She pulled off her shoes and pushed her toes into the lake’s water. Glacial. Cold. She pulled off all her clothes and plunged in. He sat on a boulder watching her. She went all the way under again. It felt good to get all the sticks and dust out of her hair and rinse the salty tears off her cheeks.
“This is just like a Mormon baptism,” she laughed as she submerged for a third time.
She dried off by wrapping in his cloak. They watched the stars twinkle in the night sky.
She started singing, “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires will come to you.”
“What’s your wish?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” he said.
“Life can’t be all about wizardry and fantasy. You have to have a dream for yourself that’s real.”
“I hope the stars will tell me one day,” he said. “What’s your wish?”
“To be loved. To be happy. To live fully.” She looked over at him. “Something like that.”
…
She lost touch with Adam over the years. He dropped in and out of college and various rehab programs. When she heard about his struggles, she would think back to that night and pray that the stars would soon shine bright for him.
HVWP COMMONPLACE 19
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs