The tale of Frankie and River
Long ago, before the earth had forests or deserts, there were two stars who burned side by side in the velvet sky. Their names were Frankie and River, children of the shape-shifting moon. She loved them dearly, letting them glitter close to her golden face, and at night she sang to them the lullabies of eternity. But stars are not always still. When too many stars feel joy or sorrow at once, their tears drift into the heavens as stardust. And sometimes, just sometimes, that stardust remembers how to breathe. Frankie and River were born of such a moment, when the cosmos itself overflowed with feeling. One night, Frankie peered down upon the earth and saw a pair of baby bunnies struggling in the dark waters of a forest lake. His soft heart could not bare it. Without hesitation, he leapt from the sky. The scent of fresh honey popcorn spread among the sky as Frankie burned up in the atmosphere, shifting his star form to a rabbit. He fell like a golden arrow and struck the lake’s...