A Double Toast....

To my good friend Mags and her globe-trotting Bunnies:
May all ease the wanderlust without much mishap.

A Short Tale of Love, Loss, and Love Reborn:
A Romance in Nine Parts (With Post Script)

Part the First: Girl
A girl once lived and lives still. True-hearted and kind, she grew through girlhood to what some call womanhood in farmland's heart. She never did, however, outgrow a love of Bunny. A constant love grew as steadily as the girl herself.

Part the Second: Fisher-Price
(A fisher named Price?) A bright bit of fuzz and fluff, freshly pastel and newly minted, Bunny was the bedtime chum of Girl, sharing his very self and becoming Real in the process. (Come now, surely you know the Velveteen Rabbit.) Well-worn in fuzz, dingy about the ears, with thinning fabric and a bursting soul.

Part the Third: WanderLoss
Girl loved travel. Girl loved Bunny. Girl took Bunny--she could not leave him behind!-- on a four-month journey. Crossed the ocean to a land of sky and sun. A land so big that the hearts of its people can't help but reflect it. A land so bright that the faces of its people swallow blackness to display it better. A beauty so jointly bright and dark that it hurts to see. A land of green and dirt and dust, but mostly land itself with sky above. A place so full of God's hand, even in the flatness of photographs, that I once sat alone and wept for its beauty.

Part the Fourth: The Snare is Set
Four months from the start, the return trip sent Girl through Dar Es Salaam. She rested in a hostel before the last leg, but Bunny, wide eyes glistening in the commotion and color, wandered off for one last adventure before returning to the steady contentment of life on the farm. He never returned.

Part the Fifth: Home Again
All journeys must end; even the biggest of them ends in death before life with the Giver of Life can begin. The Road does go ever on and on, but more often than not, it winds its way homeward. So Girl returned home, an ache accompanying her where Bunny had once been.

Part the Sixth: Bunny the Second Meets Journey
Girl loved travel. Girl loved her other Bunny (now's the time to tell of her spare). In time, Spare Bunny was no longer Spare, but simply Bunny. His checkered self pilled with use, and his soul, like the first, almost burst through his seams. What better time than this to backpack through Britain? Adventure and a different beauty waited within its hills and dales, and Girl took Bunny with her, as before.

Part the Seventh: The Snare Snaps a Second
This time, Bunny wandered off from a London hostel and likely wanders still, covered in soot and stuffed with stories.

Part the Eighth: Home Again and Yet Again
No spare awaited her return. Frantic with need and willing to sacrifice much, even the required snippet of soul, Girl signed onto EBAY. It was then that she discovered Bunny was a Collectible, worth oodles of money to Collectors. Now, she wasn't a Collector but a Companion (though she did seem to collect more than her fair share of Bunnies). Even so, she still had to pay the Collector's price. Fifty or so dollars later, a new Bunny in fresh pastels lay on her bed, readying himself for the life of Real.

Part the Ninth: Together Two
He did not leave Girl on their recent trip to South Africa. A boding well--a good sign--and the stars smile down.

Post Script:
Girl's friend Abigail has a husband who likes to follow signs. This particular day, several signs led to an estate sale-- one weeded out and picked over but still packed with stuff and nonsense. He convinced Abigail to come inside, even though they had only one dollar bill and some change. After choosing a few vintage baby clothes (nothing beats vintage), she found Bunny in the same 25-cent bin and added him to her pile. Thanks to Girl, Abigail knew his worth.

She plans to sell him on Ebay.

THE END