Here is the story of the angel at Rainbow Bridge that is being auctioned off
in round three of the Kodo Auction.  I'm sending it to you in two parts,
because of the length.  (It's about 150 lines.)
[Moderator's note: Combined into one -- not *that* long. BIG]
 
Aurora: the Angel at Rainbow Bridge
 
Aurora was named after the Northern Lights that her parents had seen on
their Alaskan honeymoon.  It was a beautiful name, reminding her parents of
the streaming colored lights that were all the colors of the rainbow.  But
she was not a beautiful girl.
 
Aurora had a face that was homely at best.  At worst, you could call her
ugly.  She also had a club foot and walked with a limp.  Doctors operated on
her foot.  The operation was very painful, but it made her foot look
normal--almost.  Her leg was still short, and she still limped.  There was
nothing the doctors could do about that.  But she got around as best she
could, and could even run when she had to.
 
She had to run a lot of the time; especially on her way home from school.
The other kids were cruel about her limp, and about her face.  They called
her names, and didn't ever want to play with her.  She tried and tried to
fit in, but she was always the last one picked for teams, and none of the
other girls even wanted to be seen with her.
 
Everyone needs love.  Everyone needs acceptance.  Everyone needs to be
needed.  Aurora's parents loved her, but it just wasn't enough.  She was
very unhappy, until one special day.  Her parents took her to a mall to go
shopping, and they happened upon a pet education day.  Aurora noticed
something very unusual when she held the animals.  They all accepted her.
Not one of them noticed her limp, or seemed repelled by the way she looked.
They all snuggled happily in her arms and enjoyed being petted by her.
 
The woman who ran the ASPCA shelter was impressed by her handling of the
animals.  She told Aurora that she had a special touch.  Because of her shy,
gentle manner, they weren't startled by her, and they didn't fear her.  She
asked Aurora if she would be interested in working as a volunteer at the
shelter.  Aurora was overjoyed, and asked her parents if she could.  Her
parents were thrilled that Aurora had found something that made her happy,
and they agreed.
 
Aurora started working at the shelter the next day.  She cleaned out the
cages, and washed down the dog runs.  She fed the animals, and made sure
that they had plenty of water.  She played with the puppies and kittens, and
the occasional bird or ferret.  She was best at helping any animal turned in
because of a behavior problem.  Soon, she was helping the shelter with the
toughest cases.  Her gentleness and patience would get through to the most
terrified or abused animals, and they would learn to trust humans again.
Aurora won them over with love.  She missed them when they were finally
adopted, but she sent them to their new homes with renewed hope and love for
humans in their hearts.  She knew them all by name, and greeted every one of
them when she arrived each day.
 
One day her mother asked how she could give so much of herself, and not get
anything in return; after all, it was a volunteer job.  Aurora replied that
she got far more than she gave.  The puppies and dogs gave her adoration,
the kittens gave her playfulness, the cats gave her respect, the birds gave
her sweet songs, and the ferrets gave her joy.  Aurora's mother saw the
transforming glow of happiness on her daughter's face when she said this,
and realized that she was right.
 
Aurora worked for five years at the shelter.  She grew into a confident,
loving, and fulfilled sixteen year old girl.  She was still considered ugly
by her peers, and she still limped.  She still was not popular in school,
but it wasn't important anymore.  Her life was so full, that it didn't
matter.  She talked her parents into letting her adopt a ferret and a dog
from the shelter, and her life was full of joy and love, even if it didn't
come from her classmates.
 
As she got older, she ran errands for the shelter.  One day the shelter ran
out of kitten food, and Aurora had to walk to a nearby grocery store.  While
Aurora was standing on the curb of a busy street, she heard a whimper.  On
the opposite side of the street was a puppy that someone had abandoned.  It
looked across the street at her and started to wag its tail and bark
happily.  As she watched in horror, it started bounding across the street to
her.  Oh no, stay back...but it kept coming.  She limped as fast as she
could over to it and scooped it up.  Then she heard brakes squeal and
noticed the truck bearing down on her.  She tossed the puppy onto the grassy
lawn just before it hit her.
 
As a crowd gathered around her, she gasped "Please take the puppy to the
shelter." A man picked up the puppy and said that he would.  She died before
the ambulance arrived.  There was nothing they could do.
 
But that's not the end of the story.
 
Aurora woke up with ferrets kissing her eyelids.  She sat up and saw that
she was in a beautiful rolling meadow filled with gently flowing streams.
There were animals everywhere she looked.  She even recognized some of them.
Curled up in her lap were the two ferrets that had awakened her.  It was
Bandit and Rascal; she had last seen them just before they went to their new
home four years ago.  There was Max, the old hound that had been adopted out
from the shelter two years ago.  A parakeet flew down to her shoulder and
nibbled her ear.  It was Skippy, she had fed him when she first became a
volunteer five years ago.  What was going on here?
 
Then she looked up and saw the angel.  "Oh, my.  I'm dead aren't I?  But I'm
still needed on earth.  Patches has to have his bandage changed, Tweety
wants his treat, the new kittens need to be hugged and played with...."
 
"Hush," said the angel gently.
 
"Is this Heaven?'
 
"Well, not exactly," said the angel.  "You're at Rainbow Bridge.  You see
when a pet dies, it goes to a place just this side of heaven called Rainbow
Bridge.  Here they wait for their masters to cross over.  When that day
comes, the master and pet are reunited, and they cross the Rainbow Bridge to
Heaven together."
 
"But we have a problem here, and we need your help.  You see many of the
animals here have come from terrible places.  They were drowned at birth,
starved to death, abandoned, or abused and neglected until they died.  We
need someone to help them gain hope and faith again.  They can be adopted by
a new family and pass on to Heaven, but they won't be ready until they have
learned to trust.  The pets that were loved by their masters are lonely and
they need love so that they don't lose hope and start to despair before
their masters arrive to take them to Heaven.  You deserve to go to Heaven
right now, but can you help us?  Can you stay here with them and give them
the love that they so desperately need?"
 
"But you don't understand--to me this is Heaven!"  said Aurora.
 
She stood up and found that her foot and leg were perfectly normal.  She
would be able to run with the dogs and chase the ferrets without worrying
about stumbling and falling.  With mounting hope, she went to a still pool
and bent over it to see if her face had changed into something beautiful.
She was surprised to see a set of wings that were glistening with all the
colors of the rainbow.
 
Her face hadn't changed.
 
But she wasn't ugly; not at all.  She was glowing with joy and beautiful in
her own quiet way.
 
        Melody Tomaszewicz, 1997
[Posted in FML issue 2060]