Under Branches of Juniper

Snow fell in a thick wondrous rush, covering hills and trails with fluffy white. I was tucked under a hardy bush, shielded from the worst of the storm. The soft silence of dusky evening permeated, yet there was no comfort to be had. The worst had happened.

I'd been left behind. Abandoned perhaps this time.

Oh, I'd been here before, cast aside during the height of battles, tossed on the banks of frozen shores, flown off during daring, downhill escapades. But he always came back for me.

This time...was different. I saw his indecision, felt his shame as he tossed me aside.

Those other boys were taunting him. My youthful pattern, the source of all the ribbing.

He put on a good show though, tried to mask the hurt with bravado but his pain bled through. I absorbed it all the best I could, but cotton wasn't armor.

Their jabs struck a nerve that he'd been struggling to reconcile. Those moments in time when a boy grew up.

I'd seen his older brothers make the transition. Watched their joy for building snowmen and drinking hot chocolate by the fire fade. Swapped for video games and romance.

We'd been through it, thick and thin. He and I.

I was his faithful sidekick. Plundering distant seas tied round his crown. Weathering doctor's visits with his sissy as a sling. Cradling a broken bird we once found, searching for treasure in the yard. Keeping the chill away as we dawdled on the way home from school, hoping to get out of chores.

And yet, here I was.

I didn't blame him for his messy feelings. I just wish he would've given me to someone else. Maybe the little girl next door. She always looked so sad.

Here? I had no purpose. The ground didn't need a shield.

***

Dawn's watery light finally breached my solitude, drawing birds and squirrels out to forage. They sniffed and nuzzled against my sides, pushing my folds this way and that to search for bare earth beneath.

Would he come back for me today now that the winds had calmed and the snow stopped swirling? Did his neck feel bare without my warmth?

Before long, shadows stretched across the horizon signaling the day was near to close. My confidence waned. This was it for me. I'd lie here til spring when calloused men would sweep the park for winter 'debris', tossing me in a bin and taking me wherever it was they delivered useless things.

My thoughts turned dark and sluggish as evening began, and I succumbed to its frigid embrace.

Another morning followed, bright and crisp. Familiar creatures scampered about, endlessly on the lookout for food. I ignored their cheerful chittering, content in my discontent. Until their sounds dropped off abruptly.

A predator was here.

I strained to listen, not daring to believe he'd come for me, but unable to stop the hope from rising. Moments passed, and then I felt it. A cold nose pressed up against my side, chuffing. Then gentle teeth latched hold, pulling me from my little nest, and dragging me out into the dazzling sun.

Disappointment hit hard. It wasn't him. It was a little rust-colored fox. I tried to scream, to protest, anything to keep me where I might be found and taken home. Yet fate had its way.

She didn't take me far, just around the bend along the hillside surrounded by a grove of trees. I barely felt her grip as she pulled me through a small hole and down into her den where more fuzzy faces greeted me.

My length was pawed and pushed, creating a nesting space that three eager cubs were quick to fill. A hushed silence fell as excited pants turned to deepened breathing. It was cozy and warm. Safe.

Until they each woke from drowsy slumber, delicate ears perked and ready. A disturbance was growing outside.

I listened hard, worried, already protective of this new family.

But it was his voice that carried on the wind.

"Mom, you don't understand. I put it right under this bush, so I could come back and get it." Anguish and regret bled into his words. "We have to find it."

"Sweetheart, it looks like something got to it first, see the tracks in the snow?"

"Maybe we can follow them?" he pleaded.

His mom gentled her reply, "Maybe it's time for a change. Why don't we go shopping for a new one today, something a little more grown up? Something, say Suzie would like?"

"Mom," he groaned. "I don't have a girlfriend. Will you let it go? Let's just go home, I'm supposed to be online to play in fifteen minutes..."

Their voices drifted away, and I realized this was the way things were supposed to be. We were each gaining new meaning, new purpose.

And although the sting of change burned brightly, we'd both be better for it in the end.

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Thank you for spending your time with me :)