Joni

Part 3

Joni was a young lady now, even though she was only three-quarters of my new pencil tall, her hair reaching her waist. We really enjoyed each other's company. I stopped playing football and the like with my friends altogether. Mom never suspected a thing. Instead, I went out a lot more on my bicycle.

Joni loved those rides with me, especially when I went on the training tracks through the woods. Sometimes I'd stop to sit down in a glade, and there I watched my little friend play hide-and-seek among the plants, leaves, and grass. That was when a kind of restlessness started to come over her. She'd start to disappear for a half-hour, then an hour. No matter how I called, there wouldn't be any sign of her until she returned.

Those disappearances became longer each time. I started to get really worried so I decided to stop going out. But that didn't last for long. Her eyes begged me to take her out into nature again and I couldn't stand that silent plea. So we continued our outings, and she continued her disappearances.

One day... she didn't come back. I waited and waited and was late for dinner. The next morning I skipped school. I was worried sick. When Mom left for work, I packed some lunch and went to spend the day waiting in the glade. She had to come back, she just had to! But the hours went – and no Joni. 

I fell into a fitful doze. Late in the afternoon, I woke up again. And there she was, sitting on my leg. I reached for her, and she smiled to see that I was awake. But she wasn't happy. She stepped into my hand and I brought her up in front of my face. I could see she was sad. She was holding her old dress close to her feathered body, looking into my eyes. Then she wanted me to take the dress and hold her closer to my face. There she stood and ran a light hand from my eye, down my cheek where a tear would run, as if she wanted to tell me something... that I shouldn't...

She climbed onto my shoulder to get next to my ear. "Good.... bye... ... Ste-ee," she said with great difficulty. 

And then she was gone.

"No, Joni! Come back!" I cried.

∞

I never saw her again. I suppose she's gone to wherever she belongs. I wish her well, and I hope she'll always remember me.

But I myself will never be the same again. Such a short time and I had actually fallen in love with a beautiful blonde little creature that nobody will ever believe to have existed. 

But her tiny dress is still here in my hand – and her box bed still in my room.

And every night at one o'clock there's a haze of light left in Micky and Nickie's cage – and a peculiarly silent tune that rings in my ears...

That's my proof: she did exist – and I... I will never forget her.

∞∞∞ THE END ∞∞∞

Credit:
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