This little drabble popped into my head the other day - I hope it comes across as endearing on paper as it did in my mind. What do you think?
The day is bright and sunny, but I am well shaded by the gnarled apple tree above me. Waist high grasses press against me but I ignore them. If they have not been trimmed by now, they never will be. I feel my age today, like the heat is trying to weather me away. And all I can do is sit and wait patiently, passively.
I hope she will come today. Then I hate myself for hoping. She is the only one I see anymore, the only one who cares for me. She has the heart of an angel, sweet and sensitive. I love her. I live for her visits. But I dread them, too, for she always asks for something that I cannot give. And she deserves it, oh, she does. I yearn for the power to grant her request, the power she believes that I have. She has no doubts that one day I will answer. I think of the dreams life has withheld from her, and I want to weep. Someday she will realize how incapable I am, and it will break her heart.
I sense her approach. She is beautiful – this young woman who manages to live so gracefully in a land that is dying. A loving hand rests upon my shoulder.
"Want to know a secret?" Her voice is breathless with excitement as she whispers to the air. "Promise not to tell?" I can imagine the flush to her cheeks and the light in her eyes. "We are standing by a wishing well." My joy at her arrival breaks.
Not a wishing well. I tell her. Just an old, old watering hole. But she doesn't listen. She never does.
"Just make a wish into the well – that's all you have to do! And if you hear your echo back; your wish will soon come true."
No, that's not it at all. That's how I send your wish back to you. That's my way of saying I'm sorry, but I can't do this.
But she continues singing, as always. Of the man who will come and take her away from all of this. Dear girl, I don't blame you, but can't you cast your wish on someone else? Like the first star you see tonight? He is used to it, I hear...but this is a burden too great for me – I cannot bear to see you disappointed.
"I'm wishing"
"I'm wishing." As hard as you are child, I wish.
"For the one I love…to find me"
"To find me" You are the one that I love, and you deserve every happiness. Whoever you are, wherever you are, come find her! She needs you, and, though you may not know it, you need her, too.
"Today"
And, before I have a chance to reply, he is there.
"Today!"
I hear her exclamation of surprise, feel her pull away. Don't run from him, girl! But he is there to pursue her, and I am happy beyond belief.
The bucket resting on my shoulder peers at them curiously. Where did he come from?
I sniff disdainfully. Didn't you hear? I'm a wishing well!
But I thought…You always say…It falls silent as I stiffen beneath him. Gazing proudly at the couple before me, I stand tall. I always knew he would come.
