Up in the Air

When we left earth we wanted to take the hawks with us but they wouldn’t go. They stayed up in the air, following the whims of the wind. We used their language to explain to them the severity of the situation: because of the thing we did with the moon (an accident) the wind was getting stronger and in time it would blow everything away including the hawks. They wouldn’t listen. We pleaded with them, we promised them new skies; they were unmoved. I can still hear their cries as we circle through space, searching for a place to land.


—Ian Willey