, up close.
He thinks of his son, who made the paper bird. In a few hours, they’ll be together and then a holiday, just the two of them. He’s going to try harder this time.
Beyond
