I walked around for hours in the rain--now the Ramble, up to the Castle, over to the Beresford, back across to the Pond. I took an old path here and a different one there, but still no sign of either Palemale or Lola. On one round I decided to rely mostly on my sense of sound--I beseeched the wind to bring a fragment of their soft soothing call to my ear. But all that came were the raindrops clapping onto the leaves and Earth. Searching through the blackened branches against the light sky brought even less luck. I asked the trees, hoping that their cryptic limbs reveal some clue of their perch on that drenched afternoon, and though surely they spoke, yet I failed to understand their language. I tried the random ‘stumble upon them’ approach but that too was fruitless. There was a point where I believed I should just ignore all my normal senses and close my eyes and somehow I’d get a vision of where they were hiding. Still after several hours there was no sight of either hawk--my mortality was killing me. Presently I walked by Charles’ bench in Evodia Field and watched a drop of water run down the small steel plaque bearing his name and his words. “Come on Charles...give me a hint so I won’t feel this entire day wasted.” I felt like my old friend was sitting on the bench with his lanky figure stretched out with his feet reaching onto the muddy asphalt path and his lean face grinning at me. I sat down on the wet bench and realized the grinning man across my shoulder--my friend who dodged my many offers and simply refused to ‘go digital’. This image of Charles that drifted across my mind like the light grey fog over Azalea Pond this afternoon, helped to curb that never ending delight I get from finding my animal friends every day. His grinning face proved his wisdom and compounded my lack thereof. “Sit down and relax...” I felt were the words Charles would have uttered had he really been sitting there--not that any words would have been necessary for me to engage the company of such a friend. The thought came soaring through my mind that I was haphazardly looking every other place save the one corner of my heart which I cherish as their most welcomed perch. I closed my umbrella so I could feel the cool raindrops on my face and soon became more aware that those very raindrops came pelting out of the sky long before I walked these paths, and they will come pelting down again long after the pavement on which I stood is cracked and crumbled beyond recognition and buried miles beneath the Earth. I looked around and above me there in Evodia Field, Azalea Pond and The Gill and surveyed the countless spots over the years where I gazed for hours at those two creatures which have captivated my soul more than anything else had ever done, ever. How sweet it to see them with your eyes...but how sweeter it is to feel them in your heart. All images above taken Saturday June 24, 2006. Lola hugging Palemale, Friday evening June 23, 2006 "Enough with the hugs!"