The short beginnings of a not very long story, inspired by a wonderful phrase turned by my friend, Ambrielle, and a painting of a pig and a butterfly we saw a few weeks later.

Players:

Waffles the ceaselessly happy pig dreams of joining his best friend Whimsy, in flight. Whimsy, the endlessly thoughtful butterfly flutters ever within sight of Waffles, safe in this connection to stable ground.

Setting:

Waffles and Whimsy explore the gardens. They frolick between the neat rows of slender trees, they stop to smell the tidily arranged flowers. When the wind blows, the deep green leaves above sway, catching the light of the afternoon sun and shimmering against the blue background.

Whimsy’s wings shimmer in the breeze, too, and Waffles loses sight of her for a moment. He doesn’t worry though; he can’t always see Whimsy, but he knows she’ll always stay close by his side. The thought would bring a smile to his face if there wasn’t already one there, fresh from the latest flower sniffing. Not a new smile, then, but a bigger one. How lucky he is to have a friend like Whimsy, someone so wonderful with whom to share garden adventures and pleasant thoughts.

“Whimsy, I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful friend to share these garden adventures with.”

“What makes you say that?” Whimsy wondered. Waffles had this odd habit of blurting out things like that, and Whimsy never quite understood where it came from.

“Well I was thinking it, just now,” Waffles explained, a bit confused. That’s exactly the kind of thought one should always share, he figured. He hoped it would make Whimsy smile, like she just had for him. Then they would be smiling together and shared smiles are the very best smiles.

Whimsy still didn’t quite understand but she found herself smiling nonetheless. Every now and then, Waffles would just say what he was thinking like that, and it always came with that excited little bounce. Yes, like this one just now. Those little legs pushing him just off the ground once, twice, three times. Hopping up, up, up, the spring of his curly tail shaking his rump with each landing. Like he believed if he could bounce just a little higher he could take flight and join Whimsy, to have the rest of the conversation in the air. As cute as she found it, she was glad he always landed back on the ground. The world of the sky was so unpredictable. Much better for Waffles to stay on the ground where life was safe.

And now Whimsy smiled even more. It really did make her feel better to know that Waffles would always be down there where she could find him.