Wings of Comfort

I huddled miserably in my porch chair, staring out across the rain-drenched fields.

A few days earlier, a car accident had taken the life of someone I cared about. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it had been raining for more than a week, and my soul felt as dreary and gray as the weeping sky.

From inside the house, the telephone shrilled a summons and I rose to answer it. As I spoke to the caller, I let my gaze wander around the room. To my surprise, I noticed a large black butterfly perched on the screen of one of the open windows.

Hoping not to frighten it away, I tiptoed quietly to the window and studied my visitor. It was a beautiful specimen.

There were powder-blue markings on the topsides of the broad, dark wings, and pale orange blotches on the undersides. Curiously, the butterfly uncurled its long proboscis to probe the fingertip I offered.When my phone call ended, I turned all my attention to the lovely creature.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered. The butterfly daintily explored the screen, placing its feet carefully at the edges of the tiny openings. It seemed in no hurry to leave, and indeed appeared to be taking notice of me.

After what seemed like a long time, it fluttered its wings and lifted off. The papery rustle of those lovely wings sounded like music to me, and I realized that for a brief time, I had forgotten the ache in my soul.

Then it came crashing back, like relentless waves on the ocean shore, and I returned to my chair on the porch.

A hummingbird feeder hung a few feet from where I sat, and busy hummers buzzed all around it. The rain hadn’t dampened their spirits, and they squabbled noisily around the nectar ports.

Normally I would be laughing in delight at their antics, but now I watched them through a haze of tears. Blurry little birds dipped and whirred, and I wondered if these tears would ever stop.

Abruptly, the phone rang again. I sighed and went to pick it up. It was my husband, and as we spoke, I stepped into the kitchen. Perched on one of the back window screens was another black butterfly!

It looked identical to the one I had seen before, right down to the ebony legs and the white dots that sprinkled its body. The butterfly strolled casually around the screen and then turned its face toward me.

“You’re not going to believe this,” I told my husband.

“But there’s been a big black butterfly circling the house and landing on the window screens of the rooms I’m in!”

Allen laughed.“Maybe it’s following you.”

“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe it’s trying to tell me something.”