She lifted her elbow off of the car door and pointed out the window, "Look at the sunset." He slowed the car and pulled down his sunglasses, looking out. "Amazing." Stale heat rose from the asphalt, bringing the smell of exhaust into the stalling car. She turned to her husband, cheeks flushed from the baking road, eyes dark and rich in the last light, "I have an idea," she said, her freckles moving with every word, like the changing constellations of the night sky, "let's stop at the park up the road and watch the sun set."
He smiled, placing his sunglasses on the dashboard and turned into the next lane.
The car was compact, but the inhabitants slim, and the wind had plenty of room to roam between. She rested her head on her hand, watching the sun out the open window with eyes half-closed.
The cool moving air blew back her curls, brushing them back and forth against her neck. Her bare arms glowed orange in the light.
Strips of neon and white flashed continuously over the sleek blue car and in her eyes as they passed hotels and chlorine-scented pools, clubs with music mutely throbbing from within, and restaurants with hot food and clattering silverware.
They sat on a bench near a playground from where they could see the canyon. She took off her sandals to feel the warm sand. The sky was bright orange fading to pink and purple with the shimmering sun in the center, above the dark blue crevasses of shade in the Grand Canyon. "Well I guess we're married now," he said. They laughed, pondering the reality of the wedding that morning.
She squinted at the canyon, wondering how far down it went. They would know tomorrow, at least. "I can't wait for the tours," She said. He nodded as the sun touched the edge of the earth. A breeze flew up from the canyon, laying its cold hands on them and running past, setting the see-saws and swings behind them off into a chorus of merry creaking. He looked at his wife. She was sitting there, intensely alive.
With him.
His.
He felt like a great philosopher who has traveled many days, about to receive the answer to a profound mystery, knowing that with it will come even more mysteries and adventures.
His breath came strong.
His heart seemed to him as enduring and warm as a lion's, as if it were drawing in all the heat from the sun. The farther the bright circle fell behind the earth, the more he was filled with it. He sat silently soaking in the warmth as the sunset grew more brilliant red as it was cut by the blue horizon.
The bench was hard and he thought of the room at the hotel waiting. In his mind he wanted to draw all the light away until the sun was gone, that she would turn away and look at him. He sat firmer in his seat, waiting for the sun to be extinguished.
"I wish this could last forever," she said. The sun was only a bright line on the dark horizon, now. He hugged her and told her that it would. She knew he mistook her meaning, but leaned her head against him and smiled.
The sun was gone.
The wind ceased and the playground was silent.
She felt cold. The canyon sat in front of them; huge and cool and dark. She wanted to sit in a swing, and for the sun to come back and warm her, and spread its light into the canyon.
"Are you ready?" he asked, standing.
Her heart began beating fast and her mind was pricked with confusion. She looked back at the car and and the playground in the dusk behind her. Fear passionately attacked her, and the world began to ring in her ears. Turning around again to face the sunless sky, she saw the moon and her heart cast out its anchor of desire.
"Oh. I'd really like to stay and see all the stars come out."
He sat down rigidly, but his mood evolved to a pool of love and forgetfulness of self within minutes.
The breeze came again, and there was one star, then two.
Everything was dark, now, the sky, the sand, the canyon, her husband's eyes; all deep dark, all reflecting the same bright stars. The world was right again. Her heart calmed, and muted waves of hope washed over her until she was soaked, the joy overflowing in her eyes.
He kissed her freckles under the moon as they left.
