Part 1 of Alberto’s Adventures in the Skyworld

The flutter of wings breaks the stillness as the maya birds scatter from their fountain perch.

Alberto always liked to see the birds fly away. He would point at their wings and shout “Fly!” at the top of his lungs, which is the way he would usually say things.

“Neni can we go… mall?”

The bleary look on the young woman’s face was apparent, but she smiled through it all the same.

“Alberto first we have to be—“

“Have to be—“

“We have to be—“

“Good, good. Have to be good.”

“Good job Alberto. We can go to the mall later, let’s enjoy the park. The birds are over there—“

And with that the boy raced off and shouted as if he wanted the whole world to hear him. No, not a boy anymore, at least not to an outward observer, Neni had to remind herself. She took out her phone and took a few photos of Alberto chasing his feathered friends.

His mom would always ask for pictures, Neni thought it was because she wanted to be reminded that she had a son, but Neni brushed those sentiments away. Worn, that’s what she remembered from the faces of Alberto’s parents when they hired her. She didn’t think she had a right to judge their parenting, especially since she wasn’t in their shoes.

“Neni! Fly!” She laughed with Alberto as they spent the day disturbing the birds.

As they were leaving the park, they passed a young couple. Before she could say anything Alberto stepped in front of the girl.

“Hi what’s your name?”

Neni had enough practice to know that this was unavoidable. She started with the usual apologies, but Alberto had a one track mind.

“Hi what’s your name?”

Neni apologized again, but it seemed that the young lady understood. She said her name was Raina and gave a comforting smile to both of them.

“Raina. R-A-I-N-A.”

The man then introduced himself as Oscar and Alberto gave a warm greeting. To their credit they were more understanding than most others of Alberto. Neni gave a hurried goodbye as she led Alberto to the car, she wasn’t about to be late for dinner.
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Alberto finished getting ready for bed. The evening ritual of taking a shower, changing his clothes and brushing his teeth was one of the most enjoyable parts of his day. It was something he could do all by himself and that made him proud.

After he was done he looked around the room. It was a room just like any other. Four walls, a big window, a bed. And of course there was the horse.

Now, this was no ordinary horse. True, it had hooves, four legs and the kind of face that would make passers by undoubtful of its horse-ness, but it also had the kind of feathers that would make a swan flush with envy.

Alberto knew that the horse was a horse, of course. The horse was his horse, and seeing it in his room meant that he was about to embark on another journey.

The grin on Alberto’s face matched the horse’s, after their last daring escape from the dragon trapped in the stars, the rush of adventure was still fresh in his heart.

Alberto climbed up his horse’s back and they flew out the window. There was no time to waste, and he wanted to make sure he was back in time for breakfast.

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“Aray!” Neni thought she was getting good at avoiding Alberto’s Legos, but there was always one that would sneak under her foot.

She picked the offending piece up and put it next to the others in a neat pile. She gave up on trying to organize the Legos a long time ago, Alberto had his own system that never coincided with hers.

“Neni! Clouds!”

Alberto was finishing up his next masterpiece. Neni could never figure out what he was building, to her they all looked like mish mashed columns strung together randomly.

“Neni! Look!”

He was proud of his work, and Neni was just happy he was happy.

“It’s very good Alberto, what is it?”

“Fly! Clouds!”

“Good job Alberto, but we have to get ready for lunch. Go wash up.”

As Alberto ran towards the bathroom, a brown feather dropped from his pocket. Neni sighed. She thought she cleaned up all the mess from the park. “Oh well,” she thought, “At least it’s only one feather this time.”

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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Inspired by the Bentohangin description in ‘The Soul Book’ by Demetrio & Cordero-Fernando 1991.

Bentohangin Illustration by Kurt Prieto
Behance: https://www.behance.net/KurtPrieto

Colors by Alexa Garde
Website: Lexa.us