A Promise

Beta by Pearl

For my little ones, Pinki, Feivel, Bezzy, Kassidy, Jullisses, Jaimy, Hazel, Mickey, Kimba, Jill, Line, Linus and Maxi, because I love you forever.

“Kikiriki”, the cock crowed its morning greeting. “Wake up, wake up, a new day is beginning!”

Pippin moved in his bed. The early sun shone warm and bright through the open window and the wind carried the scent of sweet flowers to him where it lingered in his nose.  He breathed deeply, sighing contentedly, before he opened his eyes.

The young Hobbit yawned hearty and stretched. Than when he was totally awake, he jumped out of bed and flitted to the window.

A sunbeam played on his face.  “Today is going to be a beautiful summers day”, he thought to himself, while his eyes glided over the farm and than behind to the green wide meadows until they joined the blue sky.

“Da, Da”, he suddenly shouted before joyously hopping with one jump out of the low window and running towards his father, who lifted him up, laughing as he whirled him around the air.

“Good Morning, my son. Perhaps you could explain to me why we have doors in our house, as I’m certain you just came out through a window,” he said with loving eyes.

Pippins was grinning. “How is Jule?”

Paladin put his child back on his feet.

“ The expecting Mama, is well, Pippin. You can visit her, after you had your breakfast.”

Than he gave the lad a small pat on the rump.

“So and now run inside and get something reasonable to wear . . . and use the DOOR!” he shouted after his scurrying son.

********************

Pippin sat on the very edge of his chair at the breakfast table.  He stuffed his last bite of bread in his mouth then drained his cup of warm, fresh milk in three big shallows.

“Pippin, not so hasty!” Eglantine exhorted him. “You will choke.”

“I am done!” Pippn mumbeld with his mouth still full.  “Can I go and see Jule now?”

“Yes, run,” his mother replied, watching as her son ran back to the barn as fast as his little legs could carry him.  Eglantine shook her head.

“What energy,” she thought as she smiled.

But she could understand his excitement.  Since he got Jule when he was eight, which was now a bit over four years ago, that two were an inseparable team.  The gentle dog followed Pippin around everywhere and Pippin loved her beyond measure.  Now, Jule would soon be becoming a Mama.

Eglantine smiled, as a wonderful memory from her own childhood found its way into her consciousness.  She was than sixteen and she were allowed to watch how her beloved cat Kimbaly gave birth to three little ones.  They were so small and so beautiful.

Many decades had passed since that day. 

Eglantine looked to the floor and smiled at the cat, that pressed itself purring at her legs.

She bent down and touched the head of the animal, who then started purring even louder.

“Ah, Kessy, are you waiting for your breakfast?” she said as she started to stroke the cat’s back.  Kessy made a hump, pressed herself stronger against Eglantines legs and meowd.

The Hobbit lass laughed “You remind me so much at your Great-great-great-grandmother.”

**********************

Pippin raced into the barn.

“Jule, my sweety,” he called out.   The black-white dog, came running awkwardly towards him. 

“Good Morning. How are you?” Pippin asked as he hugged his friend.

Jule waged her tale and barked.

“ Are you looking forward to your babies?” Pippin asked the animal.

“Wau Wau” the dog answered.

Pippin gave the dog a kiss on its wet nose.

“Do I get a welcome as joyous as that too?” A voice suddenly asked.

Pippin looked around, than he jumped up with a shout of joy.

“Merry!” he called out and threw himself into his cousin’s waiting arms.

“Merry, look, how fat Jule has become. Papa says, that it can happen any day now.  Papa also says, that I am allowed to watch and that I may choose the names for the babies. One I will call Maxi, like the dog that Frodo had when you were little and you liked to play with so much.  Do you remember?  You told me about Maxi, when I got Jule.  Will it make you happy is I call one of the small ones Maxi, Merry?  Do you think Frodo will like that too?”

Merry laughed. “Sure, Pip! Come lets go inside now. I want to greet your parents and sisters.”

*********************

“Pippin . . . Pippin wake up.” he heard his father whisper as he shook him softly.

“What is?” he asked. “Is it morning already?”

His father smiled. “Not yet. But you have to get up. It has started!”

Pippin looked at his father sleepily. “It has started?” he repeated.

Than he was suddenly fully awake and jumped out of bed. “IT HAS STARTED!”

“Hush,” Paladine cautioned his son as he motioned for him to follow, “Come.”

Merry, who woke up as well, because of Pippin’s shout of joy, looked sleepily at the other two.  He stretched, threw back his blanket and followed them.

Pippin was sitting next to his dog in the soft straw. Jule was breathing heavily and now and than a tembling run over her body

She howled loudly and Paladin, Pippin and Merry looking expectantly at the straw. But no little puppy was there to be seen.

Jule howld again, this time louder than before.

Wrinkles creased Paladin’s forehead as he frowned. Something was not right.  Cautiously he  puts his hand inside the birthcanal to see if he could tell what was wrong.

Pippin stroked Jules head. “ I am here with you, don’t be afraid. Everything will be all right”, he whispered, but the fear in his voice could clearly be heard.

Jule yelped with pain. Paladin tried to be as cautious as possible to turn the puppy inside her around.

“Done,” he mumbled, pearls of sweet beading on his forehead.  “Come on, Jule, come on.”

A whitish bladder came out and landed on the straw. Paladin tore it open and massaged softly the small creature, because Jule was to weak to take care of it herself.

“Merry, Paladin said, bring the puppy inside and wake my wife. She has to see, what she can do for it.”

Jule painfully yelped again.

“Papa, do something” the older Hobbit heard his son sobbing desperately.

Paladin tried to help his son’s pet as well as he was able, but with every moment she became weaker.

