MOTHER’S DREAM

A TRIBUTE TO GIZMO

It was late in the evening on a rainy summer night. The young woman was driving along the country road in her Jeep, singing along to the radio and thinking about anything but her driving.

Suddenly there was the flash of eyes reflected in her headlights as the form of a large brown deer appeared just ahead of her. The young woman screamed and pumped the brakes while trying to veer the vehicle away from the frightened animal. The Jeep slid across the wet pavement and plunged down the embankment, slamming into a tree and leaning precariously sideways toward the bottom of the ravine.

As the woman lost consciousness, the last thing that she saw was the deer running through the beams of her headlights and down into the woods.

The woman slowly awoke to the feel of sunshine caressing her face. She realized that she was flat on her back on the grass. She opened her eyes and gazed at the most beautiful, brilliant blue sky she had ever seen. Large fluffy white clouds were flowing across the sky, alternately taking the shapes of cars and animals and trees.

When the woman sat up, she noticed that everything around her was filled with sparkling color. The grass was the greenest she had ever seen, the blue of the river running through the field matched the brilliant blue of the sky, and the red and purple flowers seemed to be lit from within. As she scanned her surroundings, she noticed a large rainbow that was leaping from the sky to engulf an object spanning the river. After staring in awe for a moment, the woman realized that she was looking at a bridge. It was awash in the colors of the rainbow that, at that moment, seemed instead to leap from the arc of the bridge itself. The bridge was made of wood, but no wood that the woman had ever seen before. It glowed with color that appeared to be flowing, as the river was, toward the sky.

As the woman sat there breathing in the wonderful scent of the outdoors that surrounded her and enjoying the amazing sight of the rainbow-colored bridge, she became aware of something watching her. She turned away from the magnificent scene before her and noticed a handsome white ferret sitting patiently next to her.

"Hello, mother," the ferret whispered and gently placed his paw upon her hand.

"Gizmo?" the woman managed to squeak out as tears began coursing down her cheeks.

"Yes, mother, it is." The ferret smiled and cocked his head to the side in his old familiar way.

A million thoughts began running through the woman’s head. How could Gizmo possibly be here? She herself had held his soft, failing body in her arms 6 months ago while the doctor injected the drug that would gently put him to sleep and out of his misery. She had cried herself dry for days, thinking of how she would never again hold him, never again hear his soft sighs of contentment against her ear, never again play with the funny little broken toe on his right rear foot. She thought of the half-full bottle of prednisone that she had refused to throw away, though she hoped never to have to medicate another insulinomic ferret in such a way. She imagined the small red harness that was lying on her bookshelf, never to be worn by another ferret, but always there to remind her of how he actually enjoyed going for walks down the block.

As all of these thoughts washed over her and threatened to drown her, the ferret gazed upon her lovingly with the intelligent look in his eyes that always amazed anyone who met him.

Then just as suddenly as they came upon her, the thoughts faded away. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes and then reached for the ferret. He gently went into her arms, and she snuggled him up close to her heart. As the sigh of contentment reached her eyes, she laughed. "I’ve missed that sound so much, Giz."

"I know, mother." He nuzzled her ear, and then she put him down.

"But what am I doing here?" she asked, bewildered. "This is the field before the Rainbow Bridge, isn’t it?"

"Yes, mother, it is. You were in an accident, and I was informed that you were going to be here," Gizmo replied patiently.

"But that means I’m dead," the woman gasped.

"Not exactly," Gizmo replied. "You have a choice to make. You can stay here and cross the bridge with me, or you can go back."

"Oh, Giz, I miss you so much, I want to stay."

"I know you do, but you must think of the others. Slinky, Kyle, Noel, and especially Sandy, need you. You are their mother, too, and they love you very much."

The woman smiled as the thoughts of her 4 other ferrets, dubbed the Herd, and their playful antics and loving affection flooded her mind.

"And that silly dog of yours, Rootie, he needs you very much as well."

The woman thought of the crazy beagle that she had brought home from the pound just 4 days before Gizmo died.

"Rootie was sent to you with a purpose. I felt that it was my time to go, so one night, as I lay in my hammock smothered by the other ferrets, I asked God to send someone for you to look after. I knew that you would need a distraction to make my passing easier on you. So He put Rootie into your life." Gizmo paused as the woman absorbed what he was saying.

"You were right, baby. It worked." The woman reached for Gizmo again, and he willingly climbed into her arms.

More thoughts exploded into the woman’s head, and she questioned the ferret some more. "But if this is the field before the Rainbow Bridge, where are Mandi and Muffin?" she asked about her beloved dog and cat that had passed many years before.

"Muffin knows that you are here. But she is keeping watch over Mandi, who doesn’t know. Mandi would not understand that I am sending you back." Gizmo answered her gently.

As the woman’s gaze wandered toward the bridge, she whispered, "Just make sure they know how much I love them."

"They already do," Gizmo assured her.

"Now it’s time to send you back." Gizmo stood and motioned with his head in the direction that the woman was to go. The two walked toward the colored bridge.

"I thought you said that I was to go back," the woman asked.

"Just look, and you’ll understand."

Just before the bridge lay a magnificent lake. It appeared to be made of molten silver as it sparkled and shimmered in the brilliant sunlight. Gizmo led the woman to the edge of the lake and encouraged her to kneel before it.

"Remember, mother, even though I am not with you physically, I am always with you. As long as you have this," he laid his paw upon the silver ferret pendant that had hung around the woman’s neck since the day he died, "I will always be here. And even when this pendant is gone," he laid his paw upon her heart, "I will always be here."

The woman placed her hand over the small, soft paw on her chest, and sighed. "Oh, Giz, I love you so much."

"I know. I love you, too, mother." Gizmo smiled and motioned for her to look over the edge of the bank and gaze into the lake. "Look there at your reflection."

Indeed the reflection was beautiful. It depicted the woman kneeling with the sweet white ferret sitting in front of her. As she stared, she felt the sensation of falling forward. The image of the ferret in the lake seemed to fade into her own body and she tumbled forward into the silver water.

The next thing the woman was aware of was an ear-piercing wailing sound coming from in front of her somewhere. She sat bolt upright, and the sound immediately stopped. As reality began to flood back to her, she realized that she was soaking wet and sitting in the driver’s seat of her Jeep. The sound must have been the horn blaring as her head lay against the steering wheel. As the glanced above her head, she noticed that a large tree branch had torn a gigantic hole in the Jeep’s canvas top and that the rain was drenching her.

She sat for a moment with her hands on the wheel, trying to sort out the jumbled thoughts in her head. As she reached for the pendant handing around her neck, she noticed that the deer was in front of her again. Only this time, it was pure white, glowing in the light of the headlights, and its eyes seemed strangely familiar.

"Remember…" she heard the voice echo in her head as she wrapped her fingers around the pendant and squeezed it tightly in her hand. The deer smiled, nodded its head at her, then bound off down the hill and disappeared into the rain-soaked woods.