The Easter Egg Hunt

Once upon a time, as recent as yesterday or maybe even tomorrow, a woman (we shall call her Sadie) rested comfortably in her rocking chair beneath the roof of her front porch. Half awake, half asleep, Sadie was contemplating some of the events from her long life when she heard a voice call out, “Come along. You do not want to be late for the Easter egg hunt, do you?”

Opening her eyes, Sadie beheld, standing before her, a large, gray rabbit wearing a green top hat with openings for his long, gray, upright ears.  A wide green hat band encircled the top hat, with a large 4-leaf clover shamrock tucked neatly beneath the band.  The rabbit also sported a green frock coat with long tails.  “Well, come along,” suggested the rabbit, holding out his paw.

Sadie, as if in a dream and without thinking there was anything the least bit unusual about a large gray rabbit in a top hat and frock coat summoning her to an Easter egg hunt, reached out her hand and took his paw.  She suddenly found herself standing with the rabbit in a most beautiful garden filled with bright flowers of all colors, basking beneath the sun-filled sky.  The birds in the trees sang so sweetly that Sadie was almost brought to tears as she listened to their songs.

Large, beautiful butterflies fluttered about the garden, but then Sadie realized that many of the butterflies were winged faeries.  She also spotted doll-sized male and female faeries carrying Easter eggs about the garden.

“Hello!  I am so glad you came to help me find Easter eggs.  The faeries are ever so good at hiding them.”  Sadie looked down and saw a beautiful little girl gazing up at her.  The little girl looked ever so familiar, but she could not remember who she was.  “Here,” said the little girl, handing her an empty basket.

“Time to begin the Easter egg hunt!” declared the large rabbit, clapping his furry paws together.

Together, Sadie and the little girl hunted for the Easter eggs they found hidden beneath flowering bushes and tucked up on easily-reachable limbs of trees.  Sadie tried to let the little girl collect most of the eggs, but the little girl would have none of it.  After a very pleasant time of hunting eggs, filled with laughter, the little girl, over the old woman’s protestations, made sure to divide the colorful eggs evenly between the two of them.

Sadie finally admitted to the little girl, “I feel I should know you, but I just can’t remember your name.”

The little girl laughed gaily.  “I am you, silly.  You left me behind long ago when you grew up and stopped believing in magic.”

And with that, Sadie’s eyes snapped open, and she found herself back in the rocking chair on her front porch.  “What a wonderful dream,” she murmured to herself.

“You forgot your Easter egg basket,” said the large gray rabbit, handing her a basket filled to the brim with brightly colored Easter eggs.  With a wink and a tip of his top hat to her, the rabbit quickly disappeared.

Sadie remained out upon her porch, rocking gently back and forth in her rocking chair.  Cradling the Easter basket in her arms, she smiled at the wonderment of it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dog Dancing

My dog dances beneath the delicate falling snowflakes, while small Faerie Folk form a circle and begin clapping their hands in time with her leaps and twirls.  A Faerie man begins playing a tin whistle, while a woman sounds the heartbeat of the dance with her Irish bodhran.

Quickly forming a circle, the Faerie begin dancing as couples, weaving in and out around the circle.  “Come join us,” they shout to me, but I am concerned that my neighbors might observe me dancing alone in the snow, for they perhaps do not see the Faeries as I do.  Instead, I bid the dancers farewell, and, with a sad smile and a wave, my loyal dog and I retreat inside.