The Meadow by Kenda Kaiser - HTML preview

 

Rabbit, thinking they didn’t like it, said, “Well, it’s just the first try.  I’ll go and..”

 

“It’s… absolutely…. beautiful,”  Lily said slowly with awe in her voice.  “Rabbit, I never knew you had such talent.   You did very well.   Very well, indeed!”

 

The others joined in congratulating Rabbit on her beautiful drawing of Fiona.  “It’s just how I remember her.”  “Rabbit seemed to capture her kindness in her gaze.”  “Her hair looks like you could reach out and wrap it around your paw.”

 

Timmy looked down at Rabbit and said, “Friends, I don’t believe we need to change a thing about this drawing.   I do believe that Rabbit got it right on her first try!   Let’s go show Natu and hang it up right away!”

 

“NO!”  Ramey shouted nervously.   “Eh, not right now.  I remember Natu saying he had, er, something to do early today.  Rabbit, I salute you.   It appears that you have talents other than being a hero!”   He chuckled as he said this, and nonchalantly started rolling up the drawing.  “I’ll just take this over to the library later on and let Natu decide where to hang it,”  he said as he walked away with the drawing in his mouth.

 

As soon as he was out of sight of the friends, he ran all the way to Tooch’s lodge.   “Here you are, Tooch!   Here’s the drawing of Fiona.   How soon do you think I can have it back?   I really need to get it to Natu today!”

 

“Oh, my, that’s quite a short time, but I think we can handle that.   Come back after the middle meal,” replied Tooch.   He showed Ramey what they beavers had already done.

 

Ramey was excited.  The beavers had already done the body in flowing robes, as if blowing in a warm springtime breeze.   It looked so real!   He just knew that the face of Fiona on top would be perfect!

 

21.  Nakiry and Enic walked hand in hand along the stream.  “It’s so peaceful and beautiful here now,” commented Enic.

 

Nakiry said, “I can’t believe the life you lived before the battle.  That must have been just dreadful.  I’ve always live in the other meadow, but I never realized until this happened just how good my life was.   Of course, I didn’t know any differently.”

 

“You were very lucky to have been born there, Nakiry.   Nakiry, I’ve been thinking.  It’s nearly time for me to choose my life job; gatherer or tunnel-worker.   Before, I was sure I’d be a tunnel-worker.   It was as dark up top as it was in the tunnels, with no hope.   But now, well…   Nakiry, would you mind being married to a gatherer?   There’s no danger here, now, so you wouldn’t have to worry about me when I’d be gone.  You’d have the light time to do whatever you wished; visit your parents, help with the new library, maybe even help to raise the baby ants!”   These last words came out in a rush.   Then Enic held his breath.

 

“A gatherer is a fine job, E….   Wait.  What?   Married?   Me and you??”   as Enic nodded his head, his eyes hopeful, Nakiry sent her fist into the air.  “YES!!!  Oh, yes, Enic.”  Then she pulled him in for a big hug, as his smile was as big as she had ever seen.

 

“Oh, we have to get a ride, right now!   We have to go tell my parents!   They’ll be so excited.”  Her rush of words died, as Enic kissed her cheek and said, “You’ve made me very happy, Nakiry.”

 

“Now let’s go!”   He yelled “YA-HOOO” as they jumped on the back of Gooser as he started to cross the bridge.  “To the colony, my fine duck!”

 

22.  Gooser ran a bit, Gooser flew a bit, but eventually he got the young ants to the colony in the old meadow.   They ran straight to the library to find her father, Natu, on a ladder preparing a wall for Fiona’s drawing.   Lily had stopped by earlier and told him about what they had done.

“Papa, Papa!”  Nakiry cried.   “Guess what?  Oh, you’ll never guess!   It’s just so exciting!”

 

Natu thought he knew what was going on with his daughter, especially since she was pulling Enic around with her and they both had silly smiles on their faces.   But he would not deny her the pleasure of telling him her big news.  He thought Enic was a fine boy.  He had been through much, and turned out well.   He felt sad that Enic had lost his parents, and had welcomed him into his and Kiryna’s tunnel-home.

 

“Oh, Papa.  Wait’ll you hear.   You will be as happy as we are!”  said Nakiry, out of breath with excitement and from running.

