At 04:23 PM 8/14/96 -0700, "The Acolyte" wrote:
The acolyte entered the clearing of the zoo.
A large dusty table filled the space, scarred and dirty,
moldering food overflowing with buzzing insects. A single deck
of cards lay on the table, next to a glowing ornate box.
All the inhabitants of the pen had vanished some time ago.
This is where it began. The call. Sent out all over
the airwaves. Few could resist its challenge.
And now it was no more.
The acolyte moved on.
Panda watched as the shadowy figure moved about his pen then exited through
the rusty entrance gate to vanish into the night. After staring out into the
darkness for a thoughtful moment, he turned away from the edge of his bamboo
grove that faced out into the center of his pen at the Beijing Zoo. He sat
down on his leafy bed and then lay back with his paws behind his head, to
look up through the gaps between the dark bamboo leaves overhead.
As an unusually cool breeze sent the leaves this way and that, the stars
blinked in and out of his view. A smile began to slowly form on his face as
he thought about his visitor. He always knew she would be back, and with
her, the merriment and laughter naturally would follow. For Panda, summer
couldn't be over fast enough. Old friends would return. But as a
particularly bright star disappeared behind a fat, windswept bamboo leaf, he
also thought sadly of new friends that were moving on. Like the stars, they
each had their own unique paths to follow.
Panda yawned, and closed his eyes as a shooting star arced across the sky.
Another cool breeze ruffled the leaves and his fur, as he drifted off to sleep,
thinking about what would be, and what might have been, and the Autumn that
was closing in...
Welcome back BTFH :) And good-luck to all those who are moving on this
fall to chase their dreams :)
Panda
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