First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all of our moms in here.....any of you wishing to adopt a 44-year old me, let me know....LOL
I wrote this short story almost four years ago, and I'm thinking we could all use some magic in our lives. I hope you all enjoy it.
L&H
Michelle
The Magic of the Dandelion
The child slowly approached the man as he sat there in the deserted lot, the
afternoon sunlight glinting off of the pieces of broken glass and rusting cans. The
man, sensing another's presence, slowly turned his head to look at the child.
"Well, hello there," he said quietly. "What brings you here this day?"
The child looked at the man for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to stay or to flee. The man reached out a hand to the child, as if to beckon her closer.
"Hello," she said in a soft voice. "Why are you sitting here in this field?"
The man sat there for a moment, a tear slowly leaving a streak of wetness on his cheek.
"I come here to think," he said, "and to see the beauty that is all around us but that we don't see because we do not take the time."
The child slowly looked around the deserted lot, seeing the refuse and weeds
scattered in the dirt. "What do you see that is pretty here?" she asked.
"What do you see here child?" the man replied.
The child looked around the lot, then back at the man. "I see broken things and dirt, and some weeds."
"What else do you see?" asked the man quietly.
The child slowly turned in a circle, carefully looking at the lot. "I don't see anything else."
The man pointed to the ground by his feet at the dandelion growing there.
"But that is just a weed!" she exclaimed.
The man shook his head sadly and patted the ground next to him, motioning for the child to sit beside him. As she sat down, the man began to speak. "When you look at this plant, you see a weed. When I look at it, I see a beautiful plant. Its flower is as yellow as the sun, and provides pollens for the bees. Its leaves can provide nourishment for people and animals. It has the strength to grow here among the trash."
The child sat there quietly looking at the dandelion. The man reached out his
hand again to the little girl. She smiled shyly, then placed her hand in his, and
they sat quietly, each lost within their own thoughts.
@-->---- ----<--@
A week later, the man once again sat in the vacant lot by the dandelion. Sensing
the presence of the little girl behind him, he held out his hand to the child, silently
inviting her to join him. As she sat down, she saw that the yellow flower was no
longer there, but in its place was a white ball of fluff.
"What happened to our flower?" she asked sadly.
"It is still here child. Life is full of changes."
The child looked up at the man, then back at the plant. "But why
did our flower have to die? It was so pretty."
The man sat quietly for a moment, and then began to speak again. "Dandelions have magical powers my little friend. This yellow flower gives us beauty and a feeling of the sun even on a rainy day. But then, instead of dying and falling to the ground, the flower changes into the ball of fluff that you see today."
"But what is the magic or beauty in the flower now?" she asked. "It was pretty when it was yellow. That's my favorite color you know."
The man smiled and took the girl's hands in his own, cupping them around the ball of fluff.
"Why for are you doing that with our hands?" she asked.
"To show you the magic of the dandelion child." He gently placed the child's fingers on the ball of fluff so she could feel its softness. Then he took her hands away and began to speak again.
"When I count to three, I want you to think of a wish and then blow on the ball of
fluff. Are you ready?"
The child nodded her head and closed her eyes, her little face wrinkling in concentration. "Ready," she answered.
"One....two....three" the man slowly counted. The little girl blew and the ball of fluff exploded in a cloud of seeds, gently falling to the ground all around the barren plant.
The little girl laughed as she looked at the bits of fluff on the ground. "But where
is the magic?" she asked. "How will I know if my wish will come true?"
The man smiled at the child as he began to speak again. "Sometimes we have to be patient and wait for the magic to work, but if you believe in it child, your wish will come true."
The little girl stood up and put her arms around the man's neck. "I believe," she whispered. "I believe."
@-->---- ----<--@
Another week passed by and the man wondered whether he would see his little
friend again. Where the lone dandelion once stood, now there was a patch of the
yellow flowers growing in the sunlight. The man cleared the area of glass and
debris and sat quietly, gazing at the flowers.
As he was preparing to leave, he saw the child coming toward him, a beautiful
smile on her tiny face.
"It came true! My wish came true!" she cried as she threw herself into the man's arms.
He held the child for a moment, trying to capture the feelings of love and warmth before gently setting her back on the ground.
"I wished the beautiful flowers would come back again," said the little girl. "I wanted you to see your flowers when you came here."
The man wiped away the tears from his face. "That is the magic of the dandelions child. When you blew on that ball of fluff, you blew the seeds of the flower to the ground. The rain and the sun nourished the seeds as they grew, and now we have all of these
dandelions to share."
"Will they become balls of fluff too?" she asked. "Will we be able to blow on them
and make more wishes?"
"Yes child," the man replied.
"Then I will come back and keep wishing until this whole place is full of dandelions. And you and I will always have our magic flowers." The child hugged him again, and then ran off to play.
The man sat there in the lot, the tears streaming down his face as he stared at
the dandelions. Where once he had sat alone in a deserted lot, now he sat
bathed in sunlight, in a field of dandelions, with love and wonderment mixed with
the tears on his face.
@-->---- ----<--@
This story is dedicated to my special Bear, a man willing to look beyond the
surface of life and people, to share of himself and his wisdom, and to allow
himself once again to love and be loved. Thank you for taking the time to see the
little flower.
May you all receive magical dandelions this day.... :)