 

“Why, what on earth could cause all this excitement, Daughter?   Hello, Enic.  How are you today?”  Natu managed to get some words in.

 

“I’m well, sir.  But Nakiry and I have some news for you.   You see, sir, today I asked Nakiry to be my wife.   Sir.”   Enic had fallen in love with Natu and Kiryna, but he was anxious, knowing that Natu could say no if he so chose.

 

“And I said yes, Papa,”  Nakiry put in.  “Enic has decided to become a gatherer in the new colony, and I can help out with the babes and the new library.”   Lowering her voice to a whisper, her hands folded as if in prayer, her eyes pleading, she said, “Papa, please be happy for us.”

 

Natu came down the ladder, gathered his daughter in his arms and, with a tear sliding down his cheek, whispered back, “I’m very happy for you.”

 

“Now, let’s go tell your mother.    She’s been waiting for this all week!!!”  And laughing, with a spring in their step, they all left the library.

 

The next morning, Nakiry and Renita met at the designated place to travel to the new meadow, and they both at once started exclaiming, “Wait til I tell you!”  “I have such big news!”  “You won’t believe it!”

 

They stopped, looked at each other and started laughing.  “Enic?” asked Renita.  Nakiry nodded, saying “Tonak?”   Then they hugged and danced and decided to get married together!

 

All the way to the new meadow, they made plans.   As they crossed the bridge into the new meadow, the boys met them and they told them about their plans.  The four friends went to their favorite clover patch and spent the day dreaming and planning the perfect wedding, the perfect life.

 

24.   Ramey couldn’t wait.   His tail kept twitching.   His ears kept flicking.  “Good heavens, Ramey, out with it!!   What has got you so jittery?” Lily asked him impatiently.

 

“Nothing.  Nothing, Lily.   I just, uh, must have eaten something that wasn’t nice to me.  I guess.  Anyway, what were we discussing?”   Ramey could not wait to get to the lodge and see Fiona.   What if they messed her up?  What if she wasn’t finished?   He had to get the drawing to Natu before the friends found out that it wasn’t here.  There was just so much that could go wrong.   How would he ever explain it?

 

And suddenly, it was time.   Ramey raced as fast as he could to the lodge, calling to Tooch as he came near, “Tooch!   Tooch!   Is she ready?   Can I see her?  How does she look?   Tooch!”

 

Tooch stood at the lodge door, laughing at Ramey.  “I was planning to play a joke on you, my friend, but I don’t think you could take it!   Yes, she’s done, and I believe we did a fine job on her, but of course, that is for you to decide.   Come in, come in!”

 

Ramey entered the lodge, and there stood Fiona.  Breeze-blown robes, flowing hair, serene face - exactly like Rabbit’s drawing! - at her feet, animal babies.   And cuddled in her arms, a cat.   Ramey, for once in his life, was speechless!

 

He looked her up and down.   He walked slowly around her, touching the babies with his paws.   He reached up to stroke the cat in her arms.

 

“Well?”   Tooch was anxious to hear Ramey’s opinion.

 

“It’s.. she’s.. Tooch..  how did you?   She’s perfect.  The statue is perfect.  It could not have been done any better.  I don’t know what to say.”  Ramey was speaking softly, reverently, to this master of building.

 

“Thank you.  Oh, thank you, my friend.  You have created something that will forever remind us of the beauty of the soul, of sacrifice for love.   I bow to you, Sir Tooch.”

 

Tooch was extremely touched.   He’d never been praised so highly before.  He had only done what was natural to him, after all!

 

So he said, “Well, now we have to figure out  how we’re going to make her a surprise, don’t you think?”

 

The two talked and planned until the earth-light began to fade.

 

25.   The next day was the double marriage.   Everyone was excited; they had never seen one before.   And one of the women was Natu’s daughter!  Natu, the oldest and wisest ant in all the meadows.

 

But when the earth-light appeared, there was chaos in the meadows.  Dogs!  Dogs of all colors and sizes!   Dogs with long tails, dogs with short tails!  Some were puppies, and some were grown.   They were everywhere!!!

