whispers

As soon as the light went out the whispering started.

She could hear it, just outside the window. Determined to get to sleep on time one night this week, she lay down quite straight, began her pre-sleep deep breathing exercises and tried to pretend she was already asleep.

That worked for about three minutes. She heard another crick in the hedges just outside her room, a slight papery hiss, followed by more of the whipering. She was certain something was moving out there.

Even though Aileen lived alone, she wasn't the nervous type. Besides, the noise wasn't loud enough to be a real threat. She turned over and tried to will herself to sleep once more.She heard it again.

Was it a bird? What an odd high-pitched, strange sound. Now what? She clicked on the light.

The sudden brightness was stark, but the resulting silence was so deep, she could even hear the light bulb’s faint buzz. Nothing else. Not even a breeze to break up the night's still warmth, then a faint bump as a moth threw itself at the window screen.

She thought a moment and experimentally switched the light off. Silence, but only for a moment. Soon the whispering and rustling started again and Aileen knew, either the noise or her own curiousity would keep her from sleep. She rose and headed to the back porch. From that vantage she caught sight of a remarkable struggle.

Something akin to a beautiful luminescent butterfly snake creature was making dashes at some sort of frog creature. Rainbows of colors from the flood lights seemed to coruscate from its body. Its wings, almost invisible, haloed it in palettes of color.

The frog creature, belying its stocky appearance, used swift sure movements to thwart the snake. The whispers appeared to emanate from both of them. The rustling came from the filmy wings of the snake, and the combined movements of the creatures as they moved through the summer seared grass. what? Okay leave that for the moment, she thought. Aileen had had enough. She flipped the floodlights on. Now the backyard was as respectably brilliant as a football field at gametime. With a high cry the snake creature launched itself back into the dark night, though Aileen thought it might not actually have left.

Okay now for this other weird creature. As Aileen approached she could see it was actually furry. A furry frog? Well it did look like fur, fur that shifted color to match the greens and browns of the yard. This creature now turned to face her, and now moved between Aileen and the bundle that it was obviously protecting. Now how to solve this she thought to herself. how to show she meant no harm? ahhh, in movies they always gave food and drink.

Aileen moved back to the kitchen and grabbed some grapes and water and went swiftly back outside. returning to present them to the frog thing. When she got near, she could see the frog was nuzzling the bundle and making crooning whispery noises. Entreaty? from a frog? How very odd.

Aileen cautiously make her way to the frog and set food and water down. It sniffed briefly and then looked up at Aileen. Behind its huge eyes seemed to be some sort of thought. Aileen chided herself. Thought, rational thought, for a creature? Well nothing was getting done like this, Aileen stood and that was when she noticed the tiny saddle on the creatures back. Well, now aren't we just headed into something strange she thought. okay.

The frog seemed to make a decision, and allowed her to pass it. The figure was curled into a small tight ball, protectively surrounding one arm. It seemed awake, though in pain, if its expression told truth. The frog creature gave her a head butt now, demanding some action from her. Well now,,,,, how to move it? Oh, there was a laundry basket full of new washed kitchen towels off the line. That would do.

She carefully loaded the little person into the basket as gently as possible, the frog watching each and every movement of her hands closely, as if evaulating her care of its friend. The frog followed her and the basket into the house. Throughout the night the snake thing kept returning, attacking the screens in fury, until Aileen turned the lights back on and left them.

By morning the tiny person had managed to drink and eat, still protecting its hurt arm. Aileen didn't know the least thing about helping this strange creature but she did what she could. During the night the little person called the frog to it, and the whisperings began anew. Aileen must have dozed, because when she awoke, the frog was gone and the tiny person was again sleeping.

Throughout the day, Aileen offered different foods and drinks to the little person and sometimes it would take them. Though she wracked her brains, she just didn't see how to help further. She wondered at the frogs disappearance, too. When darkness fell, noises again erupted from her back yard. The frog had returned with other frogs and riders. They looked worried and determined. Aileen brought the basket from the house and the other riders gathered around their injured comrade and soon a very recognizable sling resulted. The riders assisted the injured one into the saddle and their mounts surrounded it and all of them started to move off.

Aileen sighed. She was content in helping, in having seen this sight, but was sad she would never know the story behind it. Just as she was turning back into the house thinking about her lost day at work, she heard a piping voice, and turned. One of the regular riders had returned and beckoned her down to it. When she bent her face down to its level, it placed a hand on her forehead. suddenly the air became laden with several more layers of sound. She still didnt understand the small creatures speech but it was suddenly very audible. She smiled and shook her head and the creature shrugged. It had tried

Aileen never saw the small riders, nor the snake creatures again, but from that day forward, she heard things that no one else could hear, and some was quite magical indeed. She considered her life richer for it, knowing that magic and wonder still existed, even if just out of sight.