| Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, "Did you bring joy?" The second was, "Did you find joy?" |
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Darre
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*My earilest memories are of the pound. I can remember nowhere else. Freezing cold cement floors, water dripping down the walls, and barred doors and windows blocking our only escape. As a young cub in the pound, I got very little food or water. The result now, as a young adult, I am rather on the small side. There were others in the pound, many ages and species of creatures. Beside me was the only other Kougra I'd met, the closet thing I had to a best friend. She was a once-white female who told me her name was Jewel. She would tell me of her adventures with her brother and sister, whom she had lost in a storm and never seen since. When I was weak from hunger, she would push some of her food into my cage, even though she got no more than me. It was she who gave me the name Darre. Opposite Jewel and I was a little yellow Meerca who never spoke, just wrapped his tail around himself and cried. In the cage nearest to the door was a big male fire Eyrie. He had been betrayed by his human and ended up in here. Although he never said so, I think he was very hurt by this betrayal. He was the father-figure of the pound, and always warned us when the humans who worked in the pound came, having sharp ears. The only humans who appeared occasionally to feed and water us were cold-faced and stone-hearted. None of us were ever allowed out of our cages... and even if we had been able to open the bar-doors, I doubt there was a single one amuong us heathly enough to walk out of the pound without being captured. If any of us made niose while the men were there, they threw stones at us or used a sharp metal pole to poke at us between the bars. The only time the crying Meerca was quiet was when the men came. One day two of the men appeared with the first Lupe I had ever seen, shoving him into the cage next to the Meerca. He told us his name was Brandy. When they bought him in he was a handsome creature, a cloud Lupe... although he was not to stay that way. Three weeks and he was as thin as the rest of us, his beautifully-marked fur matted and dirty brown, and he had caught a bad cough. He had a good heart, thought. Whenever he finished a nasty bout of coughing I would ask if he was feeling any better. My usual answer was the gleam of his teeth as he smiled at me, saying something like* ~Aye Darre, how could anyone with such a pretty young Kougress to fuss over them be in anything other than perfect health, eh?~ *As much as he joked with me, I knew he never did get any better. I would wake when the stars shone between the bars of my window to his coughing. As long as I live, my memories of the pound will haunt me. Even now I can hear the weak, plaeding cries, I feel the cold, I smell the cages. I hear Brandy's awful coughing. Weeks passed. I was a teenager... a sick one. Lying on my side in a slow death's haze, I felt things starting to fade. Jewel's pleading tones, growing more and more worried as she spoke, Brandy's coughing and jokes, the Meerca's sobbing, and Flame's deep tones all faded away, leaving silence. I willed myself to rise and scrounge what little water there was form the sides of my cage-walls, the way Jewel had taught all of us to do when we were in need of water. But I could not. Weak and near death I lay on my side, when I was finally awoken by an unfamilair human footstep right outside my door. A face appeared outside my barred door. It was a teenage female, a human. Brillaint green eyes stared at me with a mix of pity and anger, long, wild brown hair streaked with flashes of gold framing the face. A determined glint in her eyes, the girl raised some sort of metal tool. I can remember little other than the faint clang of metal-on-metal as she attacked the bar-door, then her strong arms lifting me from the floor and carring me outside. Outside, into the light for the first time in my life that I could recall, I clung pitifully to her shoulder with one paw, too afraid that my longed for freedom was going to be taken away again. One stroke from her quiet hands camled me, telling me, at last, I was safe. I struggled to whisper the words* ~Please... the others... my friends...~ *The girl placed me carefully down on a bed of dried leaves, soothingly running a gentle hand over my hollow sides* ~It's ok, shh. I'll get them out, I promise~ *Tears ran down her face as she said these words. She went back into the pound, to return a few minutes later, and carry me to her home. I stayed with her from then on. She was a very kind humam, and with lots of good food and care, she made me better. She had other pets living with her, a family of four Eyries, two Meercas, and two Unis, who usualy stayed in the backyard, outside. They were all very nice to me, but I never knew how to act around them, what to say or do, so I ususally kept to myself. One day Chris called me to her. She ran her hand softly down my sides, just like after she rescued me from the pound. After a few weeks of her care I was much better. I purred and rubbed my head on her knee, but slowed, glancing up at her. I could tell from her sad smile something was wrong* ~Darre, you know you will always, always be welcome here. You have had a rough life before now, and come through it very well. But there is something I feel you must know. I don't know if you remember or not, but when I took you out of the pound, you asked me to go back in and recuse your friends also. Before finding your cage I had seen some of the others, and had no wish to return, but I did as you asked. I checked every cage, every animal. Darre, I'm so sorry... all the others had died. You were the only oen left alive~ *I was so shocked by the news, I could do nothing but stare at her. How could that be? My friends... caring Jewel who had looked after me as best she could, sick Brandy, always so brave, the poor sobbing Meerca, big Flame the Eyrie gaurdian... they were dead? How could it have happened? How could I live when they did not? I moped, greiving for my lost friends. My appitite decresed, and it was all Chris could do to get me to eat and drink the tiniest ammounts. I shed many tears for the others in the pound who no longer lived. Nothing anyone could say to me took away the pain. One day I awoke, a strange scent in my nose. I opened my eyes. Sitting beside my bed was a white male Kougra. Black stripes danced over his snowy pelt, his tail flicking slightly. His deep, deep green eyes were gazing out the nearby window, up at the sky. I stared at him. This was the first Kougra I'd seen close-up since Jewel. I shifted slightly, and those green eyes of his turned down to me. Then he smiled. He had a steady, sincere kind of smile* ~You must be Darre. Chris told me about you~ *Then he got up and walked out through the door. I was so surprised I just stared at the door for about a minute. Then I got up and followed him. I ran into Skye, a big eletric blue Eyrie, in the hall. She nodded a greeting to me. I took a deep breath. Eyries have naturally feirce expressions, even though all of Chris's were very nice underneith* ~Uh... ah... Skye, did you see a white male Kougra with green eyes go past here?