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Prince And The Porch Swing Seleta V Johnson
Rain has always made me happy. When I was just a kid, rainy days meant sitting in the old swing on the front porch with my best friend Prince. We would cover up from our necks to our feet with an old blanket, while the soft wind would blow the warm summer rain in our faces.
Prince was getting older, and he could no longer run and play like our other dog could. Our other dog was Mac, a hound dog that loved to run all over the hillside and bark at the giant yellow butterflies. Prince was a little black pomeranian that had lost almost all of his hearing in both ears, so he was content to just sit beside me on the porch swing and watch what mac did.
There was a time when Prince could run circles around Mac. Yes, he was a legend in his time. I remember as a young child, I would push Prince in the old buggy that had been mine when I was just a tot. He would lie there for hours at a time while I pushed him all over the front yard. He never objected in any way, shape or form. I guess he loved all the attention and especially the hugs that went with it.
Almost every day I would push the buggy underneath the flowing red mane of the redbud tree where Prince could have shade. The hillside of clover behind it almost looked like a luscious green bedspread. Often times Prince and I would just sit in the clover, sometimes looking for the ones with four leaf's, and other times we would swing on the old tire that my mama tied on the tallest branch of the beautiful old tree. Prince loved to swing almost as much as he liked to ride in the buggy. Many times I would look toward the house and see my mama standing in the doorway wearing a big smile on her face as she listened to the lullabies I sang to Prince. He would look deeply into my eyes with a special love that only a child and her best pal could understand. I think he knew that I was singing this song just for him because he would fall asleep in my arms with what appeared to be a little smile of contentment on his tiny face. His little legs would twitch ever so slightly, and I knew he was dreaming about our happy times together.
Then one summer afternoon I went out to sit on the porch swing with Prince just like I had so many times before. He didn't come running when I called him. I started looking all around but, my beloved Prince was nowhere to be found. I called to my mama, and she came outside to help me find him. After a few minutes of frantic searching, my mom said to look underneath the redbud tree. Sometimes he would go there on a hot day to lie down on the cool bed of clover, and rest in the shade.
I was the first one to see him. He was lying on the dew misted clover, and when I ran over to him, he didn't raise his head or wag his little tail like he always did to let me know that he was happy to see me. In fact, Prince didn't move at all. I looked around and mama was standing there with her hands pointed upward over her mouth, and I saw tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong with Prince and why he didn't want to play with me today.
Mama knelt down beside me and took me in her arms. I knew that something had to be wrong, and I started to cry. But mama brushed the tears back from my cheeks and told me not to be sad. She told me that Prince is with God up in Heaven now. She explained how God only lets us keeps his little furry angels until he is ready to take them home with him. She told me how Prince no longer feels pain and in Heaven he is like a little puppy again. He can hear the birds singing once again, and even chase the yellow butterflies on the hillside like he did so long ago.
Mama went to the house and came back with a big box and some of Prince's old toys. I held Prince in my arms and told him how much I loved him and how much I was going to miss him while mama dug a hole in the earth beneath the redbud tree. When she had finished, we placed our little Prince in the box with his toys. Then mama laid the box in the ground.
A gentle rain started to fall as I sat there watching mama cover the box with the fresh earth. I was trying so hard to be brave for Prince like mama said to be, but I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. I started to sob uncontrollably until mama reached out her hand to me and told me it was alright to cry because Prince was crying too. I looked at her in a puzzled way, and she told me to look at the rain. She said those were tears from Prince. He knew that I was sad and crying, so he was crying for me.
I didn't want Prince to be sad. So I went to the house and got the blanket that Prince and I would share on rainy days, and I sat down in the porch swing. I covered myself from my neck to my feet and let the cool rain hit my face. I thought about the days of long ago when Prince could run and play, and how lately he didn't play at all. I thought about what mama had said, how Prince can hear the birds singing and how he can chase the butterflies now. Prince is with God up in Heaven, and he is happy.
I laid back in the swing and closed my eyes. I could see the picture of a smiling happy Prince in my head. He was running and barking, then stopping under a big redbud tree to roll over and over in the clover. Feeling somewhat at peace now, I smiled, and went to sleep...
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