L I L L Y

 

They were almost there. Lilly heard them calling her name. She felt them the instant they crossed onto the range and put the valley behind them. It made her giddy. They were coming!

She checked in with herself, and was pleased with what she found: a comfort unlike any she had ever known. There’d been moments when she was small, snuggled in bed, where she thought I’m so comfortable I’m never going to move! But ten minutes later she’d roll over and find a new position just as good. But now—here—she was content in a way that wouldn’t have been possible in her former life. Content like a tree that outlived its human neighbors. Content like the wind that never tired and had endless places to go. Content like a beam of sunshine, always able to warm itself. Rain clambered up the paths. Lilly couldn’t speak to her as she once had, but she could tell Rain knew. Rain didn’t need words.

“Be careful!” That was her dad, farther behind, warning as Rain’s feet dashed faster and faster, making the most pleasant of vibrations.

Her dad hurried too, but she didn’t like his antsy stomping.

Rain clambered onto her shoulder and stood there looking around. Lilly did her new version of a giggle. Rain responded by backtracking. But her dad kept ascending, passing Rain as she went down and he went up.

Lilly howled with laughter as her mortal father clambered onto her head. She wanted to ask Rain, “Does he look ridiculous, standing on my eyebrows?”

“Lil-ly!” His voice carried far and wide, since she was the tallest mountain. But that’s when Lilly understood: he couldn’t see her. He had no sense of her at all. He called again, as if she was out there somewhere, not directly beneath his feet.

Rain curled into a nook between Lilly’s elbow and her baby’s toes.

Her father’s impatient footfalls raced over her ear, across her shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Rain asked as he half-ran, half-slid down Lilly’s impressive arm.

“I see something! Over that peak!” He stumbled downward, racing to get away. When he reached her knee, he crossed over onto an adjoining plateau of rock. Lilly felt him moving farther and farther away. “Lilly! I’m coming!”

Where was he going? Daddy, can’t you see me?

He wandered off course. His vibrations went silent. It made her sad. Soon she’d lose all awareness of him; he was on his own journey now.

“Hey,” Rain whispered. “I can feel your heart.”

Lilly returned to her happy state. There were many people who saw her and knew her for what she was, and she loved all of them.

“Is this your baby?” Rain asked. Lilly’s daughter giggled as Rain tickled her heel. “I’m going to sit with you for a long, long time, okay? I’m so glad you came here. I made friends with Alala and maybe I can stay, or at least visit really often.”

Lilly’s heart purred in the way of the earth, deep in the rocks with their long memories. She was wrong before: this was utter contentment, with her daughter in her arms, and her best friend, nestled against her chest. She could hold them for eternity.

The endless nows.

The fleeting forevers.