My Long Lost Love

My Long Lost Love

I am so excited. After thinking about it and talking about it for years with my friends and family, I am finally going back to visit my old home town, the place where I grew up, but never have returned to. What makes such a trip exciting is the thought that perhaps I will get to see and meet with the one that I have long called my first love. I was only twelve when I first met Ellie. She was an inspiration to me, and she was always happy to see me, as I was to see her.  As a teenager, I did not get that kind of reaction from anyone else, not until I was in my twenties when I met the woman who would eventually become my wife, and still is today, for which I am thankful.  I know that Ellie and I have been thirty years apart now, but she still owns a piece of my heart, and always will do so. I have dreams in which we meet again, and we get along like we did when I was a teenager. I never knew her exact age. It was hard to tell.  

I am grateful to Ellie for inspiring the direction I would take in terms of the career I would come to have.  I had no such direction before I met her.

I know that she might have moved to another town, she may even have died, but I still need to give finding her a decent try. My regret would be deep and dark if I did not.

I know that with this trip I will have to pass on my clients to my co-workers for a week. But they are good at what they do. I am glad that I hired them, and hadn’t decided to do all the work myself. They are very supportive of my going to find my first love, as well they should be, as, in a way, she gave them jobs.

One of the beauties of my finally taking this trip is that my wife Marcia does not oppose my doing this, but is actually supportive of my going to maybe see my first love. She even laughs when I refer to someone other than her being my first love. Her standard response is, “As long as I am your last love, I’m fine.”.

The Trip

           As I go out the door, Marcia hands me a bag full of food, saying “You will need this.” I hadn’t thought of that. I give her a quick kiss and then ran to the car. This trip is pushing my impatience like my bladder does when I arrive home after a long trip without stopping. I have to restrain myself from tromping on the gas pedal and speeding all the way there, but each known landmark seems only to be reached slowly, as if it had grown in distance over the years. Finally I see the town. It doesn’t look like it has changed a bit.  Although I haven’t been here for a long time, I remember clearly how to get where I need to be by the fastest route.

The Place Lets Me Down

Once I have finally make it to the town, I head straight for the place where I saw her first and last, and all the many times in between. Is she still going to be there? As I turn the last corner, I do not want to believe what I see, or rather what I definitely do not see. There is just an empty, open field, with a round imprint on the ground of where the large building, where we met, and often stood together, but is here no more. Neither is Ellie, of course.

I have to get out of my car to look around. Maybe I am missing something nearby. I hope so. I don’t want to think that I came all this way for nothing!

Fortunately, I see a teenage boy on a bicycle coming this way along the road. I wave at him with both hands moving rather frantically. He stops quickly, the rear wheel almost passing the one at the front. I right away ask him, “What happened to the zoo that used to be here?”

“Oh, they moved it years ago, when I was a little kid.”

“Where is it now? Did they move it to another town?”

“No, it is still in town, just on the other side, on the east side instead of the west. Just take main street and you won’t miss it. It is just on the edge of town ”

“Thank you sir. I really appreciate your help.”

I used to like being called “sir” when I was his age. By the look on his face, I believe that he liked to hear the word addressed to him as well.

So I drive across town, doing my best not to speed along the way, and refraining from crossing at yellow lights. Then I see it! It is a building broad, round and with a curved top, a lot like the building that it replaced. I have finally reached my goal!

I park the car in the nearest empty space, pretty much leap out of it, first grabbing the bag of food that Marcia gave me. Then, about 10 paces away from the entrance, I stop and engage in what you might call a silent prayer. I pay the admission fee. My the price has gone up quite a bit over the years.

I start to run to where I am pretty sure that she might be. I am right!  There she is, standing tall.

“Well, hello Ellie, my love!” She stared at me for a few seconds. I begin to wonder whether this was really her, or that she may have forgotten me. Then she moves quickly across her cage to where I am standing, and sticks her trunk out at me as she had done many times before when I worked at the zoo and became the underpaid assistant keeper of the zoo’s only elephant. An elephant never forgets.  I share my bag of peanuts with her.

 She was the inspiration for my becoming a large animal veterinarian. Usually I treat cows, horses, sheep and such, farm animals. But sometimes I get to treat a large zoo animal such as the enchanting Ellie. I will ask the manager if I can do so again. It will be worth the drive.       

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