It has always been an interest of mine to consider the nuances involved in my encounters with others, those that are nourishing and even those that are more distasteful for some reason. In recent years, my interest has broadened to include encounters with animals, nature, books, movies and now, online conversations with people who I treasure yet may never meet.

Sunday, June 17, 2012


             
This Treasured Encounter is being shared in the form of ‘A Fanciful Short Story.’ The story is true yet bound in fanciful fiction. It was written as a gift to a friend.                    

                                          Kindness Has Its Rewards  

 From a place far away above even the sky, the planet called Earth looked like a big round space ball. To those who are not too busy to pay attention, however, Earth was a vast planet of flat lands, mountains and valleys, with rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, all teeming with wondrous life forms. On one paying-attention day, the Sky-God telescoped his vision into a place on Earth that was mostly flat though so very full of life. “It is time,” he said and began to make preparation.

   Down below in the place of his looking, a two-legged person was strolling on a path through the woods that bordered the land on which she lived. “I love the woods almost as much as I love the sky,” Alleah thought as she paused for a moment to savor the colorful foliage and pungent odors of life. In silent communion with the many life forms around her, Alleah also gazed inwardly in wonder at the richness of life afforded her as a human, as a woman whom others called Angie. Silently asking for and receiving permission from a nearby rock, Alleah sat down. There was no need to hurry on this gorgeous day. “Life has its own pace. Take time to savor the moments,” was the thought that had come from her spirit and given her pause in this moment.

   Alleah took some deep breaths, relishing the caress of the winds upon her face as she observed its passage through the leaves and mosses that hung in the trees above. “The winds tickle these leaves most every day and when it is their time, the leaves fall to the ground so that ground creatures can have their time of covering needed to complete their life cycle. Everything that I see and cannot see has its purpose,” she mused to herself. Alleah is one of those beings who is attuned to appre ciate the roles of all life forms and to give honor to each one’s purpose. “Some humans think that earthworms are only for fishing,” she thought, “yet without worms, the soil would not be able to fulfill its purpose, to provide sustenance for plant life and trees, to grow our food. This is what I so like about Earth. Every life form serves another even though, most times, many are not ever noticed for their roles.”

  As Alleah continued her restful musings, she chuckled out loud startling a cardinal who had been searching for insects in the branches of a nearby bush. As the cardinal went on its way, Alleah caught the flutters of some other winged creature near one of the luscious pink flowers in that same bush. “Are you a hummingbird, with wings that flutter so fast that they cast light about?” she silently asked the creature. It was at that moment that Alleah’s breath caught, held in wonder as a beautiful forest fairy settled down onto the branch closest to her rock. She recognized that this was no ordinary fairy but the special Messenger Fairy, wondrous in exuberant light and glowing with the urgency of her message.

  After gazing at each other for a few seconds, the greeting of respect common to most of the creatures in the woods, the fairy offered its message to Alleah. “The god from the sky has sent me to you with a message. Sky God is very pleased with you and how well you have performed in this earthly assignment. You are barely aware of this yet, in your character, there is a wonderful, much needed gift. The openness with which you allow kindness to flow from your spirit to others has served to enrich the lives of many earthly life forms, even those whom you cannot see.”

   Alleah bowed her head in silent acknowledgement of this praise for a river of confidence ran deeply in her soul, whether she was in the form of Angie, a human, or Alleah, a winged being from the Great Sky. The Messenger Fairy continued. “Sky God informed me that you were knowingly placed into an earth family that would end up being broken apart. This was done to not only strengthen your character as a human but also because your spirit’s seeds of kindness could be sown and thereby help your earth family to better survive the ordeal. Such events happen often on Earth, I was told,” said the fairy. “Sky God knows that you do miss and sometimes yearn for the freedom of flying that you had as one of the Sky-beings. He told me that it was time for you to be honored for your role in sowing seeds of kindness on this Earth. Sky God is sending you a gift which will arrive soon.”

