Crossing the veil

How many times have I said, “If I could go back for a day…”?

I did go back last night, in my dream state.

You see when I was a little girl, I had a crush on a little boy, I’ll call Tony, who was a grade ahead of me. He was a handsome specimen who loved the girls. Well, many girls—just not me.

I admired Tony from afar and feigned no interest.

My attraction waned as we aged and became adults. He was actually forgotten for decades. Then we were reacquainted on facebook. I was no longer in love with Tony but it was nice to reconnect with a childhood friend. It seems they are always like family to us in our senior years.

Then he died. I was absolutely shocked. Never expected that. I found myself wishing I had known he was ill. Perhaps I could have found ways to add to his life. Perhaps relived memories that we shared, memories that would have brought a smile to his face, that would have gladdened his heart.

Nevertheless, I was grateful for the little bit of time we two old friends were given before his demise.

Last night, we somehow met beyond the veil. We were young children again and getting to know each other better than we did the first time around. We became good friends. I was a runner. Living a couple of miles from the village, I ran to and from the village often. He lived there.

He began to run with me. I slowed for him and explained it was okay that he could not keep up with me, “You’ll get there. You’ve just not had all the practice I have. I’ve been running for years.”

When we ran uphill, it was a ladder and when you reached the top, you had to lift a little trap-door to proceed on the level ground.

Tony never went through the trap-door with me. I believe that was where the crossing of the veil was…

But as we ran, we communicated. Getting to know each other more intimately than we ever had in our past life (which we were aware of.) We became closer. We sometimes sat and held hands. At one point, before the dream visit ended, we kissed. Not a passionate kiss, but the closed-mouth kiss of childhood. The innocent and pure kiss of a kindred love.

One little peck on the lips, looking into each other’s eyes. Then I ran for home. Tony climbed the ladder with me, but I stepped up through the trap-door alone.

Author: admin

As a toddler, Sue Baumgardner made up stories for herself looking at books she could not read and later spun tales for her younger sisters. After she had her own children, she told them tales and eventually wove a new pattern into the fabric of their lives. As the three sat together, one would begin with a story idea of her own. She spoke perhaps a paragraph or two or three, then pointed to the next who would take up the thread and continue with her own evolution of the story line passed to her, until she pointed to the next. The third person wove her own ideas into the story progression. After the three each had a turn, anyone could end the story, in their turn, whenever it felt complete to them. After her children were adults, Sue studied writing, first poetry and then prose. After six semesters in adult education, she was thoroughly hooked on the story art form. Sue continued with dozens of classes, seminars and writing retreats. She studied writing and publishing under the likes of James Patterson, Peter Behrens, and Mark Dawson. As a contributor to the Discover Maine Magazine, Sue received her first check for her prose. Her poetry has been published in The Aurorian. She has six of her paperbacks along with four ebooks published. They include fiction and nonfiction for adults and fiction for Middle Readers. Her very first publishing though began with Greeting Card Universe, where Sue’s greeting cards with verse are sold across the world.

One thought on “Crossing the veil”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *