Red Giraffe in the morning

5 AM found her with wide open eyes and a palpitating heart. A frustrated scream lodged in her throat as she tried to focus on the fact that she was awake. Something had frightened her, something dark and foreboding had been gripping her in its claws and she could nearly feel the terror of it on her tongue. She breathed. Hard at first but then it slowed, the agony subsiding as she calmed herself.

               One of these days she thought one of her nightmares would finally do her in. “but not today” she thought with a smile “not today”.

               She rolled herself off the bed, sweat making her night clothes cling to her as she made her way to the bathroom and peeled of the soiled garment. Night sweats were becoming a real issue and she sighed thinking she need to either buy more nightgowns or buy a washing machine, this was getting ridiculous.

               She stepped into the shower, hot water like heaven on her goose fleshed skin. The timer on her bathroom light dinged and the light turned off leaving her beneath the hot spray in utter darkness.

               “Now” she thought with a smile “I can get to work.”

She took in a deep breath and held it, released, and took another, as she breathed, she focused on the darkness in front of her eyes and in her mind whispered.

               “Show me what you will.”

In the darkness light bloomed in her minds eye. A flower with bright petals that danced and swayed until it reformed into other shapes. She knew to be patient. She watched in wonder as this image morphed and danced until it took the shape of a red giraffe. It stayed that way and she understood, yes this is what I need to see. The giraffe winked at her and disappeared leaving her back in the darkness.

               “isn’t that interesting” she thought to herself and smiled. “Ok red giraffe it is, message received.”

She finished her shower, finding the shampoo and soap easily in the dark, though she was not blind she sometimes took vacations from sight, knowing that the greatest wisdom hid in the darkness. This was why shamans of certain tribes would blind themselves, not an act of mutilation but a sacrifice of the light to honour the dark.

But even that wasn’t quite right. For light and dark have a texture, a subtle shift of particles that can be felt upon the skin. Light absorbs through the skin, heat can be felt in the raise of the sun, fire casts its own sensations. With out eyes we can still feel the light, but the darkness is why we come here. The darkness is where the light shines the brightest.

               She stepped from the shower and dressed for the day. She had work, and coffee to look forward to and of course she needed to find the giraffe.

               The morning commute was easy, a pleasant walk of only 20 minutes which took her through a small park, several cute little streets and then curved around the ocean until she was downtown. Her shop nestled in a small Ally that stretched between Chinatown and shopping district in her small town.

Unlocking the gate, she stepped inside and was immediately greeted by her favourite tom cat.

               “Good morning, Charlie” she cooed as she scratched his chin and ears just the way he liked it. He purred like a motorcycle and circled her legs showing her a kind of kitty affection reserved for those who carried the best food stuffs and knew the best places to scratch. She smiled and made her way to her shop. He followed knowing that if he could just slip through the door, she would share her breakfast with him.  He was right of course, she would always share her meals with him, though he was a street cat through and through, he knew who his friends were, and she was top among them.

               “So,” she said through a mouthful of tuna salad. “Any excitement in the ally last night? “He looked at her and mewed softy, as if answering her question. Roughly translating to “not much, you know how it is “before pushing his face back into his meal.

               “Well, that’s good” she replied and began the opening routine. Charlie sat at the door waiting to be let out and she obliged knowing that he would be back. He had an uncanny ability to show up every time she opened her lunch bag no matter what time she decided to eat.

               The morning went smoothly, customers trickled in, greeted with a smile and warm welcome. Some made purchases other did not, but she did not worry. The days always managed to balance out.

At about three in the afternoon, just as she was pulling in all the display pieces to close for lunch Charlie launched himself into her shop like a demon. His fur high, tail stiff and in mouth he carried a small toy giraffe. He dropped it at her feet and sat panting for a moment looking at her expectantly.

She reached down and picked up the toy, it was smeared in red and suddenly panic welled inside her.

               “Are you bleeding?” she asked examining him, but he was impatient, he mewed and after a meaningful look he ran from the shop. She followed, not even bothering to lock the door. This was urgent, she knew and to hell with thieves and evil doers this was more important. She ran after the cat who was nimble and quick, through the ally and out to the street. He veered to the right and ducked into a different ally disappearing behind a garbage bin half hidden at the back.

She hesitated for a moment, this was not a good place, it was dark and dangerous and smelled of urine and despair but with a faint hint of blood? she shook off her misgiving and plunged after the cat.

               Behind the dumpster a small trickle of blood could be seen edging the pavement. Some one was hurt, and she ran as fast as her legs could carry her, cell phone in hand with 911 already dialed on the screen. She found the source, a child, perhaps 10 years old sat crumpled against the filthy wall, tear stained and bloody, clutching one arm with the other as if it were broken.

               She went pail at the site and hit send. The call went though, and after a brief description of where she was and what was happening, she lay the phone on the ground so it could be traced and approached the child.

               “Hi, my name is Gina, what’s your name?” she said this gently crouching on the ground just far enough away to not be threatening. The child whimpered but did not answer. Charlie rubbed himself against the child offering comfort, but the child did not respond, only stared ahead whimpering and clutching his arm. In her hand she still held the tiny Giraffe, carefully wiping away the blood she offered it to him.

               “I think this belongs to you, Charlie, that’s the kitty, brought it to me so I could come find you.”

The child looked at her suddenly, fresh tears welling in his eyes. She stretched her hand out and placed it near the boy.

               “You don’t have to talk” she said as she sat on the ground near him “help is on the way, I will just sit here with you until it comes, ok? Everything will be ok now, don’t you worry. I will keep you safe.”

Suddenly he lunged crashing into her wrapping his little arms around her and crying. She held him tight afraid she might be hurting him, but his embrace was so fierce she didn’t think he cared. Gently she repositioned him so that he was more comfortably cradled in both her arms and together they waited for the ambulance and the police.

               The rest of the day was a blur, dealing with the fall out of finding a wounded child in an ally, trying to explain that a cat had led her there was challenging but she managed. When the boy had been examined by the medical team, they had found a large gash that had been stitched up and a broken arm. Seems the boy had fallen from a window, playing on the fire escape, with his toys and no adult supervision. Things were settled and Gina was able to return to her shop.

               Nothing has been disturbed, the store sat empty and unmolested, and Gina blew a sigh of relief. As she closed the shop, she remembered the morning ritual.

               “Red giraffe huh?” she thought with a rueful smile. “Right on the money as usual” she chuckled.