 

“How could this happen?”  roared Ramey.  “Dogs are ferocious!  How did they get into our meadow?  They do not belong here!  Francis!   Francis, we need you!”

 

“Ramey, calm down.   We all know how you feel about dogs, but Francis must have had a reason for sending them.   Remember the purpose of the meadows!”  Lily was having a difficult time trying to calm Ramey down.  “These dogs must be extraordinary if Francis sent them here!   Not at all like the ones you’ve known.”

 

“But just look at them, Lily.   Running, slobbering, chasing things.  Oh, here comes Timmy”    Just as Ramey said his name, Timmy stood up on his rear legs and roared his great bear roar!!! 

 

Everything stopped at the sound of his anger.  “What is going on here?  This is NOT how we act in the meadows!!”   The friends had never seen Timmy this angry, even when Hawk betrayed them!

 

There was some whimpering from dogs, while most crouched down and hid their tails,   Why, they wouldn’t even look directly at Timmy, they were that afraid of him!

 

“I don’t know why we were suddenly exposed to so many of you creatures, but you will do well to remember why you were sent here.   & then act accordingly!”  Timmy continued.

 

A large yellow dog crouching nearby cleared his throat, and said, “Sir, may I speak?”

 

Timmy looked at him and said, “I certainly wish someone would explain this!”

 

“Sir, we are dogs.  We have been kept over the Bridge for a long time, always being promised that we would go to a better meadow to live.   But Francis kept putting it off, muttering that Ramey, whatever that is, wouldn’t like it one bit.  Finally he told us that he could wait no longer, that there were too many of us, and that Ramey would just have to live with it.

 

“Since we had crossed the Bridge, we had become younger and healthier.   We were so excited to finally be here in  such a glorious place, that I’m afraid our enthusiasm got out of paw.   We apologize, and beg your forgiveness.   Sir.”

 

Timmy quietly said, “What is your name, dog?”

 

“Moose,” was the reply.

 

“Moose,”  Timmy began, “you speak well.   We understand how it must have been with you.   And Francis is right, Ramey WILL just have to live with it!   Ramey is a cat, one of the original five friends, and he does not take well to dogs.   My advice to all of you is to just try to stay out of his way!

 

“Lily, Rabbit, Gooser!   Please come and help me sort out these dogs!”

 

With that, all the dogs and pups lined up as the friends assigned them to their respective meadows, and Ramey crept away to hide and watch, muttering to himself.

 

It was fortunate that the dogs were all taken care of in time for the wedding rites to begin.   Bees and frogs and spiders and crickets and lightning bugs and caterpillars, and all manner of insects were busily decorating the nearby clover fields and stocking them with nectar and cakes for the celebration to follow.  Every creature in both meadows was invited!  The rite would take place on the bridge over the stream, signifying the uniting of the two meadows through the men and women who would be married that day.

 

Oh, what a beautiful wedding it was.   Renita and Nakiry never looked more beautiful, and their husbands looked quite dashing in their new hats and vests.  They had built tunnel-homes to take their wives to live, and were quite pleased that they had built the homes to be the best in the colony.  Especially Enic.  He certainly couldn’t have his father-in-law, the celebrated Natu, visit a poorly built home.

 

26.  The celebration reached far into the night.   It had been quite an event filled day, and everyone seemed to sleep in when the next earth-light came.  Why, it was nearly middle-meal time when birds started flying overhead, calling out “To the new meadow.  To the new meadow.   Everyone to the new meadow!”

 

There was much excitement in the air, for every creature was buzzing about trying to figure out the reason they were all called over.

 

Rabbit, Gooser, Lily and Timmy didn’t know either.   The duck, cat and rabbit jumped on Timmy’s back as he ran past the other creatures so they could get there quickly to find out!   After all, they were the leaders;  anything of this import should have been spoken with them about.

 

“You don’t suppose Ramey did something about the dogs, do you?”  Rabbit asked Lily.

 

“No.   The dogs all look fine, and they are now behaving and look happy.   I don’t see Ramey anywhere, though,”  Lily added thoughtfully.

 

Suddenly, Timmy came to a halt.   Lily and Rabbit had to each grab one of Gooser’s feet to keep him from falling off of Timmy’s back!   “Look,”  Timmy said.  “What do you suppose that is?”

