Short Stories

---

Y’know, we’ve just moved into a new house. It’s in the countryside, so it’s very peaceful. There are big old trees, and beds of flowers, and run-down paths – why, there’s even an old wishing well! (Judging by the way it’s overgrown, I don’t think it’s been used in years!)
I was wandering around the garden the other day, trying to learn something of its history (the way you do when such things are new), and at the back, behind the shed, amidst a tangle of prickly briars, I found an old cage with a rather wobbly sign painted on it, which said: “Squeakie’s House.”
Now, this got me thinking. Who or what, was ‘Squeakie’? Presumably, some beloved animal, who had probably, by now (judging by the age of the painted lettering!) passed away. Had ‘Squeakie’ been a hamster? Or a rabbit? Or a mouse? With a name like ‘Squeakie’, any of these surmises seemed possible. Well, I managed to wrestle the cage out of the brambles, getting more than a few scratches as I did! It was a large cage; it had a nice, enclosed ‘room’ in it. Sure, it was dirty, but nothing that a little soap and water wouldn’t fix. The door still opened; rust hadn’t been asleep in there for too long, yet!
As I fiddled with this cage that was labeled ‘Squeakie’s house’, I couldn’t help thinking of all the trails we leave in our lives… all the notes… all the mementoes, all the debris…
Somewhere here, some time ago, somebody’s children had kept a beloved pet in this very house, and here I was listening – this little house was telling me its story.
I wonder, if in 100 years, people come by and study the left-overs of my life – what will these ‘left-overs’ tell them about me? Will it tell them that I was a person who loved life, who loved people, who loved animals – who loved the God of all creation?
I tell you, this little treasure that I found in my new-bought garden, this little ‘Squeakie’s House’, made me think. It made me think that I wanted to make the things that I do in this life count; I want to be an honest, faithful, loving part of God’s creation, and if anyone should find evidence of my footsteps here 100 years from now, I pray that they might think:
If this woman had found ‘Squeakie’s House’, she would have cared.
Thank-you God for the richness of this life, and thank-you for all the ‘Squeakie’s houses’ – all those beloved pets that enrich the lives of all our children - Praise the Lord for His creation!
Amen.


© 2010 Laura Swindon-Ross. All rights reserved.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE