Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: FRAGILE (02/23/17)
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TITLE: The Ostrich | Previous Challenge Entry
By Terry Bovinet
03/02/17 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
She peaked out the side windows that flanked her Craftsman style door and smiled.
Her mail carrier bounded up the steps while cradling a package. Janell noticed the vivid yellow sticker that declared “FRAGILE.”
“A present for my birthday?”
“Catch!” The mail carrier feigned passing the package, but carefully handed it to Janell.
“Happy birthday!” she yelled over her shoulder as she rushed back to her vehicle.
“Thank you! And thank you for not throwing it!”
Still on the porch, Janell looked at the return address and waves of emotion enveloped her. The shaky, but still somewhat precise handwriting identified the sender, “Auntie Jane.”
Named after her mother’s sister, Janell hugged the package without knowing its contents as if she would hug her aunt.
“What did you send me?”
Grabbing a pair of scissors from her desk in the front room she had transformed into an informal study, she sat down and hugged the package again before gently cutting along its top.
“Doesn’t weigh much, what could it be?”
She opened the lid to find packing paper surrounding bubble wrap that covered the object. Cautiously working through the protection, she quickly unveiled her surprise.
“The ostrich! Oh, Auntie Jane!”
The ostrich. An antique crystal ostrich Auntie Jane had situated in the prize place in her favorite curio cabinet.
Janell’s mind swam through all the memories with the ostrich from her youth.
“Auntie Jane, what’s that?”
“An ostrich.”
“What’s an ostrich?” Janell’s four-year-old mind reverberated with questions.
“It’s a big bird.”
“Like Sesame Street?” Although new to television at that time, Janell celebrated with a happy dance whenever Sesame Street broadcast.
“Can I play with it?”
“Oh, no, dear. I am sorry, but it is much too valuable and carries a lot of memories for me.”
“What does valuable mean?”
Laughing, Auntie Jane grabbed a dusting cloth from a closet and held the ostrich so Janell could touch it.
“We can’t do this often, but here. Careful now.”
“I like your other stuff better since I can play with them.” Janell found more interest in other knick-knacks such as the Precious Moments figurines and the Dicken’s Christmas village. “But that does shine so bright!” Janell exclaimed as Auntie Jane tilted the ostrich to flash a prism on the ceiling.
Starting that year on Janell’s birthday, July 16, Auntie Jane would carefully retrieve the ostrich from the curio cabinet and allow Janell to spend a few moments with it, but always under her close supervision.
While they bonded in many ways over the years, the ostrich on her birthday always thrilled them both.
Until Janell’s 16th birthday.
“Auntie Jane, I can’t come over today. You know, my big party and all. And my boyfriend will be here soon. He bought a used car and wants to give me a ride in it.”
The pattern of reasons, or better yet excuses, continued for several years with the ostrich untouched and almost forgotten. Auntie Jane did not apply any pressure on Jane to visit her and gracefully accepted the “homework,” “friends,” “work,” “boyfriends,” “sports,” “internship,” explanations Janell offered for her absences. Even on her birthday.
Only last year did the tradition resume. Janell had accepted a positon at a firm in her hometown and visited Auntie Jane on July 16.
“May I see the ostrich?”
“So, you haven’t forgotten!”
“I’m sorry …” Janell couldn’t say more without breaking into tears.
Janell admired Auntie Jane as she shuffled to the closet and pulled out a dusting cloth. This time, she handed the cloth to Janell.
“Here, you do the honors.”
Touched by this transition, Janell gingerly secured the release of the precious ostrich and stroked it with the dust cloth. Not that it needed cleaned of fingerprints or dust. But she wanted to relive some memories of special times with her aunt.
With the ostrich now in her home, Janell looked around for a place worthy of its presence. Without a curio cabinet, Janell cuddled the ostrich and softly placed it in the center of her fireplace mantel.
As she stepped back to admire it, a soft ray of sunlight glanced through the ostrich and cast a brilliant prism on her ceiling.
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