The boy sat down between the bear and the husky.
He dropped his head into his hands, doing everything he could to hold back the tears.
His voice crept out from behind his hands, the ghost of a tremble slipping through his words.
“I just don’t get it, why does it have to end like this?”
To his left, he felt the bear shift. A furry paw touched the side of his arm.
The bears voice floated up to his ears, calming as a forest creek.
“No matter how many times we have gone through this, goodbyes never really get easier.”
The boy looked down at the bear.
“You’ve had to do this before?”
“Once in a long, long while we are called upon to help along a special child, one whose mark on the world will last an eternity.”
“But” he sniffed “what mark will I leave?”
The soft but gruff voice of the husky leapt up from his right.
“That is a tale that only time will tell,”.
The boy peaked out from behind his hands looking right, where he found the glacial blue eyes of the husky, then left where he met white bear’s gaze. The sun reflected off the bears eyes which sat like two black opals upon a frozen tundra.
He started down into those two pairs of familiar eyes as they blurred and his vision flooded with tears.
“It’s not fair; I don’t want to say goodbye, I can’t! It’s impossible it hurts too much!”
Silence blossomed for a moment, before the soft voice of the bear waltzed into the air of that early evening.
“Goodbyes are many things. They can be difficult, they can be simple. Like a small goodbye to your mother before you race out the door to play with your friends.”
Now the husky’s voice bounded out into the falling night as the first fireflies took flight, twinkling over the yard like stars in the sky.
“Goodbyes are symbols. Of change. Of love. Of time gone by and time yet to pass. Goodbyes can be escapes. They can stay with you, a memory that endures both time and seasons.
“There are farewells, the long goodbyes. Full of meaning and emotion, embraces and tears. Once and in a while between the blue and harvest moons a goodbye will become something much more. Heart wrenching, momentous goodbyes that become waypoints. Ends of chapters, beginnings of others. Relationships young and old, present and gone.”
The husky barked once before picking up where the bear had left off. “These goodbyes can be symbols of change. To move away, to leave an old life for something new. Everything that has been tied to you and your life, can seem as if it is being cut away. You may feel as though you are on a small raft drifting out and away. Across streets, states, or oceans.Maybe even across the world. Sometimes these changes are out of your control. Sometimes they occur by your own will.”
The bears honeyed voice rose again, “You stand on that driftwood, that raft, but you are not alone. Even if you have drifted so far, away from your home, your loved ones, your past, and continued on. Out into the uncharted and unknown future, an ocean where danger always seems to lurk just beneath the surface or around the next corner. Where you thirst for answers and hunger for comfort. It can be over-whelming. But you are not alone. Be they near or far your loved ones are always with you.”
The boy sniffed, “But this goodbye is forever.”
The Husky said, “No goodbye is truly forever. Goodbyes are memories. The looks on faces; the warm words and loving embraces. It’s goodbyes like this, ones that take place where some paths end and others begin, which are often the most difficult. Goodbyes are many things but they are not impossible. You will always have us in your memories. And even if those one day fade, you will have us in your heart, forever.”
The boy muttered, “I still feel like crying more.”
“And that is perfectly okay” replied the bear.
The boy picked up the animals hugging them close
The boy walk down the front path, he stopped, blinking the tears from his eyes.
“I love you two, more than anything in the world. Thank you for everything.”
The bear looked up at him one last time “We love you too.” he reached down patted the boy’s chest, “Remember we will be here. Like many people and experiences in your life we are now a part of who you are.”
The husky nuzzled the boy’s shoulder, “Remember, always”
“Goodbye,” said the boy.
“Farewell” said the husky
“Goodbye boy” said the bear.
The boy squeezed them tightly and stepped through the gate, out onto the side walk.
It was silent but for a lingering summer breeze. The boy looked down at his animals, who now looked as they always had to adults. They had stopped hugging him back, hanging still and limp in his arms. He looked down at them, tears trickling down his cheeks.
From down the block he heard his mother’s cry. He looked over to see her waving to him by the moving van. The boy sighed, taking a few steps in his mother’s direction. His mind started to fill with memories of his two best friends. A fleeting smile touched his lips and he walked on. Into the next chapter of his life.