SPECTACULAR

Ages of beauty...

     “Spectacular!” said nine-year old Devon, as he watched the sun set behind Whippoorwill Mountain. Lavender sheets covered the sky, with flashes of neon pink.

 

     “Spectacular!” fourteen year old Devon said, looking out at a thunderstorm. Silver knives slashed  the sky, as diamonds scattered everywhere.

 

     Devon was almost thirty when he saw the Grand Canyon. “Spectacular!” he said of its majestic stone walls that seemed carved by a mighty sculptors hand…the river of turquoise and silver tumbling below…

 

     Devon saw Niagara Falls at night when he was forty-five. “Spectacular!” he said, looking at the play of lights over the rushing water. Delicate rainbow mists filled the air with colour.

 

     “Spectacular!” Devon said at fifty-seven when he saw the Painted Desert. This was not bare sand, but sage, dusty rose, topaz…red rocks were striped with bronze and gold…

 

     Devon was past seventy when he saw the giant sequoia and said “Spectacular!” It gave him a sense of unshakeable foundation, as if it had roots buried in the center of the earth. Like a soldier it stood here through the buffetings of the world; would be standing when the world shook itself to pieces.

 

     At ninety-two Devon felt the end coming. He opened the weary eyes that would soon close forever and looked at a panorama containing sunsets, thunderstorms, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the desert and a giant sequoia. Then he saw past all these to something more beautiful than anything he had ever experienced. “Spectacular!” Devon said, for the last time in his life.

 

     Or the first.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

What a great story. I like Devon, with his unshakable zeal for life. He reminds a bit of John Denver, who was just plain high on life. May we all find our inner Devon!

[Marie]

Thank you. I wasn't thinking of John Denver when I wrote this, but you're right.

[hanselwheresgretel?]

Such a beautiful story, we all need to stop and gasp at how spectacular the world is more often :) interesting twist at the end.

[Marie]

Thank you.