Midnight Child

Sorrow painted the boy’s dreams with every shade of grief. He jumped from his bed and planned his escape. Mom and dad must never know. On tip-toes, he crept down the hall past his sleeping parents and opened the backyard door to his secret place. He stepped into the warmth of the summer night.

The full moon ruled the sky, its sovereign light fell upon the forest glade like silver-gray mist. In the shadows of evergreen and oak, the boy gazed upward thorough twinkling fireflies and bleary tears His question was a prayer, “Grandfather. Why did you die?”