“Did I wake you?” She asked, though not sorry, as it had been her intent. She needed answers. “Are you in charge of things here?”
Mouse giggled at that, and studiously licked a paw to avoid having to answer. She knew Miss Pepper often THOUGHT she was in charge. The others lovingly called her “Sergeant Pepper” from time to time.
“Well, yes, I guess,” she answered, looking around to see if anyone would challenge her. “You’re Beauty, aren’t you? You came to us last week?”
“I am. And I don’t know how any of this works, but you see, I’m feeling kind of weird. Like I ought to be DOING something about something, but I don’t know what.”
With a startled oof, she was scooped up, and deposited on the lap of the person? Angel? She had met when she first got here. When she didn’t know was where “here” was.
Mouse and Pepper giggled. “You’ll get used to that. Or not. Andrew hears our thoughts before we even think them sometimes. And he’s always where we need him to be, and then he takes us where WE need to be, and it all works out. Eventually.”
As Andrew stroked the beautiful feathers, Beauty calmed down. He produced chicken size treats from a pocket, and kitty treats from another. Beauty wondered just how many pockets he had.
“Oh, enough, never worry?”
“Huh?” If a chicken could blush ... “I didn’t say anything ...”
“You don’t have to. He knows what you’re thinking, before you think it,” Pepper explained.
Mouse piped up, “What you are feeling is that another comes soon from your earth family. Maybe you would like to be there for her?”
“What happened?” Beauty asked.
“One of your Christie’s chickens developed a problem that earth science couldn’t fix, and so Christie is sending her here to us. I think if you look toward the creek you might see her?”
Beauty scrambled off Andrew’s lap, and headed toward the creek, just as a new chicken appeared out of nowhere. “Laverne? Is that you?”
Laverne looked up to see her friend coming toward her as fast as a chicken can go. “Beauty! Where are we? You’re here too! Where is here?”
“We’re in the meadow, by the creek, and there’s the rock and that’s Andrew sitting on it, and the cats won’t hurt us, and then we go to a bridge, and then we jump off, and there’s other animals, but the foxes won’t hurt us, and He knows when even a sparrow falls and ....”
Andrew’s sides shook with laughter. It was always fun to watch a newly arrived critter meet another. The explanations were perfect!!
The two chickens went back to the rock where Andrew sat, composing himself. He reached into a pocket and produced more snacks as the two birds warily watched the cats sitting beside him.
“What is this place?” Asked Laverne.
”Everything that Beauty told you is true, though there’s a little more to it than that. When the earth was new, our Creator made all the birds of the air, the animals on land, and the people who were supposed to care for them. He was pleased. Then, when the people stopped caring about themselves, or anything else on the earth, the Creator washed it all off, except for two of every living thing. He was a little ashamed of his anger, and so he made a promise that He would never do that again, and he set a beautiful rainbow in the clouds as a sign of that promise,” Andrew explained.
Pepper added “And then we cross that rainbow, which is really a bridge, and we wait for our people, and when they come we all go through the Great Gates to be together for all time.”
“Come, the others are waiting for us ....”. And with that, a chicken tucked under both arms, two cats at the Angel’s feet, all of them vanished ...
....and appeared on the Bridge. Pepper and Mouse hopped off, as Andrew set the two chickens down at his feet.
“Now it’s your turn! You must accept the Promises the Creator made to all of us: That He would know when even a tiny sparrow fell. So, jump off the Bridge!”
Maggie often helped the smaller creatures at this point, as her lovely golden retriever fur made a soft landing! She wagged her tail, and said “I”m ready!”
The two chickens tumbled off the Bridge onto Maggie’s back, and then slid to the ground. There were introductions all around, the two wide-eyed chickens trying to take it all in. There were foxes, and deer, cats, dogs, birds of more colors than even there Rainbow. As he faded from view Andrew thought again about these wonderful animals and birds he had come to love as his own. They were a family, they were HIS family.
Mouse slipped away from the others and went to the edge of the Meadow. “Mama, they’re ok, they’re here with us ... tell Cristie, ok?”
The woman smiled in her sleep. All was well ....
“What is this place?” Asked Laverne.
”Everything that Beauty told you is true, though there’s a little more to it than that. When the earth was new, our Creator made all the birds of the air, the animals on land, and the people who were supposed to care for them. He was pleased. Then, when the people stopped caring about themselves, or anything else on the earth, the Creator washed it all off, except for two of every living thing. He was a little ashamed of his anger, and so he made a promise that He would never do that again, and he set a beautiful rainbow in the clouds as a sign of that promise,” Andrew explained.
Pepper added “And then we cross that rainbow, which is really a bridge, and we wait for our people, and when they come we all go through the Great Gates to be together for all time.”
“Come, the others are waiting for us ....”. And with that, a chicken tucked under both arms, two cats at the Angel’s feet, all of them vanished ...
....and appeared on the Bridge. Pepper and Mouse hopped off, as Andrew set the two chickens down at his feet.
“Now it’s your turn! You must accept the Promises the Creator made to all of us: That He would know when even a tiny sparrow fell. So, jump off the Bridge!”
Maggie often helped the smaller creatures at this point, as her lovely golden retriever fur made a soft landing! She wagged her tail, and said “I”m ready!”
The two chickens tumbled off the Bridge onto Maggie’s back, and then slid to the ground. There were introductions all around, the two wide-eyed chickens trying to take it all in. There were foxes, and deer, cats, dogs, birds of more colors than even there Rainbow. As he faded from view Andrew thought again about these wonderful animals and birds he had come to love as his own. They were a family, they were HIS family.
Mouse slipped away from the others and went to the edge of the Meadow. “Mama, they’re ok, they’re here with us ... tell Cristie, ok?”
The woman smiled in her sleep. All was well ....
©Rose Scott
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