Half Flight by Shweta Narayan

The boy with one wing does not fall asleep. He rises into sleep, lifts into sleep, sleeps high, high above the muck and drizzle. In sleep he soars over rippled clouds, wrapped in clean and comforting sky. The ground is an occasional patch of brown and green below. Until he wakes.

She has caught him in nettles and his feathers are falling, falling out.

The swan with one arm falls awake.

The boy with one wing loves his sister, who spun and wove and sewed for him, voiceless as any swan. The boy with one wing understands primogeniture, understands why he was last, understands that she loves him no less for that. The boy with one wing likes to wrap that wing around his sister, a hug like a cloak...More>>>

About the author: Shweta Narayan is a writer, academic, and cultural crazy–quilt. She was born in India and lived in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, and Scotland before moving to California, and she grew up reading folk tales and fairy tales from all over the world...More>>>