In the middle of the night, the garden came alive with secrets only she could hear. This was not a new experience for Beth. By age three, Beth began to realize she was different. She didn’t think it was particularly unusual, but she was too young to understand her extraordinary talents. By age six, she was fluent in languages no other human could understand. Her ability to converse with animals and plants exceeded her human language talents. At age ten, she found human conversation boring and avoided it whenever possible.
Her parents did their best to provide Beth with a normal human childhood. They hired language tutors and enrolled her in many after-school activities. However, all their efforts could not change the fact that Beth found humans boring. Eventually, her parents relented and chose to homeschool her during her high school years.
A typical evening for Beth involves wishing goodnight to all her animal and plant friends in her garden. But in the middle of this evening in May, she was surprised. Her best comrade and confidant, Rocky the Squirrel, frantically circled her. “Beth! Beth!” he shouted. “We need your help!”
“It’s okay, Rocky. Calm down and tell me what the problem is,” she replied.
“Sheryl the Crow was the opening act for The Eagles last night. Glen Eagle warned her about a coming catastrophe that would affect all the Byrds in the neighborhood. He even went so far as to say it could affect all life on earth.”
“Calm down, Rocky. You know Glen always hogs the stage and thinks he’s the star of the show. I’m sure it’s nothing to fret over. What was this world-ending event he was preaching about?” she asked.
“That’s the thing, Beth. It made no sense to me. He kept singing; It’s the end of the world as we know it. It’s the end of the world as we know it. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. I’ve never seen him so agitated.”
“It sounds to me like Glen Eagle flew too high again today. You know how Glen can get when he flies too high. Or maybe he was listening to Janis Bluebird sing Fly Too High again. I think Glen is jealous of her voice.
Anyway, I wouldn’t be overly concerned, Rocky. If you think this is bad, you should watch the human news. Every little thing is the end of the world as we know it. And humans are stupid enough to make it happen. That’s why I checked out and now hang out in the garden with all of you.” Beth gently held Rocky in her arms and swayed him to sleep as she sang Three Little Birds.
She slept that evening, knowing she had resolved another garden catastrophe. For this, her gratitude knew no bounds.
Links to songs in this piece.
R.E.M. It’s The End Of The World. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY
Fly Too High. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H88biGPCMqg Janis Ian
Three Little Birds. Bob Marley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRd2dSdIvbU