"The Reunion"
Part 2
Part 2
Page 4
Having finished his last slice of apple, Shoo-Fly returned to grooming himself.
She looked at her friend sitting beside her and her heart filled with an
incredible joy!
How many times after his death had she sat in this very yard, hoping for just a
glimpse of him, even if only in spirit?
And, how impossible had it been for her heart to comprehend the words
"never again"...
("The saddest words to fall from my pen are the words spoken softly, "Never
again")..
a poem she had begun but had been unable to complete, finding that she could
not write what she culd not accept.
Shoo-Fly stretched beside her.
She wondered. Had she not been able to accept the words because deep down
inside she had known that the words weren't true?
Had spirit known what her mind had not...
that one day she would see her friend again?
Had the refusal to accept the finality of death had come from a real inner
knowledge and had not been just the hopeless denail she had thought it to be?
She looked at her little friend beside her once again and she wondered.
Resting her elbow on her knee and her chin on her palm she thought about the
events of the day.
Everything within and without the house had been the same as when she had
been with Shoo-Fly right before his death.
Not after.
It was almost as if time had frozen at 3 p.m. that Mother's Day and she was
picking up right where she had left off.
An example would be the treats on the table lying right where she had put
them, bag open, as she waited for her friend to come into the yard.
Now, her mind attempted to grasp, he had finished the treats in the bag but
over thirty years later!
She looked at the little rabbit who appeared to be once again listening to the
sounds in the distance.
Rising from the step she walked out on the patio and stood on tip toe still
endeavoring to discover the source of the sounds.
Shoo-Fly hopped to where she stood, ears at attention.
"Where are those voices coming from, Shoo?" she asked.
Stepping off the patio, she walked to the apple tree with Shoo-Fly close at her
heels.
Coming to the lawn chair she rested her hand lightly on it's green padded
back.
The catalogue lying across the center of the chair still displayed the page she
had been reading that Mothers Day so long ago before she had gone to look
for Shoo-Fly.
On the upturned page, her eyes met the picture of the candle sconce she had
ordered later that day in memory of Shoo.
Again she listened intently.
Such joyful voices! Even happy shouts! But she did not see a soul.
Sighing she turned to go back to the porch. She looked at Shoo still by the
tree.
"Shoo", she began but then stopped.
Something in the rabbit's gaze rewarded her full attention.
Turning to see what had so intently caught the little cottontail's attention, she
gasped in complete amazement.
There, in the center of the yard, it had begun to rain, but not rain in drops of
water, but in droplets of color.
She backed from the sight and knelt down beside Shoo.
"What on earth..." she began.
Blue, indigo, violet...the drops fell, each forming it's own individual part of
what was appearing to be...a bridge.
A rainbow bridge!
She looked into the sky. The rainbow she had been seeing throughout this
unusual day, beginning as she sat in the old rocker in her small apartment,
was not present.
She looked at the arch still forming.
She could not see the other end of the bridge but she knew that it must end
somewhere.
The colors stopped falling, evidently their mission complete.
So beautiful, she thought of the many colored arc!
So beautiful!
Quietly, reverently, she rose to her feet looking at the base.
The colors shimmered upon the grass.
She touched a branch from the apple tree sending a cascade of apple
blossoms to the ground. Slowly she walked toward the bridge with Shoo-Fly
hopping beside her.
She looked at her friend sitting beside her and her heart filled with an
incredible joy!
How many times after his death had she sat in this very yard, hoping for just a
glimpse of him, even if only in spirit?
And, how impossible had it been for her heart to comprehend the words
"never again"...
("The saddest words to fall from my pen are the words spoken softly, "Never
again")..
a poem she had begun but had been unable to complete, finding that she could
not write what she culd not accept.
Shoo-Fly stretched beside her.
She wondered. Had she not been able to accept the words because deep down
inside she had known that the words weren't true?
Had spirit known what her mind had not...
that one day she would see her friend again?
Had the refusal to accept the finality of death had come from a real inner
knowledge and had not been just the hopeless denail she had thought it to be?
She looked at her little friend beside her once again and she wondered.
Resting her elbow on her knee and her chin on her palm she thought about the
events of the day.
Everything within and without the house had been the same as when she had
been with Shoo-Fly right before his death.
Not after.
It was almost as if time had frozen at 3 p.m. that Mother's Day and she was
picking up right where she had left off.
An example would be the treats on the table lying right where she had put
them, bag open, as she waited for her friend to come into the yard.
Now, her mind attempted to grasp, he had finished the treats in the bag but
over thirty years later!
She looked at the little rabbit who appeared to be once again listening to the
sounds in the distance.
Rising from the step she walked out on the patio and stood on tip toe still
endeavoring to discover the source of the sounds.
Shoo-Fly hopped to where she stood, ears at attention.
"Where are those voices coming from, Shoo?" she asked.
Stepping off the patio, she walked to the apple tree with Shoo-Fly close at her
heels.
Coming to the lawn chair she rested her hand lightly on it's green padded
back.
The catalogue lying across the center of the chair still displayed the page she
had been reading that Mothers Day so long ago before she had gone to look
for Shoo-Fly.
On the upturned page, her eyes met the picture of the candle sconce she had
ordered later that day in memory of Shoo.
Again she listened intently.
Such joyful voices! Even happy shouts! But she did not see a soul.
Sighing she turned to go back to the porch. She looked at Shoo still by the
tree.
"Shoo", she began but then stopped.
Something in the rabbit's gaze rewarded her full attention.
Turning to see what had so intently caught the little cottontail's attention, she
gasped in complete amazement.
There, in the center of the yard, it had begun to rain, but not rain in drops of
water, but in droplets of color.
She backed from the sight and knelt down beside Shoo.
"What on earth..." she began.
Blue, indigo, violet...the drops fell, each forming it's own individual part of
what was appearing to be...a bridge.
A rainbow bridge!
She looked into the sky. The rainbow she had been seeing throughout this
unusual day, beginning as she sat in the old rocker in her small apartment,
was not present.
She looked at the arch still forming.
She could not see the other end of the bridge but she knew that it must end
somewhere.
The colors stopped falling, evidently their mission complete.
So beautiful, she thought of the many colored arc!
So beautiful!
Quietly, reverently, she rose to her feet looking at the base.
The colors shimmered upon the grass.
She touched a branch from the apple tree sending a cascade of apple
blossoms to the ground. Slowly she walked toward the bridge with Shoo-Fly
hopping beside her.
Bunny Link:
Page 5
Page 5