   “What is this gift?” asked Alleah as a ripple of excitement in her body was echoed by small gusts of wind rustling the leaves in the trees. The fairy answered, “Sky God said to me that I, too, would know soon enough. I am a good messenger yet secrets are never mine to keep.” With that, the Messenger Fairy dipped her wings in a gesture of farewell and took flight into the trees. Alleah also took flight, jumping up from the rock and beginning a run on the path. In an abrupt about-face maneuver, however, she turned, nodded to the rock, said, “Thank you,” and began to run towards home.

   Alleah had been deep into the woods so she knew that she was nearing its edge when more light began to filter through the canopy of trees. As she ran out of the woods and turned towards home, two dogs burst out from under a gate in the fence that bordered her land. Laughing out loud, Alleah dropped to her knees and thought, “Jess must have let out Bolder and Misty, knowing that I was on my way home. Isn’t that just like him!” While Misty patiently and lovingly gave her those sweet doggy kisses, Bolder just barked and jumped around and around. His paws were all over the place and when he could be still for just a split second, Bolder slipped in his own brand of wet doggy kisses. Alleah laughed and hugged these wonderful Earth creatures. “Bolder cannot sit still for he is so full of life and reminds me to just enjoy each moment. My sweet Misty brings to me her kindness and love. How very lucky I am,” she thought as she loved them back in return.

   “Let’s go home,” Alleah yelled, jumping up and running to the gate in the fence that meant ‘home.’ Halfway across the field she heard a strange sound. “That sounds like a neigh but there’s no horses nearby. It must be in my head,” she thought to herself. Rounding the corner of their house, Alleah came to an abrupt halt. There stood Jess, her Earth husband, holding the reins of a four-legged Earth creature, a horse.
“They are so much like me as a Sky-being,” she thought. With wonder in her heart, Alleah walked slowly towards her smiling husband. “Her name is Kellanji though they call her Kella. She looks kind of skinny and tired because she was with some not-so-good people. A neighbor took her and brought her to you,” he said. “We had talked about adopting an abused horse yet were waiting for the right time. I had asked our neighbor to be on the look-out for a horse that needed a good home.” Kella snickered then and tossed her head up and down so Jess kissed Alleah gently on the cheek and handed over the reins.

   Both horse and human stepped closer to each other. Alleah reached up and began to lovingly stroke the horse’s long, though not-so-silky neck, talking gently out loud while communicating silently with Kella’s spirit, so like her own. Kella gave a soft neigh, blowing into Alleah’s face and then began to nuzzle the nape of Alleah’s own neck as if to say, “I’m here for you, too.” As Alleah continued to gently stroke and rub Kella, she looked upwards in silent communication, “Thank you, Sky God. We will do well for each other.”

                                        

8 comments:

  1. Thank you, Dody. Your story provided a perfect start to my week! Is it too soon to expect a wonderful collection of stories from you? :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only the muse in me knows :-) Great idea, though, to fertilize. Thanks, Ingrid!

      Delete
  2. Thanks for a good read as always ... you have a great gift with words ..........

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Coming from you, Fel, this means so very much. Thank you!

      Delete
  3. Dody,
    What a great storyteller you are. You never told me you did short stories and srticles. I love your beautiful blog and wish mine was pretty like this one. My mother-in-law's dementia is getting worse at 96 and she lives alone. I refer to your book to see how I can be more help to her as I hate to see her lonely and fearful. But stubborn Italian that she is, she refuses to live with anyone or leave her home. I used to think I wanted to live to be 120--am rethinking that.

    Love, you, Micki

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah Micki..you always get me to laugh :) After mother-sitting, I decided I could leave before I hit the 80's!! Guess we're not in charge of that though! Thanks so much for your support on this blog but more so, as my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a beautiful story for the start of a busy week. My thought while I was reading your post: I need to be more grateful for what I have!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean, Muriel. Taking a 'pause' from the busyness around me (and in my head!) helps me to tune into gratitude. When I read your blog posts, there is a tone of gratitude that catches my attention ;)

      Delete