"The Reunion"
More than anything,she had hoped that the last thing her friend had known
was that she had loved him...
and cherished him...
and that the friendship he had given her was more valuable to her
than all the gold the world could hold.

Rising from the ground, still holding the small white petal,
she saw her own yard not more than a few feet away.
The lawn chair still sat in the shade of the apple tree
with the catalogue she had been reading spread out on the green cushioned pad.
In amazement she had thought...
she had been looking for Shoo,
and here he had been not more than a few feet from her,
separated only by the gray pickett fence!
With tears streaming down her face, she had taken one last look at the site and turned and left the yard.
Upon entering her house she had gone into the kitchen and sat at the table to await her husband's return.
She rubbed the little flower petal between her thumb and index finger...
somehow feeling that it's very essence brought her close again to Shoo-Fly.
What had gone wrong?
Shoo had obviously fallen victim to the attack of another animal.
She had warned the little rabbit each night as they parted to beware of the dangers of the wild.
In fact, it had become their "Good-night" routine!

("Be a good bunny and a safe bunny. Beware......")

She had even left the back porch light on all night for him!
She had sat with him until he left the yard!
But all of her care and planning and even her love for him had not been able to protect him.

At a quarter to five, she rose from the chair unable to sit any longer.
Going to the back door she stepped outside and viewed the familiar backyard.
"Shoo-land" she had come to call it.
The robin still hopped in the yard.
White butterflies still danced in their spring flight.
She almost expected to see the little cottontail come running into the yard.

At 5:30 she picked up the bowl of uneaten food to the right of the step,
almost forgotten in the activities of the day.
Bringing it into the house, she had thought to dump the contents  into the garbadge can
in sad eulogy, but stopped.
She could not thow his food away.
There was something much too final in this act.
Going to the cabinet near the sink, she had taken out another small sandwich bag.
Placing the food into the bag, she had come  across a small piece of treat mixed in with the rabbit pellets.
With a sad smile she remembered Shoo dropping the little piece as he ate from her hand two nights ago.
After he had left the yard she had had picked up the small piece of orange colored treat,
and put  it in the bowl for him to finish when he returned.
Now separating it from the other food she had just put into the bag, she took this memory of her precious friend and their last time together and placed it and the white flower petal into the bag that held the dried parsley sprig she had collected the day after they had first met.
She had then washed the food bowl, refilled it with rabbit pellets and
taken  it outside setting it near the apple tree.
From here she had made a vow to her friend...
that she would take care of his kind for the rest of her days.
Because he had lived they would always find fresh water
to drink, food in his bowl and treats to surprise them.
Returning to the house, she had heard the garage door
open and close once again and she knew that her husband
had arrived.
She had sat at the table, waiting to find out where he had
taken Shoo-Fly.
Turning from the window, she had walked to the front door and stepped outside, crossing the yard that led to the neighbor's fence.
Though her husband had closed the gate, it was not locked and she opened it with a gentle push.
Directly ahead of her were the two trees.
Quietly she had knelt in the warm May grass, touching the spot where her beloved friend had laid only  moments before.
Fallen apple blossoms now partially covered the small indentation in the grass where Shoo had been, and she picked up one of the small white petals and held it in her hand.
Sadly she looked at the part of the old gray fence that ran along the back of the yard directly in front of her.
This was probably the last thing on earth that her friend had seen.

She tried to imagine what his last thoughts might have been.
Had he remembered how much she loved him?
She closed her eyes tightly against newly forming tears.
Bunny Link
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