Names Above Houses

Fidelito Takes Flight up a Ladder

28 Fidelito Takes Flight up a Ladder A blur of upwardness that is climbing. The flat board pressed to palm, pressed to foot sole. It becomes motion—slurred arrival, which Fidelito makes: first step, second step. The ladder stretches like an awkward smile of hello, of departure. The boy, trusting only what he feels by hand, begins to forget the ground. With his right foot on the first rung, he hears the sky call his name. When the left meets the right, he hears birdcall. Then the horizon moves on without him. Then the last board before the fall. When the right and left are reconciled, Fidelito finds himself unsteady, his legs paired as if bound. A pause. Nowhere left to go. Meanwhile, in the blue above, larks explode like hours following hours. ...