In a shiny morning, The Owl is sleepily perching on a branch
of her cherry tree. She is tired of wandering all night to magical places out
of the Orchard.
She is in a deep nap when a little girl’s sobbing wakes her
up. She opens one of her sleepy eyes and she sees a tiny young gnome girl, her
height is not higher than a wide spread hand of an old man. She is crying sadly
and rubbing her eyes. She is Lila, a fat short girl with a beautiful face and a
pair of shiny green eyes.
But the face is now in a mess and those eyes are now red,
and circled with ugly black eye bags.
“What happened to you, Sweetie Pie?” The Owl asks. Though
she is terribly sleepy, she has to keep her reputation high among the young
gnomes.
Lila is not surprised that she has wakened the Old
Kind-hearted Owl up. It’s her intention to tell her burden to The Wise Owl.
“Dodo...hiks...and Dido... hiks... they are cruel. The said
that I... I am porky... huhuhuhuuu..”
The Wisest of All Owl has faced many young girls like this
before. “Hush now, hush now,” she says. “It is okay. You are not alone. In
fact, there are many girls like you. They stop eating wild strawberry cake and
cream pudding, but still they are fat... or they think they’re fat.
And she continues, “Once there was a girl who is really like
you.”
“Really?” said Lila. “What happened to her?”
“Oh, she’s dead.” The Owl says immediately.
“What?”
“So here is the story...”
***
Adriana is her name. She is fat
and beautiful like an apple. But she does not know it. A friend of hers, Dio,
is an evil young boy whose mouth only can produce bad words. No good things can
be said from his wicked mouth. Therefore, Dio is so fond of teasing Adriana and
say bad things about her. Dio only can see her fat body. He cannot see that
Adriana is so lovely in her plump posture.
Therefore, Adriana cannot take it
anymore. She kills herself by drinking a bowl of yew poison.
Her hope is that she can tell God
what happen so that He will punish Dio the most unbearable suffering.
Therefore, the first thing
Adriana says to the first angel she meets is “Where is God? I need to talk to
Him.”
The Angel says: “There are
thousands of people, queuing to talk to God. It is easier to talk to me, who
knows I can help you with my limited divinity.”
So Adriana tells the Angel her
story of unhappiness. Unpredictably, the Angel laughs.
“Stupid little girl. Why are you
sweet but full of hatred? Why do you choose to be lovely but thorny like roses,
if you can be true and open yourself like Sunflowers? Anyway, God does not work
on hatred. He is peaceful and full of love. But, believe me, He will work for
justice.”
And she takes Adriana to a long
queue of people who will be sorted to heaven or hell.
In her turn, Adriana enters the
room and meets The Judge. The Judge examines her closely from top to toe. A
scale in front of Him is moving up and down uncontrollably. And all of the
sudden Adriana falls in a vortex that consists of the colors of times and
places.
In her ears The Angel whispers, “See,
Good is Kind!”
“Where am I? Heaven or Hell?”
asks Adriana.
“Well... you can say, both.” The Angel says. “You are human, you
are smart, you have reason. You can choose for yourself whether you want to live
in Heaven or in Hell. You can choose your own hereafter. Let me tell you a
secret: life is the hereafter. God is Kind.” And with that the Angel goes by.
Adriana thinks about the Angel’s words
for a loooong time in her new place. The place is warm and comfortable, but it
is so dark. Adriana has not understood the Angel’s words yet when it is the
time for her to slide again in a vortex of colors. But this trip is a bit wet.
Afterwards, she cries so loud.
Oh! She is reborn!
In the process Adriana changes.
She has forgotten her past life and becomes a new person. In fact, she is a boy
now and her name is Dio. Dio has
forgotten anything about Adriana. He even has forgotten the Angel. But one
thing he remember, strangely, that he can choose his own Heaven.
He makes his life as happy as can
be. Even when his Daddy is bankrupt, and they have to move to a slummy ugly
house, and then his parents divorce, Dio always remembers to be cheerful. He
always seeks for happiness from every of his sufferings. He always remembers to
be happy and see everything from many angles.
And finally, in a point of his
life, Dio meets a lovely chubby girl named Adriana. Dio is so in love with the
girl. He does everything for the girl’s happiness, also with words of spirit
and joy. Their happiness makes other people happy, so that the world turns to
be a better place.
***
“So that’s why, Lila, never be down-hearted.
Always be cheerful and choose Heaven for yourself.” Says the Owl.
Lila’s tears have dried. She is
now seated on the grass and listening to the story while eating a ripe cherry
that has dropped to the ground.
“So... so... actually Dodo and
Dido likes me?” she says naively.
The Owl is gone a chapfallen “tsk
tsk”.
“Could be yes or no,” she says, “perhaps
they just have a real bad day at home.”
“But, Baby, can’t you see? Everyone
is One. We are all sharing the same soul. When it comes the time, you will be
me and I will be you, do you understand? It is difficult to see everybody else
as yourself, but that is the reality. Treat people like how you like to be
treated, because they are actually you. And make sure that you and they are in
heaven, understand? Now go and do your role of this lifetime with the best you
can.”
Lila gets up and feels happier. She
strolls back to under the yew tree, and ready to share Heaven.
The Owl goes back on her deep
nap.
Yogyakarta, June 28, 2012
Gisela Swaragita
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