Thing had never known a time like it, at least not since he had been on his own. The Spring had slipped into Summer and now the leaves were falling all around the front of the cave. Some of the folks from the town had stopped by on their way to the top of the mountain, some stayed for just a few minutes, some for a several hours, talking about this and that and smoking pipes and stuff. Some folks just hurried by with a ‘howdee’ on their way through.
So he really wasn’t alone
and when his mother returned life would go back to the good times. And yet this
was the second winter coming that Things was without her and he couldn’t stop
hoping she’d be back.
It was on Sunday in early
December that one of the walkers mentioned to Thing that there was another like
Thing in town. Perhaps his mother was returning just in time for Christmas?
He’d have to get the cave real sharp, ‘cause his mother always believed in
cleaning and keeping things straight. “There’s a place for everything,” she
would tell him.
He quickly cleaned and
polished until there wasn’t a speck of dust to be seen. He knew his mother
would approve and so he felt safe enough to go down the mountain into town and
make sure it was she.
Just beyond the Library was
a crowd of people, all standing in the way they used to gather around Thing;
back in the days when they were scared of him, that is. But times had changed
and people just let him go about his business. So maybe they were welcoming his
mother, Thing did something he didn’t usually do, he broke into a run. He could
see her head and her arms – people must be welcoming her home.
But it wasn’t his mother,
sure it was another like him, but it wasn’t his mother. This was one of his own
kind who was being welcomed into town, mainly due to all the hard work and
kindness that Thing had shown to the town’s folk.
Maybe this one knew where
his mother was - maybe this one had met her on the way here. But the one who
looked like Thing didn’t know anything about his mother. Thing just turned away
for a spell and sighed and then spun around, smiled and welcomed his new friend
into the town.
Thing said there was always
a warm corner in his cave for a friend, at least until his family got back. But
his new friend said he felt right at home in town and was probably going to
stay there.
Sure enough one of the
farmers took the other Thing in and let him stay in his barn. Thing was
confused, ‘cause surely Things should stick together, since they both knew how
the other thought about people and life.
This got Thing down and he
went to the back of the cave to sit and talk to his mother, hoping wherever she
was, that she could hear him. He said that life had been good for a while but
he would have liked to be friends with the one who looked like Thing.
Suddenly a little wind blew
in the cave and there was the one who looked like Thing standing at the
entrance.
His friend could see that
something was bothering Thing and so he asked him what was wrong. Thing told
him that he had hoped they would be pals and that he’d stay in the cave, at least until his mother came
back.
“You have to live out there,”
he said pointing to the world. “That is why we are all here,” said his friend.
And Thing told him of the
hurt that he faced when he was out there.
“Sure there are those, the
unhappy ones, who are jealous of other’s happiness and maybe from time to time
they can hurt you more than you would like. But that is the price of living.
That is what makes life worth living. There are good people out there too; I have
chosen to live in town even though there may be enemies there, where there are
enemies, there are also friends. If you stay in the cave you will never find
out.”
And so his friend told him
that there were probably souls out there who felt touched by Thing, who wanted
to talk to him, to get to know Thing.
“But if you stay up here,
you will only know loneliness,” his friend told him. “You can not say who you
have inspired or helped just by being you, by persevering. But if you lock
yourself away and say you have helped no one, then you are just a sad as those
who try to hurt. The universe made you, Thing to live, not to exist in
darkness. No one can protect you from all the hurt but that is the price, for
in all that madness you will find love in the most unlikely places. And if your
mother does not come back then that was her destiny, just as yours is to be
happy.”
The two of them sat and
talked for the rest of the night and then Thing fell asleep much happier than
he had been for the longest time.
When he awoke in the morning
he found that his friend had gone and so he looked for him but he was nowhere
to be seen. The farmer told Thing that his friend had departed at first light.
Then the farmer said that he had left Thing a present.
“I was to tell you it was it
was a likeness of the one person who could make you happy,” said the farmer.
bobby stevenson 2016
wee bobby
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