The lilac

Alyssa closed the door of the doctor’s office behind her. As if in a trance, she stumbled through the pedestrian zone. She had already suspected that the doctor did not have good news for her. She was freezing cold. Not even the sun’s rays that tried to tickle her skin could warm her up.

“Watch out!” a man ordered her roughly.

She hadn’t even noticed him and bumped into him. Alyssa mumbled an apology and wanted to continue walking hastily. But then she saw a monarch butterfly that had settled on the large lilac bush next to the bakery.

For a moment, Alyssa felt transported back to her childhood, when she had tried to catch her beloved butterflies that were always in her parents’ garden in early summer.

“What are you going to do with the poor little creatures when you’ve caught them, my love?” Alyssa’s mother had asked and stroked her head. “You’d better let them go free.”

“But I want to look at them!” Alyssa had protested vehemently.

“Exactly. And you don’t need hands to look at them. You’d better leave them alone. If you try to catch them, the butterflies will get scared and fly away. And you won’t have time to look at them. But if you stay completely calm the butterflies stay close to you because they don’t have to fear for their freedom. Enjoy the time you have with them instead of wasting it trying to catch them.”

For a while, little Alyssa chewed on her lower lip. Her mother’s words made her think. Then she beamed. “You’re right, Mummy.”

She jumped up and approached the lilac bush on tiptoe. But she no longer tried to get hold of the butterflies. Instead, she quietly enjoyed the sight, which was all too fleeting even without her intervention. From now on, every afternoon she would lie on her tummy with her arms propped up on the meadow next to the lilac bush and watch the butterflies in their graceful dance. When she lay motionless, it even happened from time to time that one of the delicate animals settled on her hand to linger there for a moment without being shy. Then she could have a close look at the magnificent patterns on its wings. She hardly dared to breathe, not to ruin the moment prematurely.

Alyssa wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. How much she would give if her mother could be with her now.