The hues of soft violet, blue, pink, and marigold laid on the horizon like a baby blanket ready to be untucked for a new day. Tumbleweeds were asleep and so was the wind that would shake their sand-coated torsos. The breeze had had its herbal tea and was doing Wu T'ai Chi around cacti, rocks, and lizards. The sun was painting the Earth in warmth and the colors of Simadihi1. The desert animals were having their last sips of coffee, adjusting their ties, and were on their way to work. Alive was the scent that loomed thick, heavy, and dry. The dance of the food chain had the Conga Line in full rapture and vultures were drumming out the beat. Amidst this backdrop, we see our hero still waking beneath a small Joshua tree. The ass was hungry, strong and thirsty, yet capable of much travel before rest. The sun was talking louder now and it was time to get his footing for the next leg of his journey. His tail swished as his hoofs marched to the wide eyed rhythm of What Will Today Bring. He was slow but steady in his travel. Lizards waved with tails as he past, and vultures looked elsewhere. The wind was now on the move. It was stroking his hair-blanketed shoulders and back, and whispering nothing sweetly into his large floppy ears. His thoughts perched on placement of hoof and nothing else. On his way he had found many flowering plants to fill his belly, but it was many hours before he found the cool, clear, liquid. As his tongue swiped back in forth between lips and spring, he heard a faint sound. He had never heard this before and stepped silently to a patch of brushes. Small eyes looked up, smiled, and giggled softly with the weight of a hug from a ghost. She was an angel.
The angel was small and soft like a baby, yet was as old as the heavens. She lay in the arms of a cactus that had recoiled its needles. Her hands were slightly soiled from playing with scorpions and spiders. Cupping her hand she caught the nectar of sunlight and offered it up to the ass. She had yet to receive her wings and wore only a rough hand-made slip gown. The small hand gently wiped the last drops away from the ass' muzzle as he did the same to the skin between her fingers. Her eyes were the color of rain on a sunny day and her hair changed like vapors to clouds. He laid down next to her and they both fell into slumber that was tickled by the all that flowers. As they awoke, the angel climbed onto the back of the ass. She tapped out off-beat rhythms on his wooly sides as she nuzzled her tender face on the back of his neck. He walked with a newfound purpose as if he were the guardian to all living and all yet to live. They moved across hills and valleys, rivers and ravines until the came to a humble abode. A young husband and wife were there and the ass understood it is was not his place to stay: it was the angel's home. They rushed out and hugged and kissed the angel as if tomorrow were only in fairy tales. The ass left with tear-stained cheeks and the sound of "MOUGHAA"2.
Besos to all and to all a good light
For Teryn and all the other new angels
The Guy
�2003 Daniel J Harris