Family
Secret Mother was all of 14 when she met Francine in 1934. She lived in Los Angeles, of all places, about as far from Nature as one can get on this planet. But the Great Depression was underway, and while many families had moved out to farm country where one could at least survive, those left in the cities scrambled for a living or went to parks and churches, to stand in soup lines while the nation's economy slowly righted itself. Lucy was fortunate enough to be sent off to a free summer camp set up by her local church. She and about a hundred other girls went to the Angeles National Forest in San Bernardino, where they spent several weeks living in sturdy, half-cabin tents while they learned various outdoor skills. This included swimming, boating, basket weaving, campfire cooking, stringing beads, singing, and of course, Bible study. The camp Monitors had all they could do to keep track of so many girls, but Lucy found time to escape by herself while everyone else was busy with their craft projects. As she sat on a boulder overlooking the lake, she heard a small sound behind her to her right. Looking toward the sound, she spied a small grey horse behind some sort of hedge. Smiling, she turned and stood up, walking slowly toward the animal. As she approached, the "horse" moved its head, and Lucy stopped dead in her tracks. There was a single large black horn growing out of the creature's forehead! This was no horse! Lucy looked around for tricksters hiding nearby, but the possibility of fraud evaporated as the being's other features now became obvious. A short, white beard and long, flowing mane over un-horse like cloven hooves proclaimed an unreasonable truth: Not only are Unicorns real, but there was one standing only a dozen feet in front of her. "I'll be seeing elves and fairies next!" she said to herself. "Not on this
world", the reply came clearly within her head,
"but I do have such friends in other places". "I did." "You're a... a... " "A Unicorn. Yes." "But that's... just... Fantasy. Myth. Legend." Lucy reached out as she walked up to the creature. She touched the side of its face. "You're real!" she breathed in wonder. "I am." it replied, with a slightly condescending tone. Its vivid blue eyes bore deep into Lucy's. Shaking off the moment, she asked, "Do you have a name?" "Call me Francine." Came the reply. "Well, Francine, my name is Lucy, and I am... pleased... to meet you." "I think you mean to say you are stunned to see me, but you have better manners than to actually say so." "That is really just so ODD!" "I know, you're probably wondering if you have gone insane, or how can I possibly exist. I have one better for you. Your mother knows all about me." "My mother-! But how do you know-You know me?!" Lucy could almost hear laughter in the reply. "I know you well enough, and your family, for hundreds of years. We have a-special-relationship." "Then why have I never seen you?" Lucy asked. "Perhaps you never really looked." Francine replied. "But if what you say is true, why did my mother never mention you?" "If she had, she
would have spoilt the surprise. And she knows how much I
enjoy these first contacts. Be sure to thank her for me,
when you get back home." "Yes. I am." Francine settled down and placed her head on Lucy's lap. "Mmmm, I haven't had the chance to do this in ages!" "Do what?" Lucy asked quietly. "Do you know the legend that says that one can capture a unicorn by tempting it to lie down with an innocent maiden?" "I think I heard something like that, yes." "It's true you know. You have no idea how good it feels to us. You see, when we touch physically, you and I are able to share images and emotions directly. Your youth, your simplicity, your innocence are a tonic to a weathered old soul like mine. And it is pleasant, so pleasant, to rest here like this." Feeling very protective, Lucy sat quietly, stroking the head and neck resting on her lap. Listening for intruders and imagining the terrors this creature must have seen so long ago. "No, child. I was never hunted. Well, not by men, anyway." This brought a whole new set of images to Lucy's mind, of Orks and Trolls, of wicked Imps and screeching Harpies. "You are seeing a little into the worlds I've seen now." came Francine's far-off sounding voice. Lucy ran her fingers over the crenellated patterns of Francine's horn, admiring its beauty. She noticed one of the rings along its length was more of a white indentation, as if a black band had somehow been removed, leaving the horn otherwise intact. Francine spoke again
to Lucy , "That's terrible!" Lucy protested. "You don't think that I." "No, of course not. That was long ago, when men still believed in magic." Francine stirred, and in a moment, was trotting away into the bushes. "Thank you for your thoughts, I'm afraid I must go now. Your friends are coming. Perhaps we will meet again someday. Goodbye!" In moments, Francine
was gone. Several girls from the camp came trudging
through a few moments later. Unfortunately, when Lucy
returned to the City, she never again found the right
circumstances to meet Francine. But for years after, even
after I moved out and started my own family, she would
tell me that she could sometimes feel a strange presence
close by, dreaming invisibly in her lap and sharing
images a thousand years old of knights and abbots, and of
worlds never beheld by the eyes of men. |
