In Loving Memory Of Shamrock

The wind was blowing gently across the Rainbow Bridge, setting the leaves on the willow tree dancing. The sunlight that trickled through the branches skipped across the lush grass as the branches swayed overhead. It was a day as all days on the Bridge, beautiful beyond all measure and filled with the music of the wind mingled with the sound of laughter.

Little Bit and Beethoven were playing a game of hide and swipe in the shade of the tall oak tree. Smokey and Skunk were playing chasies, galumphing happily through the tall grass, leaping and spinning and tearing away at full speed. Eatbugs, who was stopping to get a drink from the clear spring trickling through the meadow, looked up and smiled. Life was good here, he thought. He missed his humans, but since he had learned to see them with his heart, they were never far from him. He spent his days in companionship with the friends he'd found here, and his nights dancing among the stars, stopping always to look down at the Earth, and the humans he loved so dearly. Life was good here.

He was contemplating joining his friends in their morning run, when he felt the tingling in his whiskers. Another came! Since the day he had come to the Bridge, he had felt the sensation. Whenever a new arrival came to the Bridge, his whiskers had tingled and he knew, not knowing how, that it was time for the Welcoming. He bowed his head in silence for a moment, and then turned and made his way to the Gate.

He rose and quietly padded his way along, knowing without seeing that the other kiddens of the Company made their silent trek with him. When he came to the Gate, he sat and wrapped his tail around his feet and looked up. Hundreds of kiddens were forming the Circle. Kiddens of every color and size sat waiting, their faces a mask of sorrow as they waited to welcome another into the fold. Eatbugs cocked a questioning ear as he saw the Counsel of the Elders come forward and form a ring with the Circle. The kidden that came was a Special One!

A kidden whose life on earth was so special and who had touched the hearts of so many that their journey to the Bridge was treated with special honor.

Eatbugs watched as the Counsel lifted their faces into the wind. The Welcoming Song, with its bittersweet refrain, had begun. It rang over the Bridge in the wind and danced over the Company of Kiddens. The Counsel lifted up their voices and joined in the song. One by one, each of the gathered kiddens joined in. In the center of their circle the light shimmered and there appeared a kidden so beautiful that it was almost painful to look upon her. Eatbugs gasped, The Creator of All Things! Her fur glistened with the colors of the Rainbow and her eyes were the kindest eyes of all creation.

The Creator turned her eyes into the circle and the kiddens watched as the now too familiar flash of blue light appeared within the gate and then subsided. In it's wake sat a beautiful kidden. She stood without moving, tense and frightened. The Creator of All Things twitched her whiskers, and Shamrock's face relaxed as she felt the love that surrounded her.

"Where am I?" she asked.

In a voice as gentle as the morning mists the Creator spoke, "You are at the Rainbow Bridge, little one".

"NO!" Shamrock cried, "My human, my girls! NO!".

The Creator wrapped her tail around Shamrock and spoke, "Thy march of days upon the Earth are ended, little one. Thy humans mourn for thee as thee mourns for them. So it is the way of all things, but remember, little one. Remember the Great Promise...". With that she faded away.

Shamrock looked out over the Company of Kiddens, and felt her sorrow draining from her. The Great Promise...she remembered now. The promise that love is eternal and that she would one day be with her beloved humans again. She smiled as the knowledge swept over her, she would feel their love again.

Shamrock touched noses with each of the kiddens as they came forward to greet her. She promised to play chasies with Ophelia and thanked Dino for his offer to show her the best sleeping spots and laughed as the peepers fell over each other to greet her. Already this felt like home.

As her new found friends turned to lead her onto the Bridge, Shamrock paused for a moment and focused her thoughts. With all of her heart and soul, she turned her thoughts back to the Earth and sent a message to her beloved humans, "I am here. I shall wait...and I love you".

© Copyright 1994 Constance Jenkins. All Rights Reserved. The author retains all copyright and intellectual rights to this work. It may not be printed in whole or in part without express written permission.