Come Fly with Me

Sarah and Paul never saw her walking. Their family was new to the green, leafy neighbourhood where every home in the street had flowering bushes and large trees in their gardens. Sarah and Paul’s bright yellow home was doubled-storied. From a high window over the tree tops in their garden, they had a bird’s eye view of the house opposite where a woman lived who was often either sitting in the front yard or being carried around, but never walking.

Usually she just sat in a chair, and although she seemed happy, neither of them could imagine what staying still all day must be like. ‘Do you think she can dance?’ Sarah and Paul asked their Mum. She didn’t know but she suggested that they go and ask her themselves.

Before crossing the road they heard giggling and screaming coming from the huge tree out the front of their next door neighbour’s house. It was their friends Lillie and Sam, moving around the tree with odd-shaped openings and low-branches playing, ‘climb and find to blow your mind’, and they asked them to come along to visit the lady.

‘Oh yes!’ Lillie excitedly answered while wiping tree bark and leaves off her sleeves. She brushed the leaves off Sammy’s clothes and out of his hair too, while calling to her mother who was round the side of their house weeding in the garden if they could visit the lady with the cats.
‘Yes, anything to stop your screeching but look out for cars, don’t stay too long and mind your manners.’

The curious four casually crossed the quiet street, and eagerly ran up the lady’s pathway, excited also by the possibility of meeting her ginger cats!

A rich aroma surrounded them as they went, perfumes flowing from a garden full of colourful flowers and luscious plants of many varieties located at the side of the house. Suddenly, the ginger cat with its great big face and bright green eyes bounded out of the bushes. He was so big and friendly that the kids said he behaved more like a dog. A smaller cat, equally beautiful, but not as approachable as the big cat was perched on the wall, watching every movement, safely out of their reach.

After petting the big cat, they knocked on the front door.

‘Hello kids,’ Daisy said with a welcoming smile as she opened the door. The big ginger cat pushed in front of the visitors and rubbed against Daisy’s legs. As she stroked him, Daisy told them his name was Angel and he was Ruby’s best friend, her furry companion. The smaller ginger cat came for some attention as well, and Daisy said her name was Precious and that she was Angel’s girlfriend.

‘Is Ruby your daughter?’ Paul asked.
‘Yes. She is in her room if you’d like to visit her,’ said Daisy.

The youngsters followed Daisy through the brightly-lit lounge room with sunshine flooding through big windows, into fascinating Ruby’s room. At first, they stood amazed by the colours and the decorations…

Sarah loved the vibrant materials on Ruby’s bed and hanging from the walls, Paul was absorbed by the striking posters, while Lillie and Sam looked at the crystals in the bookcase full of treasures. On tables and in corners were charms and ornaments that beckoned inspection. Ruby told them to touch and feel anything they wished, explaining that she had collected many treasures while travelling around the world, others her Dad had found during his travels. Ruby’s room was mesmerising.

Ruby was sitting on a purple cushion next to the window. When her visitors’ attention rested on her, she greeted them with a smile just as she had smiled whenever she sat in the front yard.

Without hesitation Paul asked, ‘Do you walk?’

Ruby looked out of the window saying in a mantra-like tone, ‘I use my imagination to fly instead. My favourite place to visit is that mountain over there’. She pointed to the same mountain they could see from their own homes. They all liked living near it because there was a waterfall on either side. In heavy rain, one waterfall roared like thunder, while the other poured swiftly into a stream. And, there were caves in that mountain. In the warm weather, their parents sometimes took the children to see the aboriginal cave paintings. Often they would take a picnic lunch and it felt as if they were living back in the olden times, when caves were homes.

The magnificent mountain had served to captivate its neighbours time and time again. Now a new enchantment was active in the neighbourhood: humans flying…

Coming out flying visions during a spontaneous shared daze, Ruby’s new friends questioned in chorus, ‘Fly?’

Ruby explained that using her imagination she could fly with the birds, and rest on the branches of trees, and chat with the other birds that visited their neighbourhood. ‘The kookaburras laugh, the white cockatoos clown around, while the magpies yodel, and the eagles fly high overhead. I especially love flying with the black cockatoos as they travel around the mountain, wailing and crying as if they are lost.’ I often ask them why they sound so sad. They just sigh, ‘We’re not sad, that’s our song, it’s how we get along.’

‘I come home refreshed by my connection with nature.’ Ruby told her friends. ‘So much is happening out there all the time. If I don’t feel like flying, I close my eyes, and feel the wonderful sensation of being alive! The same vibrations inside every bird are inside you too my dear neighbours.’ Ruby closed her eyes for a few moments, and then asked, ‘Would you like to close your eyes and feel them too?’

‘Yes please!’ the kids sang out gathering around. Ruby sat crossed-legged while they positioned their bodies the same way.

‘Now, be very quiet, breathe naturally, and feel your heart beating,’ said Ruby. ‘Can you feel it? When everyone nodded she continued, ‘There are sensations in your head, and in your arms, legs, fingers and toes! Can you feel them? The buzzing, the music – everything is pulsating with life!’

Ruby took a peek to see how her fellow meditators were going and they were going well, except for Sammy who was flapping his arms as if they were bird wings. Ruby gently steadied his arms and whispered in his ears that real flying will come very soon.

A few minutes passed before they opened their eyes, and when all their eyes were open, Ruby asked them to listen carefully to the sounds of the world outside. Everything seemed so loud. The postman’s motorbike was especially noisy, as well as the cars, and even the ocean pounding her waves upon the rocks and shore.

‘The sea seemed so near!’ Sarah exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. ‘I didn’t realise so much was happening inside!’

‘Do you feel all those things too Ruby?’ asked Lillie.

‘I do,’ Ruby replied, ‘and it’s all going on whether you’re walking or not! That’s why I fly as often as possible, to feed my imagination. Your imagination is always there, ready and waiting. You can use yours to connect with the world of nature. It’s such fun to discover that you can be as free as you imagine … even freer than the birds!’ Ruby winked at Sam.

Sarah smiled, ‘Can we come back another day and close our eyes with you some more Ruby? We love imagining with you! Next time can we visit some different places?’

‘Sure can my friends; we will fly to our heart’s delight!’ Ruby replied happily.

When they got home, Sarah and Paul realised that they could not tell their mother why Ruby didn’t walk. They did not need to know anymore, because now they knew that she flew instead. And, she was teaching them to fly too! That was the best fun they could imagine.

Maybe next time they would ask Ruby about walking … but only maybe, because being able to fly seemed far more important…

Copyright © 2005 Suzie Palmer