He Walked In A Garden

 

Maybe something like this one.

💚

 
            When Ramona woke one early morning at her usual time to stir up the fire and get started for the day, Ralph was not beside her. No one was snoring, huge and warm on the other side of the bed.
            She sat up and looked all around inside the cave, which was silly because if he was there he would be asleep in bed. She sniffed the air. No. He had been gone for a while. Just a tiny whiff of that resinous musky signature remained.
            Twigg and Cherry were both in their baskets. Even Berry and Bob were asleep on their platform at the back of the cave. It was very still in the cave.
            She sat quietly, just waiting to see if anything came to her. It didn't really, but she had no sense of anything amiss either.
            Ramona began her day just like any other day. She slipped outside, pleased to see that coals remained live in the circle of river boulders. While building her fire back up she thought about what to make for breakfast, though I don’t think she used the word. They ate a lot of fish in the Home Clearing but today she had a couple of wild turkeys that needed to be used, so turkeys it would be.
            While she set up her grid, she continued to wonder where he had gotten to and why. He had never just left without saying anything. Ramona was not a fearful type, but she was confused. She cut the turkeys up into conveniently sized pieces and laid them out on the grid, seasoned with garlic and pepper and salt, thanks to Thaga.
            “Where’s dad,” said Twigg, coming out to join her.
            She sat down on a log there, putting an arm around him, and said, “I’m not sure. But I am sure he is OK.”
            Morning continued. The sun came up. Cherry and the puma brother woke and came out to see what was happening outside. Ramona fed everyone, except herself, some turkey. The kids didn’t really feel like going out to play. They stuck around their mother. Bob and Berry did pretty much the same.
            Crows, Stellar Jays, and squirrels chattered up in the tree tops. Sometimes it was hard to tell them apart. The wind came through and scattered smoke all over everyone just for fun. Then it took off. Midday arrived. But not Ralph.
            Ramona began to feel an unfamiliar hollow feeling in her stomach.
            “This will not do!” she thought.
            So, she whistled up Maeve, who mysteriously always hears when whistled for. In a few minutes, she flew in from the canopy above, landing on Twigg’s shoulder just to give him a thrill.
            “Where’s the Boss?” said Maeve.
            “We don’t know!” said Ramona, trying to sound brave in front of the kids and cats. “What I wonder is could you scout around the landscape and just take a look? You cover more ground from the air than I could ever hope to cover on foot!”
            Maeve said, “Sure thing! I’m already gone! Be back in a while!” And she took off again.
            “We’ll go sniff around his log,” said Berry. “Maybe there is a clue there.” Then they walked off into the forest on the well-worn path.
            Ramona sat watching two pale yellow butterflies do that little dance they do in a beam of sunlight. Her mind wandered. Her eyes closed .It was so quiet; the fire made its little creaky noises. The children had gone inside to nap for a while. She dozed there with her hands folded in her lap.
            The cats came back, next to silently, and lay at her feet, as if the drowsiness was affecting them also. Their heads lay on their front paws. Their tails lay still beside them.
            Dreamlike, Maeve floated down out of the sky. Seeing that everyone was under some sort of sleepy spell, she didn’t make a sound. She sat beside Ramona and waited. She dropped off to sleep also.
            Time moved on a little, the fire died down and it got a little chilly. Maybe the light changed how things felt too.
            Ramona felt someone sit down beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. Her eyes flew open. Everyone else slept on.
            “Ralph! Where were you?” she whispered.
            “I was walking among flowers and lights,” he said.
            “How did you get there?” said Ramona. “I didn’t feel you get out of bed.”
            “I don’t know. I kind of woke up there, in that garden,” said Ralph.
            “What did you do there?”
            “I’m not sure I can tell you in words because if I say it in words I will have to say that I walked with flowers. But not like flowers we have ever seen. And they were in colors that don’t happen here, Mona. I can’t remember what they looked like now, my eyes can’t remember those colors.
            “I know that there was music, but it was also impossible to describe to you except that it was massive, almost unbearable, but only because of its beauty.”
            By then Ramona was weeping, perhaps for joy. It takes some of us that way.
            “There must be a reason HE called you, Ralph. Tell me if you know,” she said.
            “There were speaking lights, masses of them. Uncountable. Like stars, Mona!”
            She sat watching him speak with her head tilted a bit, trying to understand it all.
            “What did they say, Baby,” whispered Ramona.
            “They spoke only of love, and majesty, and glory, Mona, and holiness, in words I  had never heard before, but those I remember!” said Ralph. “I can never forget!” His brown eyes looked far away for a moment, then he smiled.
            Berry and Bob’s eyes opened, and they yawned. They looked about as if a bit startled to suddenly awaken there.
            Maeve opened her eyes too. She said, “Hi Boss. Wow! You’ve been somewhere haven’t you?”
            Ralph laughed. “Yes,” he said.
            “Hey dad,” said Twigg, having once more come out into the outdoors. He came and leaned on his father, yawning and waking up.
            Cherry walked out next and climbed up on his knees, and leaned into his chest, as she often did. “Daddy,” she said. “Happy. You are here.”
            If there had been a camera there, making video from somewhere above the group, it would have shown Ralph and Ramona leaning into each other, with their children gathered closely into them also. It would have shown two fully grown pumas staying near as if in attendance upon the family.
            The last scene would show a great Raven flying up just a little, to land on Ralph’s left shoulder and then close on the golden butterflies dancing in the light of the sun.