~ Eagle's Nest ~

by

Olga Vesta Button

The yellow, striped with black, day lilies and wild red roses spilled from one of Stone’s muscular arms as he trotted back to the stream. His other arm carried a clay urn sporting, what appeared to be, a Native American painting. "Luna. Clay. Come say good-bye to Mother."

"Is that painting some of Star’s work?" asked Ms. Tess.

"Yes, I kept a lot of her art. When I see it, I get a little sad. But if I parted with it, I would really be sad," Stone said.

Luna and Clay turned and moved to his side. Everyone grew very quiet and Stone heard the water babbling across the smooth round stones.

Clay spoke out, turning back to Mother Mooncloud and said, "We’re going to see Mommy." He looked up to his father, his large brown eyes filled with hope and asked his father, "Where is Mommy?"

"She’s not here, Clay," Luna whispered. "We’re going to pretend." She looked up to her father and spoke a little louder, "Aren’t we, Daddy?"

Mother Mooncloud started to speak, but held up as Stone answered Clay.

Stone looked down and said, "Luna, your mother will always be at your side and Clay’s when you need her. And, sometimes she’s with your Grandmother or me. She will be with you whenever you need her."

The children and Stone stepped to the edge of the stream and joined Mother Mooncloud and Ms. Tess.

Stone raised the urn toward the sky and Mother Mooncloud started to sing. Her voice was beautiful and the others joined in. The song was as old as the Cherokee Nation itself, the song’s name long forgotten. As they sang, Stone passed a portion of the flowers he held to Luna, Clay and each of the women.

He turned and lifted the lid from the clay urn and set the pot and lid on the ground behind him. He reached into the pot first, grasped a handful of ashes, and watched as each of the others followed suit. Stone held his arm out over the stream; particles trickled to the ground from his tightly clasped hand. The song ended as Luna withdrew her hand from the pot and held it out, over the stream.

Stone spoke softly, "As we say farewell to Star, we are reminded of her love and buoyancy of spirit. We will miss her and treasure her eternal love for all the days of our lives. "Into your hands, Great Father, we commend her body, soul, and spirit to you."

Stone tossed the large handful of ashes out, over, and into the stream.

Each of the others, almost simultaneously, pitched their handful of ashes into the air and the particles mixed over the stream. A spectacular ruby-throated, blue hummingbird materialized from the center of the cloud of ashes. Its wings fluttered and shimmered as if sprinkled with fluorescent green pixie dust. The tiny bird darted to Stone, the children and lastly, to Mother Mooncloud. Finally it disappeared into a nearby shrub, leaving the group at a loss for words.

Luna watched the bird fly into the brush, her mouth open and her eyes glazed.

Stone released the last of his ashes and watched them mix with the water and disappear downstream.

"Daddy, did you see the bird?"

"The bird that flew into the ashes? I don’t think we hurt it, honey, but it did act strange," Stone answered.

"It’s okay, Daddy. We didn’t hurt it. It flew into the trees." A smile crossed her face, and she said, "It’s watching us."

Mother Mooncloud reached out her arms and drew the children to her. She kissed each of the children while battling the tears in her eyes. "You know, don’t you honey," she said, hugging Luna closer.

Luna gazed into her grandmother’s eyes and smiled.

Stone scattered his Lilies and roses into the stream. The others followed suit. Clay placed each delicate stem purposely in some pattern only he knew.

Stone bowed his head and whispered, "Good-bye, Star, my love."

Clay leaned against his father’s leg and cried. "Where’s my Mommy?"

Stone lifted Clay into his arms. "Son," he said, giving Clay his last rose, "Take this rose, toss it into the water and say good-bye to Mommy."

"Bye Mommy," Clay sobbed, throwing the rose and pressing his face into his father’s neck. "I don’t want to say good-bye to Mommy! I want her to be here with us."

"Clay, she is with us." Stone raised an arm toward the sky and said, "she’s in the sky, and she’s in the sun, the moon, the water. She’s everywhere."

"I can’t see her," Clay said softly.

"Look there, Clay," said Luna, pointing to the shrub by the stream, "there’s Mother, right there."

Clay looked all over and said, "I don’t see her."

"Right there. The hummingbird. Mother is the hummingbird sitting in that tree."

"Your Mother is in everything and is everywhere."

"No, Daddy," Luna said, "that really is Mother."

"Okay, honey," Stone said to Luna, turning to Clay. "Do you want to carry the urn back to the pickup, Clay?"

Clay picked up the pot and carefully put the lid in place.

Stone and Ms. Tess wrestled with the wheelchair until Mother Mooncloud faced the house. They started back to the Caddie. Stone followed them to the car. The children waved to Mother Mooncloud.

Stone felt tired, drained, as if he had finished a long workout in Sutter’s gym back home. Uh oh, got to remember this is home now, he thought.

"Can I check out the tree where you had a house?" Clay asked. His little legs hurried up the stream’s bank to the backyard.

"Daddy, will you play in the tree with us, too?"

"Sure, son," Stone called. "Bring me the pot before you go."

Clay hurried to his father and handed over the urn. He turned and hollered, "Luna, come on. We’re going to play on the platform in the tree with Daddy." Clay used his arms to part the grass like a plow parting snow in the winter and made a beeline toward the tree.

Luna turned to leave, not wanting to go, wanting to watch the beautiful little hummingbird. The bird darted from the bush and flew off toward the Oak tree. Luna was fascinated by the bird, and ran after it. It flew into the Oak tree and perched upon a small limb.