 

They followed his gaze, and there in the new meadow, standing on the spot where Fiona and the friends had fought Talmet, was a tall object completely covered with bees!   There were so many bees, they couldn’t figure out what it was that the bees were covering up.

 

Gooser waddled up to the object and flapped his wings, saying, “Go.  Get.  Go away.”   But the bees wouldn’t leave.

 

All of the creatures of the meadows stood looking at the object.   Questions were being asked of the friends, but they didn’t know any more than the others did.

 

While everyone stood staring, wondering what was happening, or going to happen, it started getting very quiet.  Soon, all you could hear was the buzz of the bees covering the object.

 

All at once, Ramey came out of nowhere and leapt to the top of the object.   Timmy was about to say something to him, when he simply said, “Shh.”

 

The friends had to trust Ramey.  They couldn’t question him now, in front of everyone.   They had to go along with whatever he had planned.   This was making them angry, but still they were fascinated, and wanting to know.

 

“There was a sixth creature here in the meadow the day that Talmet was defeated.   Fiona.   A wonderful human who loved animals as she loved herself.  She was the sixth element of whatever was used to create the great cat who would destroy Talmet.   Without Fiona, all of this,” Ramey spread his arms to encompass all around, “all of this would be impossible.   And so, I present my gift to the meadows, and to you, my friends, my family.”

 

With that, the bees raised Ramey off of the object and placed him on the ground with his four friends.   Then they slowly removed themselves from the object to reveal Tooch’s masterpiece;  Fiona, with her flowing hair, breezy robes, the babes at her feet and the cat in her arms.

 

There was a hush, as each creature, great and small, beheld the beauty of the statue.   They could feel the warmth of her soul, the courage with which she first faced Talmet alone in an effort to protect the animals.  And each one of them felt the soft caress of her hand on them, as if she were there, loving them.

 

Many of the animals started weeping from the beauty of the statue and the feelings within their souls.  (Ramey remarked later that it was an experience in itself to see tears rolling down Timmy’s face.)   Some simply sat down to continue gazing at Fiona.  Others walked away to be by themselves for a while.

 

Lily sat next to Ramey and quietly said, “That was the most beautiful gesture that has ever been made.   Fiona was here with us, do you know that?”   Ramey just nodded his head and said in a hushed voice, “I know.”

26.  Life in the meadows finally settled down from all of the celebrations and excitement that had been around since the creation of the new meadow.   The animals all knew their roles in the new civilization, and they all did their part, and helped others do theirs.   There were so many magnificent animals of all shapes and sizes, that no task was difficult

 

They all lived side by side, rather than breaking off in groups of their own kind, and everyone agreed that this was the best way to live.  To learn of other animals’ ways and habits.   The way they lived, the places they slept in, the food they ate.

 

Oh, and the stories!   Wonderful stories about times remembered before the Bridge, stories that went back hundreds of years!   The historians at the libraries were so busy filling the shelves with stories that more had to come in and help them!   Soon, both libraries were being made bigger, and plans were made for libraries to be built up top so that all animals could have access to the tales and histories of themselves and their friends!

 

Until that happened, Renick and Likina were very busy reading stories every evening to whomever wanted to come and hear them.   One day while inside his library in the new meadow, Renick saw Nakiry and Renita approaching him.   He was always glad to see these ants.   These ladies that he had known since they were very young, now married and respected in the meadow.

 

“Renick, how are you?”  asked Nakiry.  “I see that you and Likina are almost hoarse from reading all of the stories coming in.   Renita and I have a proposition for your library, if you’d like to hear it.”

 

Renick couldn’t imagine what it would be, but he said, “Of course, Nakiry.   We are always interested in hearing new ideas.   What were you thinking of?”

 

Nakiry looked at Renita, who told him, “We have made many friends in this meadow, Renick.   A lot of these new friends love the stories and the library itself.   Some have even mentioned that they would like to help, but they are either too big for the ant’s library, or can’t write the stories, or for whatever reason, they are unable to help you.” 

“Yes,” Nakiry continued, “and we have thought of how hard you and Likina work to read the stories, and we would like to help you do that.   Some of the larger animals can reach a much larger group because of their louder voices, and it would take some of the stress