For a moment, she recalls her childhood; a time when her father missed her birthday because of one of his trips. Little did Melody know that it would be the first of many to come. In an attempt to return to her good graces, her father finally yielded to her pleas to humor her and take his daughter to the arcade. Up until then, he had not believed arcades were useful because they did not fit the realm of “brain games,” as he often said when referring to puzzles, but this time he took her.
She stayed there for hours, playing her favorite pinball game. When she had paused to grab a bite to eat with her father, she gladly dragged him around from ring toss to ball shooting games, then her father, seeing the joy in his daughter’s eyes, began to join in the games, playing Air Hockey with her. In a matter of hours, what should have been her worst birthday, had quickly turned into one of her best.
It dawns on Melody, why she really is on this trip to find her father. All along she has been holding onto the father of her childhood who no longer exists in the hopes of reigniting the relationship they once had. What if we can’t? What if he is really gone and we never get the chance to...? Melody is not sure she is ready to forgive him or his side of the family yet, let alone allow them to be a part of her life again. Still, the memory of her father and the motivation to get her father’s side of the family – including Uncle Tobias – off her back, fuels her to keep trying to find out what happened to him.
She bumps her head against a surprisingly large bush which knocks a painful reminder of her current state, glancing around, she realizes she is not in an arcade, but tumbling down the hill. While she is grateful for a means to her escape, the lack of control upon her movements frustrates Melody.
In one final attempt to put an end to her misery, she swings her arm out, unmindful of what she hits as long as she can grab something. With it, she grunts deeply almost leaning towards the top of the hill where she came from to slow her movements down. At least this is her wish as she acknowledges an insignificant change to her pace. From what she has been able to tell so far between spins, she may be halfway down the hill by now.
She feels some leaves in her hands, then latches onto them and whatever is sourcing them. Her back feels the brunt of this sudden halt as she bounces off the ground and flies into the air legs first. She curls somewhat in an unpolished summersault motion as her feet curve down towards the ground again.
It could be the many Olympic gymnasts she’s watched in the past or her anticipation of what’s coming next, but she immediately tucks her knees under her, unwillingly releasing the leaves and branches now brushing against her hands. Again, she can’t see where she is going, only a glimmer of where she has been. And how distant and far that now seems.
Then, she feels her body squeeze between one or two large bushes which nestle her through like a delicate baby then release her into the air with a swoop towards another free fall. She feels like she is being swung like a slinky. This time, however, her foot catches in the bushes, sending her soaring into the air before snapping back into place and retrieving Melody into its tight grip. As she swings in the air with her head facing the bottom of the hill down yonder, a scary realization fills Melody with dread – her life is now at the mercy of a bush.
Her messy blond hair waves in the air and periodically brushes against the ground just below. And for a moment, for a moment is all that she has, Melody consoles herself with the thought that at least she can now catch her breath.
The wind blows in her face and she instinctively shuts her eyes, unsure what the wind is carrying with it.
“Shh, listen. Dae ye hear’rit?” The wind brings with it a gift; a familiar voice that Melody unmistakably recognizes as belonging to Tam.
Melody squints her eyes shut, worried that they might see her.
“Hear what ye old geezer? It’s jus the wind.” Rob answers, frustration permeating through his voice and his accent sounding more Scottish than when he talks to Melody. Now knowing that he is not on her side, she can’t help but think she doesn’t know him at all.
“I ken whit I hear. There’s something.” Tam darts back.
Melody’s curiosity peeks again and she opens her eyes. The sun is glimmering through openings in the clouds and adding some buoyancy to a very cloudy day. As she hears the conversation above, she thanks God she is still alive, but wonders for how much longer.
She can’t see clearly what’s going on above, especially while hanging upside down with her foot harnessed in a bush. In an attempt to comfort herself just now, she reasons that if she can’t see them, they probably can’t see her either, or in the least, they can’t get a good look at who she is.
Melody peers through the wisps of light between the leaves and tries to put together the unclear figures above with the much clearer audio being delivered by her wind courier.
“Maybe it’s a squirrel.” Rob offers, realizing he may have taken a shot too soon when he called Tam an old man.
“Look, whit I heard when we were coming
