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Colin got his wish fort he perfect moon to photograph Sammy against, and he made the arrangements.

The night is serene, and a gentle wind is toying with small, almost transparent cloudlets in front of the nearly full moon, like a child blowing on a dandelion. It's a bit cold, though, and the brisk air makes the stars just sparkle more, as diamonds on velvet. Colin couldn't hope for a better setting.

He called Sammy and arranged to meet her in Lindberg Park. He prepared both his cameras, a special filter he couldn't wait to try, and escaped with the fire escape ladder he bought after her advice. He hops on his bike and he's out in the night, the loose end of his scarf flying behind him.

Colin finds Sammy already in the park, standing on the path next to the stalks of the dormant plants in the perennial gardens.  She has crushed some dried lavender flowers between her fingers and is inhaling their perfume.  She hears him riding up on his bike, and turns to greet him with a smile.

"Hi! Beautiful night, ain't it?"

He takes a good look at her taking a few steps around her and watching her through his hands forming a frame.

"This is going to be so much fun."

Now he just needs her to relax a bit, to feel comfortable.

"What is it like for you, to be able to fly? What do you feel?"

She giggles.  She feels like a bug under a microscope.


"What's it like?"  She thinks for a few moments.  "It's like swimming under water, without the weight of the water pressing against you.  It's a feeling of total freedom... you know when somebody is really happy, they say 'I'm floating on air'?  It's exactly like that;  floating on air is like being really happy."

And that's when he takes the first picture, catching her by surprise.

"Sorry. I had to." he smiles at her. "Sammy, I'd like to be able to take some pic from below you, from the ground, and some from above you. They built a little watching point over that tree, I was planning to use that. But let's start with simple things."
He gets his sketchbook out of the backpack he always carries around, and shows her. There's a simple sketch of her bathing in moonlight, floating on air as if lying on a bed, her eyes closed as if she was dreaming.
"You think you can do this? I'd like you to close your eyes and think about the most beautiful dream you ever had. Think about your secret crush. You have one, don't you? Hehe, you don't have to answer me. Just think about him."

She looks at the sketch, then back at him.  "I can probably do that.  Which crush, though?"

She drifts up and relaxes into a "bed" of air, with a soft puffy cloud for her pillow.  She inhales deeply and releases it, then closes her eyes.  She thinks about a boy... she imagines dancing across the sky with him, like she did with Seth.  She imagines moonlit walks and long lingering kisses in the hall between classes.  She runs through the Halloween party script in her head, the script where she shows up in her costume and nobody there knows who she is because she said she was doing one thing and actually rented another costume with a mask to hide her face.  Like Cinderella, she goes into the party and finds her prince, but he doesn't know who it really is behind the mask. She isn't saying a word and she's transformed into a mysterious, fascinating, irresistably attractive girl.  Again like Cinderella, she vanishes at the end of the party, leaving it up to him to find out who she really is.  That script done, she moves to the next script in her queue...

Colin takes several photos, from several angles. She's an amazing model. So natural. He waits for the moments in which the wind is just perfect, and takes a couple of long exposition ones, that achieve a somewhat ghostly effect, as if she was a flickering spirit of light.

"Ms. Jameson, would you have me thinking that there's no young man that makes your heart beat faster, or, even harder to believe, that there's no young man whose heart beats faster for you?"

He shows her the next drawing. This is no sleeping beauty. It's an angry goddess, a finger pointing accusingly in front of her, wind blowing her hair and her dress in front of her.

Shaking a finger at him, she says, "Some secrets are still my own.  You haven't yet earned the right to share them." Then she scans the drawing and smiles wryly at him.  "Aw, man!  You'll have me auditioning for a school play next."  She digs deep deep down inside herself, to the place that holds the anger at the witches.  Focusing on an innocent tree just off the path behind Colin, she sternly shouts "You!"  She lets the anger against "them" roll out, lets it build into a tightly controlled windstorm around her, and glares at the 'witches' who are hiding from her behind that tree.

"Ooh, so our lady has a heart, but she keeps it well hidden. Good. It adds to her charm."

Colin goes to step right in front of her. He looks through the camera, then changes position slightly.

"Uhm, I need... something different. Hate me, Sammy. Hate me like you would if I had broken your heart. I was the only you could trust and I betrayed you! I'm the worst snake that ever crawled on earth. I took all that made you happy and tore it to shreds, and had the guts to came back to laugh at you! How could you be such a fool to ever trust me, to even love me? Hate me, Sammy give it all to me!"

She tries to glare at him, but starts to giggle, and the giggle turns into rich, full laughter.  "I'm sorry," she gasps between chuckles, "I'm having a hard time hating you.  You're too nice.  I can't imagine you being such a rat."

