Simon Jimenez

A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever in this captivating debut of connection across space and time. This is when your life begins. Lonely and adrift, Nia Imani is essentially a time traveler, a woman out of place and outside time. A month of travel for her is a decade for all others. But when she takes in a boy who fell from the sky, everything changes. The boy refuses to speak, but he plays beautiful, haunting music. Through this unusual communication, these two outsiders form a bond, finding solace in each other. Their fateful encounter allows them to start life anew, and over years of traveling together through the stars, they grow from strangers into mother and son. But Nia is not the only one who wants the boy. The past cannot be outrun forever, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this family apart.

The Vanished Birds

Nate

He lived in flight between worlds. There was freedom in these uninhabited places, where it did not matter how he behaved, or how he dressed, or not dressed. Pissing where he liked, bowels loosened from great heights, forbidden words shouted into the air--he listened as they bounced like stones off the faces of sheer cliffs. He said silly things into the ears of grobin birds, and sang into a great black pit his secrets, the fantasies, the wet dreams he ached with. He laughed, alone. Those were his animal days. And they were good.

telly

He wanted to warn these children that time was not their friend; that though today might seem special, there would be a tomorrow, and a day after that; that the best-case scenario of a well-spent life was the slow and steady unraveling of the heart's knot.

"They once called me cursed," he said to the sleeping child, holding up his scarred hand for proof. "Best not to listen to what they say. There's no end to the stories that cowards tell."

"The people who leave always forget that the world doesn’t end once they're gone," she said. "They forget about the decay." 

an excerpt from Sartoris’ report to Fumiko

Sustainability is great theory, where there are no humans involved.

“From here there are two paths. Stay, and let the birds peck at your body. Or leave, with me, and deny them their stolen meal." 

The Vanished Birds quotes

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