The wind howled ruthlessly through the night, whipping its talons through the prickle hedge like a swarm of angry bees, stinging anything bold enough to stand in its path. Abby nestled deeper under the brush, pulling the soft moss up to her chin and leaned in closer to her brother, who was sound asleep. How he could sleep at a time like this was beyond her. She couldn’t close her eyes without the same, horrifying image filling the darkness of her mind; she imagined the hateful wind ripping through the branches with its cold and gnarly hands… snatching her from her sleep. It was too unthinkable to think about… and yet she couldn’t help but think about it. And the more she thought about it… the more she trembled.
Pepper, are you awake?” Abby gently nudged him, pressing her cold toes against the back of his leg.
The silent reply was almost as piercing as the wind. He couldn’t really be sleeping, she thought. Only grizzly bears and humans could sleep at a time like this. She nudged him again, this time pressing her icy toes against his back with more conviction. “Pepper, are you awake?”
“No”, he huffed, exasperated. “Go to sleep, Abby”. Pepper turned onto his back, pulling his wing over his face.
Abby leaned in closer and pressed her cheek against his shoulder; she knew he couldn’t have been sleeping. “Pepper, do you think the wind would quiet down if I sang it a song? Help me think of a song… how’s that one go…? Hush little pixie, don’t you cry…”
Pepper turned onto his side and faced her… his eyebrows squished together like two fuzzy caterpillars, which usually forced a giggle from her tummy… but her fear swallowed her giggles. He leaned in closer and pressed his nose against hers; it was cold, so she pulled away a little to watch his fuzzy caterpillars crinkle instead. “Abigail”, he signed again, gently. “The wind can’t hear you. Sometimes the wind just needs to stretch its wings, just like we do. ‘Cept the wind makes more noise than we do… it can’t help it. Think of it like the wind has a built in whistle that dangles from its toes and no matter what he does to shake it off, it just makes more noise. All you gotta do is stay under this brush with me and go to sleep, okay?” He grinned, “Besides, think how badly the wind would feel if it knew its whistle was causing you so much grief… you don’t want the wind to feel bad, do you?”
His eyebrows returned to their normal place on his forehead. She sighed. “No, I don’t want the wind to feel bad.” She’d never thought of it like that before. “Okay… I’ll go to sleep now”, she whispered. Abby tucked her wings in tight and leaned in close to him. He was so smart; she wondered how he got to be so smart. No matter how afraid or confused she was about something, he always knew how to make things fit together just right.
She closed her eyes… but she didn’t go to sleep right away. She laid there for a long time, just listening to the windy-whistle, and imagined riding on the back of the wind as it stretched its wings to far off places that she had only dreamed of… and she wondered how far her own pixie-wings could take her…