When the laughter subsides, she shakes her head at him.  "OK.  I'll try."  She takes a deep breath.  The fuzzy "Prince Charming" from the Cinderella script has found her, he has discovered her most closely held secrets, and he's everything she ever dreamed of and more.  Then she finds out it was all a lie.  He lured her in, brought her close only to use her, to take advantage of her powers for his own purposes, and now he was done and he had no more use for her, and he thought it funny that she had been so stupid, so naive.  He never loved her, and he had caused her to hurt someone she cared about.  To put the icing on the cake, now he was with Her...  Somehow she summons bright, hot tears, but holds them in check and keeps them from streaming down her face.  Her eyes glitter. Her costume catches in the wind and snaps like a sail in a stiff breeze.

He stops framing her as she goes on a fit of laughter, and he start laughing with her, though a bit more nervously and uncertainly.
"Well, thank you. You really think I am?"
His thoughts go on a tangent for a moment.
"I... don't know. It's like... in every movie, in every book, in every story... sooner or later men begin to lie, and regularly break the heart of the women who love them. As if it was something they couldn't escape, as if it was written in their DNA. I really don't want to be like that. How could I ever forgive myself?"

He shrugs and shakes his head.

"Let's go back to the photos, so we won't be up too late."


Colin takes several shots. This is way better. So intense. Maybe... too much so?
"Sammy?" he asks. "Sammy, is it all right?"
It's a bit too dark to see his face clearly, but his voice sounds concerned as he walks forward to touch her shoulder.
"Are you ok? You were great, but... let's do something different now, ok?"

"Don't worry too much about it," she replies.  "My English teacher was talking about this the other day.  Without tension or conflict, there is no drama.  Without drama, there is no story, or at least not one that is a best seller.  I don't think real life works by the same rules as fiction.  In real life, people have boring, ordinary, happy little lives all of the time."



She shakes herself out of it.  "Hrm?  What?  Oh, yes...  sorry, I got caught up in my own imagination."  Sammy blinks a few times.  "For what its worth, he's not real -- the one who betrayed me so you could get the right expression in the photos.  He exists only in my mind, I made him up just now, so don't worry, okay?  The only knowledge I have of that kind of thing comes from fairy tales and soap operas."

Colin smiles, but with a raised eyebrow.
"They do? Even though they fly, or talk with spirits?"


"Good. I glad it's not something you have to go through. Now... would you mind dancing for me? Do what comes natural to you, as high or as far as you want to go. Just not too fast please, and also not stop abruptly. Just keep on moving. When you're tired you tell me, and we're done."

Colin takes many pics of her, always changing his position, his distance, his exposure. He wants to have lots of stuff to work with. He gets to envy her a bit too. It must be really nice, when you're worried, angry or sad, to just fly away up into the sky and leave everything behind.

She dances for a while, letting Colin take his photographs.  "Put your camera away.  I think you'll enjoy this, but you won't have a free hand to take pictures."  She puts him in a ballroom dancing position opposite her.  "I figured this out the other night; I remembered that I used air to catch someone, so I thought, why can't I shape a sort of platform to lift one person from below, especially if I'm holding on to them just in case?  So, sir, I know ladies are supposed to wait to be asked, but would you care to dance?" She lifts both of them in a slow spiral, then proceeds to do what can most closely be described as a waltz across the sky. All she needs for a reward is the smile on his face.

"I would love to."

Sammy knows how how to fly, but Colin knows just that little bit of dance to make her have fun too. Soon his initial awkwardness turns into grinning elation. Yes, it's exactly how he imagined, maybe even more beautiful. He even closes his eyes to enjoy the breeze, the sensation of freedom, the slight contact with her body. He likes to dance, but hasn't had a chance since...

Sarah!

He opens his eyes again, startled, and moves abruptly away from Sammy, nearly tripping himself. He feels blood coming to his face in utter embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I... Maybe it's enough for tonight?" he pleads her.

She looks at him with some concern on her face.  He looks panicked. 

Maybe he's afraid of heights?  Sammy, you idiot!  Not everybody is meant for this!

"Sure, sure!  Hold on, don't panic!"  She quickly brings them down and gently sets their feet on the grass.  Still concerned, she asks, "Are you all right there, buddy?  You look a little odd.  Sit down on that bench for a minute.  You'll be okay, we're down now, no more flying and spinning.  Do you want me to get you some water?"

"No, I'm fine, I'm fine, don't worry. It's not the flying, it's just that..."

Colin bites his lip as he looks at the grass between his feet. He's not sure what to say.

"I... I had a very good time tonight. I can't wait to see and work on the photos, and it was nice to talk with you, and to dance with you, flying was wonderful, but... I have to go now. I'm sorry to leave so abruptly but... I have to go.

See you tomorrow?"

Sammy looks, well, confused.  "Okay... good night then.  Thanks for doing this; it was a good idea.  It was fun."

She gives him a little wave, then starts walking off towards home.