Fond Memories

Going through all the boxes of photographs, we found this one of our son, Daniel, when he was little, posing with a donkey apparently called Bella. For some reason, there was always a number of animals in or around our house (we even have a lavatory still known as 'The Pig's Bathroom'): dogs, cats, tortoises, donkeys, wild boar, chameleons, horses, mules, ducks, chickens, peacocks, pigs, guinea pigs and rabbits. What with attrition, disease and the passing of the years, most of them have now moved on to their Reward.

And there comes a small fear of mine. When I, too, pass off this mortal coil to a Better Place, I can't help but imagine a misty empty field somewhere, a tree or two, perhaps the spirits of a few loved ones close to me... and then, with a drumming of mighty hooves, a hundred, a thousand critters will breast the far-off hill and run towards me, hooting, honking, barking and screeching, mostly (I hope) with a fond look in their eye as I try, against all odds, to remember their names.