Pippin hugged Jule to himself. He felt her warmth and her racing heart-beat.

“Please, Please, don’t go away.”

Jule looked at him out of tired, pained eyes.

“ I am tired, her eyes said. I am sorry Pippin, but I am so tired.”

“Jule”, Pippin was crying.  Deep in his heart he began to understand that he had to say good bye now.

He pressed his face in the familiar soft fur and inhaled her scent. He never wanted to forget her smell. He never wanted to forget the feeling of her fur against his skin.  Paladin knew that he could not help his son’s beloved animal anymore. He laid a comforting hand on his lad’s back.

Merry, who in the meantime came back, was now standing in the open barn door, looking helplessly at the scene before him.

“I love you!” Pippin whispered in the ear of his dying animal.

*********************

The family were standing with lowered heads in front of the small, fresh grave.  Pippin layed Jule’s favourite toy, a dirty and worn out stuffed dog, on the black earth.  He kneeled down beside the grave, silent tears dripping off his cheeks.  He could not really understand it yet.

Jule was gone?

Forever?

Never again would they be playing in the meadows behind the house? 

Never again would he throw a stick and she would happily bring it back to him?

Never again would they be running together through the pond or share a stolen goodie?

His crying became stronger and he threw himself sobbing on the grave.  Eglantine bent down next to him and stroked his curly hair. She also had tears in her eyes. It hurt her heart so deeply, to see her son suffer so much.

Merry kneed down on the other side of Pippin and looked questioningly at Eglantine. She nodded and stood up.  Cautiously Merry put his arms around his cousin, holding the crying child in a hug, till his tears subsided.

********************

Pippin rolled restlessly around in his bed.

Alone.  All alone his Jule was, out there in the cold earth. Darkness around her. All alone.

He woke up and sat up. He had to go to her. He had to be with her.

Quietly he stood up and looked towards Merry, who was sleeping deeply and soundly in his bed.  On tiptoes he crept out of the room, than out of the house to the grave of his beloved dog.

He layed down on the damp earth and wispred silently. “Jule.  Jule, can you hear me? I am here. Don’t be afraid.”

Soon he was deeply asleep, Jules toy hugged tightly against his body.

********************

Pippin woke up on soft grass.

A gentle spring breeze played with a curl of his hair. He gazed over the far, green meadows. There were forests at the horizon and silvery water glittered under the beams of a warm sun. Animals were running over the meadows, playing and romping around.

Pippin looked around with big eyes. Where was he?

Suddenly one of the animals stood still and looked towards him. Fast like the wind it came running and jumped on him.

“Jule!” called Pippin, getting to his knees as he hugged the dog. “Oh Jule!”

Jule looked at her little master with warm love-filled eyes and suddenly Pippin heard words.  He didn´t heard them with his ears, but with his heart.

“Pippin, my little Pippin. I am so happy to see you. Do not worry about me. I am fine here.”

Tears were running down Pippins face. Jule tenderly licked them off his cheek.

“Do not cry, my young friend. Our separation is not for all eternity.”

“Jule, I miss you so terribly,” the child cried, digging his face into the supple fur of the dog.

“I miss you too. But Pippin, you have a life to live and a task waiting for you.”

“A task?”

“Yes. Take care of my daughter. Give her the same love, that you gave to me all my life.  Can you promise me that?”

Pippin nodded.

Jules eyes were warmly smiling at him.

“Thank you my friend. Now I have to say good bye . . .”

The world around the young Hobbit started to fade away, till only blackness remained and he heard the distant the echo of Jule’s voice: “…. Until we meet again.”

Pippin felt a hand on his shoulder.

“ I promise, he muttered. I promise.”

Cautiously Merry lifted his little cousin up off the cold earth and pressed him to his chest.  After he had noticed, that Pippin wasn’t in his bed, he knew exactly were he should look for him.  And yes, there his small cousin lay, on the grave of his dog, muttering something in his sleep.

Merry carried the lad back inside to his warm bed, tucked him in and lovingly caressed his tear-wet face.  He knew, how much Pippin had loved his dog.

Merry sighed. “I wished I could carry some of the pain and grief that you are feeling for you Pip.”

********************

The next morning Pippin sat with swollen eyes and hanging head at the breakfast table. He didn’t speak a word and didnt touch his food.

His parents, sisters and Merry exchanged sorrowful glances.

Eglantine suddenly stood up and hurried from the room.

She came back with a small cloth bundle in her arms, bent over her son and laid it down in his lap.  A soft whimpering sound could be heard and Pippin looked down at the bundle.

Cautiously he lifted up a corner of the cloth.

A small dog nose was peeking out of the soft wrapping.

Tears were streaming down Pippins face. He gave the small, wet nose a soft kiss and under his tears a smile appeared.

“Maxi,” he said. “My little Maxi. I will always take care of you and I will always love you, just as I have promised your mother I would.”

-The End -

AN: I myself had, when I was 14 years old an experience, where I was at this meadow, with all the happy animals. I met there my cat, Kimba, who had died half a year before.

He “spoke” to me and he also said it wasn´t my time yet. That I needed to go back.

Around 4 years after “meeting” Kimba again, I found the poetry of the rainbow bridge and I could not stop crying, because that, what whoever wrote the original poem, described there sounded like the place where I met Kimba.

When now one of my animals dies, like my sweet Jill did yesterday, I am of course as sad as one can be, but one thing gives me comfort and that is the knowing, that we will meet again. J

I am sure most of you know the poem, but in case not I include it here. I also include a link for a video, that someone made.

The Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

http://www.indigo.org/rainbowbridge_ver2.html

(The link to the little Rainbow Bridge Movie.)