Something miraculous happened. Sunny Bird was at a loss for words. No witty repartee, no dramatic allusion, not even a single showtune line. Just silent awe of what had been the most rapturous three hours of his twelve year-old life.
Sunny was leaving his fifth Broadway show of the summer. They had all been rush tickets or lotteries they scored on the cheap, which meant Sunny wasn’t very picky about what was available. A show was a show, after all! The offerings had all been stellar so far, from Hairspray to Thoroughly Modern Millie to Into the Woods and Flower Drum Song. This latest one, and the last he could see this summer, with school to start again in just a few days, was a drama. The Metamorphoses had no catchy tunes or zingers, just wild performances of muggle myths and stories. There had been too much to process for the young Thunderbird, and his buzzing mind had him silently musing.
His five-foot frame, proof that he’d grown a few inches over course of the year, ambled out of the theatre as if in a daze. The bright gleam of the summer sun blinded him, as his eyes tried to readjust. The next sensation to hit him was the heat. It was a humid Saturday afternoon, made stuffier from the madding crowd that choked the streets of Times Square.
The bustle of this urban jungle was completely different from the ten months spent in Ilvermorny. Even with all the students scurrying in the halls from class to class, or chatting up a din in the Dining Hall, it could never compare to the scale of this city.
Instinctively, Sunny reached for an all-too familiar hand, proof that even as he was growing older, vestiges of his childhood habits remained. He looked up, though not as steeply as he once did. Mary Lou was still taller than him, but it was a gap that narrowed with each year. Sunny wondered if he’d end up being as tall as papa Bird one day, or maybe even taller. Even then, should he be a head or so taller, he would always look up to Mary Lou. Pinky promise.
‘Oof! I’m melting! Can we get some gelato?’ Sunny grinned. Gelato! Fancy city ice cream that came in flavours like tiramisu, stracciatella, and even olive oil! It was a far cry from the rocky road he normally stuffed himself with back home. Sunny liked all the options that the city provided, to be as familiar or as experimental as one wanted to be.
Manhattan was like living in a toy store, every street an aisle full of new goodies to entertain him. And to think Lou had been in this city for all of summer holiday! His big sister’s fancy internship in the city was like a dream come true for Sunny as well. It gave him even more reason to pester his parents for trips down to see a show--and his sister of course! With Lou gone, the shop required more of the remaining Bird siblings to chip in, but Sunny took extra duties, or bartered to get extra spending money to use for his visits down to New York.
Even with the extra sickles he earned for doing more than his required share at work, that and with his grandparents’ indulgences, Sunny knew he had to be smart about his limited time and funds. As much as he wanted to come down every weekend, the extra duties at the shop tired him out. And with his middling marks that he received from his classes, he was forced spend some of his Saturdays hitting the books. Finding a good day to spend with Lou also felt like winning a Broadway rush lottery. She was a grown up city working gal now, with grown up friends and grown up dreams about the future. Lou had spent the better part of her own childhood looking after the little flock of Birds, but it seemed she was getting ready to spread her wings for her own grand adventure. Sunny wondered what would happen next. How many ice cream--or excuse me, gelato--days would the two share?
As they waited for the crosswalk signal, Sunny continued his awed observation of this world of steel and stone, and squeezed Lou's hand a little bit tighter.
‘This is a far cry from our hiking trips back home, isn’t it?’
@Mary Lou Bird 
