The Magic Bird-Kite

By Carmelene Melanie Siani

WE WERE VISITING Point Loma National Park to soak in the beauty of the ocean, wildflower-covered hills, and exhilarating views, when David exclaimed, “Look!”

High above, a huge multi-colored bird swooped and soared.

Was it some kind of sea bird? Was it even real? No! It was a kite. A big, beautiful bird-kite that twisted and dipped and flew.

People had gathered in a small clearing, watching a dark-skinned man balance and dance, controlling the beautiful kite. Two young boys who looked just like him flanked him, listening intently to his instructions.

Just as we turned to leave, the crowd uttered a collective “Oh!”

The kite had gotten stuck in scrabbly hillside bush.

People nodded to each other, reassuringly. “He’ll get it out.” They explained to their children how it had happened, adding, “Don’t worry, the kite will fly again.”

The crowd was as beautifully multi-colored as the kite itself. People with white hair. People with dark skin. Golden skin. Women in saris. Men in turbans. Bare-legged children and babies in strollers.

I turned in time to see the man scramble up 20 or 30 feet to where the kite dangled precariously, its wing caught.

Soon, he freed it, and — with one boy holding its strings — the kite caught the breeze and swooped upward in a great, soaring loop.

The crowd broke into applause.

“Yes!”

It was a fabulous moment of oneness. A moment when differences in skin tone, age, head- dress or language didn’t matter.

What mattered was the California hillside, the Pacific Ocean, the blue skies, and a magic bird-kite that had been set free, lifting everyone’s spirits with it as it rose and flew into the sun.