~ *Skye paused, then smiled at me* ~Aye, that's young Blair. He's outside. Another of Chris's pets, though he no longer lives here since one of his double-brothers, Cougar, started a Pride. Now he spends most of his time with them, at Hawk Hill, or exploring the Wilderess Mountians~ *Skye was gone before I could thank her, or ask her any more questions. I knew a Pride was a group of Kougras, but as for double-brothers, Hawk Hills and Wilerness Mountians... I went outside, blinking at the light and warmth. Jabes, Chris's big rainbow Uni, was grazing in the backyard. He was a very big animal, but he lowered his head (which was aroud the size of me) and smiled kindly at me. I managed a quick smile back. Blair was perched on Chris's brick fence, his head tilted upwards as he gazed up at the sky. He turned, and smiled at me again. I dropped my gaze slightly, but smiled back. Then, forgetting my shyness in my curioiusity, I asked him a question* ~Why do you always look at the sky?~ *Blair's smile grew a little* ~Come up here. I'll show you something~ *I hesatently jumped up onto the wall beside him. He motioned to the sky with his paw, and I followed the direction with my eyes. Up in the sky, a fair way away, a golden-yellow creture swooped in the high currents. The amaizing rolls, turns and loops of whoever it was up thre took my breath away. Blair spoke softly in my ear. ~You have't really lived Darre, until you've been up there, swooping around the clouds, and able to see for miles~ *I turned to him, my eyes wide* ~You've flown before?~ *He laughed softly, green eyes shining* ~In a way. Jabes over there takes me up sometimes~ *I glanced back at Jabes, who crossed his bright blue eyes and chuckled* ~Yeah, but If you keep putting on so much weight I'll never get off the ground again!~ *All three of us laughed. I glanced at Blair* ~So you watch creatures that fly?~ *Blair nodded* ~All the time. Everyone should have a dream... well, one of mine is to be up there, with my own wings spead wide... any maybe, some hopeful creature on the ground watching me, and telling themselves 'One day that will be me'~ *I asked him what his other dreams were. He grinned at me, putting his muzzle close to my ear and whispering* ~It's a secret. But I might tell you one day~ *Then he grinned at Jabes* ~What do you recon, you great winged biulding with fur, shall we give this lovely young Kougress an airbounre tour?~ *Jabes chuckled, bobbing his big head* ~Ah, ya big fraud, you'd do aniething 't have a fly. Get on, the both of ya, we'll go join that brother of mien up there!~ *As long as I live, I will never, ever forgwet my first flight. My paws dug into Jabes's mane, Blair's paw protectively resting on my back, helping me balance, seeing everything below up, then swooping up into the clouds... Blair was right. Flying was an amazing thing. From then out, my dream was the same as his. Nico, Jabe's big yellow-gold brother, swooped around us, and for an hour, the four of us enjoyed the view. Then, Blair asked Jabes to set us down behind a forest. Jabes did so, wishing us a safe trip, then took off with a smile, back to join his brother in the clouds* ~You have fun up there?~ ~Oh yeah, that was great! I loved it! But... what are we doing here?~ ~I want to show you something. Come on~ *He took a faint path through the forest trees. I followed at his side. Around then, in the quiet that isn't really quiet of the forest, I realized I hadn't thought of my passed-on friends since I woke up. I'd been having so muich fuun with Blair and the Unis. It was funny I should think of them at that moment. Blair stopped at the edge of a clearing. It wasn't large, but it was beautiful. Flowers crept over the ground, springing up in colourful bunches. The grass was short and deep green like Blair's eyes. In places, looked almost as if it had been replaced recently. There were a dozen rectange shapes dotted around in the grass. I studied them carefully. There wes small rocks and stones, placed carefully to border the rectangle shapes i nthe grass. I realized what this place was as my eyes turned to the large tree in the center of the clearing. The top was gone, leaving brown bark that stood about twice as high as a Kougra. Two words had been carved into the bark. 'Here lies'. Blair moved up beside me, touching his muzzle to my cheek* ~Chris promised to get them out of the pound for you. And she did. But we didn't know any of their names, so we had to wait for you, before we could finish the inscription~ *I listened, then nodded silently. Blair handed me a sharpened stick that lay ready beaise the tree-trunk. I felt his eyes watch me carefully as I carved the words into the trunk. I wasn't aware of ever learning how to write. Jewel the Kougress Brandy the Lupe Flame the Eyrie And many more nameless friends who shared the suffering of the pound Rest in Peace
I went back to Blair's side. We both stared in silence at this peaceful, beautiful, but sad place. Then he nudged me lightly with his muzzle* ~Come on Darre. I'll show you how to hunt~
*From that day on Blair was my constant companion. He taught me how to hunt, how to play, and how to live again. I owe him everything I have now. He took me to his brother Cougar's pride, where I met his family... welcomming, good-natured twins Cougar and Stripey (Skye's 'Double-brothers'), second-cousin Cheetah, bouncing, playful and cublike, and his quiet best friend Shadow. Now I have a place in the Hawk Hill Kougra Pride, and at last, my life has a purpose.
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In the hot september sun down in texas Sucked the streams bone dry Turned to roads to dust In the sleepy little towns down in texas, The shades are all pulled down; The streets are all rolled up. And the only thing that breaks the silence Are the trucks a-passin� by Late at night on the front porch swing You can hear their mournful sigh And the lonesome weeping willow cries to the stars above He was callin� out for his lady love She�s been gone so long
I was just talkin� to the moon
And the wind across the plains
I was just talkin� to the moon
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