Starsurfing with Hussein and Abdul

It was a dark, oppressive night, but it wasn't for lack of stars. On the contrary, the night sky was crowded with them. So many that their glow overpowered the red moons and brought forth strange shades of blues and greens. The atmosphere was thick and heavy, hiding the heat from our sun behind a wall of wetness that I could taste in the back of my throat.

"Papa, why are we here?" Abdul asked as we sat on some pretty large rocks while I tied a kite to his back.

"Remember when Mama passed away?" I said.

"Of course," he replied, his big brown eyes looking down at me and then back up into the sky towards the stars. "I was so sad."

"I know you were, but do you remember what happened after the funeral?" I asked him as I finished tying the string around his chest to secure the kite to his body. There was a hole in between his front ribs where it would sit until we went flying through space.

"You bought me ice cream!" he said excitedly. "I liked that! It tasted so good!"

"Yes, I did buy you ice cream," I quietly laughed as I stood up and looked out over that vast expanse of blackness ahead of us. "And then…"

As if on cue, Abdul began to fly. The wind picked him up off those rocks and sent him soaring through space with a kite strapped to his torso and my hand holding onto his leg for dear life. We didn't have any spacesuits or helmets or anything like that; this was just us going for a little trip among the stars. As Abdul squealed with delight, I tried my best not to laugh too hard at how ridiculous he looked with that kite stuck to his chest. He had been wearing an old pajama shirt with sleeves cut off at the shoulders and now it flapped like crazy in the wind as he swung by one arm while kite surfed through space with me trying to keep up with him by walking on air underfoot. We flew through clouds of dust and gas until we emerged into a clear blue area where several other people were hanging out in space suits talking about something very important (or so they thought). They spotted us immediately and pointed us out to each other saying things like "Look!" and "There!" One man even took off his helmet and stared at us for what felt like forever before grabbing hold of Abdul's foot as we flew by him. His gloved hand clamped down on my son's ankle hard enough for me to hear it crackle before letting go again and letting him fly onwards again. His crewmates seemed impressed by this feat but the man himself just put his helmet back on and walked away from them muttering to himself while they all talked amongst themselves about how fucking lucky he was to be able to stop Abdul in midflight like that without having any idea how he'd managed it or what he'd used to grab onto him in the first place.

Eventually, Abdul's energy gave out along with mine (I knew he'd tire faster than me because of that broken rib making it harder for him to breathe) so we decided to land somewhere and take a break before continuing our journey through space together. We landed on a planet covered almost entirely in water where everything smelled really nice but also really nasty all at once because there were definitely fish living there too who hadn't learned how to poop yet so there were some problems with poor sanitation across certain areas of our landing site which Abdul pointed out as I followed along behind him dragging our kite behind me across an ocean floor filled with debris (some of it very sharp!). We had barely set foot on this new world when suddenly… *BAM*! Out of nowhere came this gigantic spaceship blasting sonic waves up from its engines which shattered every bone in Abdul's body instantly leaving him dead on the spot! My heart filled with rage as I pulled my hunting knife out of my pocket (I always carry one wherever I go) and rushed forward towards one of these invaders who had just killed my son right before my eyes! While charging towards this foe, however, another one caught sight of me rushing towards them while they were busy making fun of Abdul's dead body being dragged away by eels who apparently hadn't heard about how much this planet needed better sewage treatment infrastructure: they turned just in time to see me coming their way screaming with rage while brandishing my knife above my head ready to skewer them right through their stupid face! Before they could do anything at all though… *BOOM*! Another ship arrived blasting sonic waves up from its engines which shattered every bone in my body instantly leaving me dead on the spot next to my son! It was awful… horrible… tragic… but you know what? It also saved me from having any more bones broken by these awful invaders because now… well… now it looks like we'll have plenty of time together after all!