Sophie’s Destiny Excerpt
Chapter One
Sophie’s Misty Future
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The softening calico curtain of sunset stretching loosely across the distant horizon was slowly disappearing behind the classic ‘arrow-tight’ V-formation of geese Sophie was leading.
The flock was soaring ahead of the expansive darkening autumn night sky. Sophie was feeling so exhilarated because everything had come true, as Robbie said it would.
Then suddenly she awoke, realizing the flight scene had only been a wistful dream.
Tree tops were sparkling like a glistening necklace of sun-diamonds, reflecting spears of light darting excitedly here and there through the dense green forest below.
The woods and all its various creatures were slowly stretching and yawning to life.
There was a rustling of playful activity among the colourful and pulsating carpet of scattering leaves.
The brisk air was filled with pleading cries from the skyward mouths of wide-eyed nestlings yearning to be fed in their cozy-warm ‘beds’.
Cheerful singing on outstretched branches kept shaking the other ‘sleepy heads’ of the forest awake.
Weary branches slowly lifted their sagging limbs to catch the first morning light, and drowsy flower petals shed their dripping dew to reveal their happy, fanciful faces.
Life was beginning to stir everywhere in the moist, subtly perfumed woodland, ever-protecting and encircling the sparkling blue crystal pond under its care.
Looking around at the unfolding beauty of an early fall morning, Sophie felt a bittersweet melancholy gently squeezing a tear from her eye.
She was still unsettled by the painful memories of losing her beloved mate, Robbie. These thoughts would suddenly close in and overwhelm her heart when she least expected, like a heavy-laden dark cloud ready to burst.
This sad and tender moment passed as before, and was replaced by the gratitude of living in this beautiful enchanted forest home for the last several months.
It was here where she and her young human friend, Peter, had fostered and rekindled each other’s broken spirits back to life, after the tragic losses of both Sophie’s mate, Robbie, and Peter’s younger sister, Annie.
Lately, Robbie had been on Sophie’s mind, like last night. She had gone to sleep remembering his loving spirit speaking quietly to her of her ‘destiny’ as they paddled together that last time, in the mystical path of the moonlit pond. Could that meeting have also been a dream, she now wondered?
She missed Robbie beyond words and was feeling all the lonelier since Peter had returned to school. They were spending far less time together.
Sophie was feeling lost in thought and alone, paddling slowly along the uneven fringes of the early morning pond, mirroring the overhanging branches hugging the rugged shore.
She was wondering about her misty future.