When I was younger I walked in the Meadow, a beautiful place that was actually called Sunken Meadow, located along Route 25A and Sunken Meadow State Parkway.  I entered through a break in the fence and took long walks.  I saw a Unicorn there.  I spied it from a distance as it grazed peacefully on some grass.  I just kept walking.  I lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply as I walked.  It was a quiet, secluded area of Meadow but full of life, and rarely would I see another person walking.

I don't know why, maybe for the simple reason that I was not enthralled by the Unicorn or perhaps it was because I really was something of a ****** at the time (now that I think of it, I believe there is a tale of a Unicorn that can only be caught by a ******, because it comes and lies in her lap or something like that), but anyway, I certainly was not enthralled by the Unicorn, and for whatever reason it fancied me and came and walked beside me.  I lit another cigarette and rolled my eyes.  Unicorns are for girls whose fathers buy them brand new shiny sports cars, Unicorns are for girls that giggle a lot and although they look good, they don't have brains and so have to have Unicorns.

As I walked, the Unicorn walked beside me.  So I started noticing that it had an elegant beauty, its white body full and alive.  It had very pretty blue eyes that reflected unlimited possibilities.  Its horn seemed to attract butterflies, as I noticed there were quite a few, more than usual butterflies fluttering about.  In essence, I did notice that the creature was quite extraordinary, but I assure you I still was not enthralled, and it had absolutely nothing to do with me.

I continued to take my walks, always bringing a pack of cigarettes, and smoked as I walked.  There would be the Unicorn walking beside me.  I guess I just sorta, kinda got used to it walking beside me.  Still, for God's sake, it didn't mean anything.

One day the white horse quickened its pace to a steady trot gaining ground in front of me.  It kept turning its head back to look at me as if it wanted me to run with it.  I figured it just wanted to see if I could catch up with it and keep up with it, and so I began to run.  I had always been a fast runner and took first place in the 500 yard dash, always completing the marathon races as well.  I ran beside it for awhile, not taxing myself in the least and when it slowed back down to a walking pace, I too slowed my pace and continued to walk.  I laughed in the sunshine that day and said to the horse outloud, "Oh, I know how to run!"

This went on for some time.  I took my walks regularly and always out of nowhere came the white horse strolling beside me.  One day, the Unicorn stopped and stood still right in the middle of the grassy path and lowering its front legs to the ground, it bowed its head and seemed to be offering me a ride upon its back.  A kind of confusion welled up inside of me as I at first considered it might be fun to ride upon the white horse, but then secondly I considered that I had no affinity or interest in such a creature and surely there must be some mistake.  A great distrust and anger came over me.  "You stupid, stupid thing," I exclaimed.  "Get away from me," I yelled in a loud and angry voice.

And so the Unicorn gracefully rose to its feet and took several calm steps away before rearing itself up on its hind legs, neighing loudly as it ****** its head up towards the heavens.  I could see that in that moment its horn emanated a bright white light.  It all happened so fast.  When it came down, back to the ground, it turned and began to gallop and then bolted like lightening deep into the Meadow's woods.

Heck, I was glad it left and relieved.  I never wanted that thing around me in the first place.  Anyway, I was just a girl, and I drove a beat up 1969 Chevy with rust spots that I purchased myself.  I was a bit shaken up by the whole thing, so I lit another cigarette to calm my nerves, and after that I went home.  I never went back to the Meadow after that day.

In the years that  followed, sometimes I would see a figurine of a Unicorn somewhere or I would be at a friend's house and they would have a picture or a painting of a Unicorn.  I would get a funny feeling for a moment, but then would think to myself, "What is the big deal?"  I saw a Unicorn once. So what?

That was years and years ago.  It's even been years since I even acknowledged a painting or likeness of the white horse with the silly horn sticking out of its head.  I mean, what exactly is a Unicorn, anyway?

So they say whoever controls the past controls the future, and I do believe there is a song that says the future is all the past or maybe the song says the future is all but past.  But I have never been so very good with the working out of Chinese puzzles.  As the years progressed, I matured.  Instead of drinking alcohol in over-abundance every chance I got, I drank bourbon on occassion and in moderation.  Instead of smoking cigarettes in excess, I smoked one or two cigarettes in the evening before retiring to sleep.  I no longer wore blue jeans but cotton slacks, which I ironed before putting on.  I mellowed, and the mellowing was a wonderful thing.  I became busy in my work and did well.  I was somewhat introverted because of the nature of my work, and I spent long hours indoors not getting a whole lot of excercise.

One day I decided I would start taking some walks for excercise and good health.  It had been years since I had even been in a Meadow, but I managed to find a pretty Meadow much like the one in my younger days.  I had to drive all the way across town to get there, but it was worth it.  I began to take walks there and delight in the surroundings.  I started feeling somewhat hearty though I had picked up the terrible habit of smoking regularly again.

One sunny afternoon as I was walking along at a steady and even pace, I thought I saw part of a white horse through some of the bushes.  My heart started to beat rapidly, and for one moment I had the feeling of understanding something that I had never understood, but the feeling was fleeting, and it escaped me.  And there it was.  Was it the same Unicorn?  No, it was not the same Unicorn, and it was a different Meadow, but it was a Unicorn, and it was walking beside me.

I just kept walking, pretending that nothing had changed, but my heart was beating strongly in my chest and I was elated that the white horse was beside me.  I wanted to look at it, but I could not.  Instead, I spied casual glimpses of it as we walked, turning my head just slightly as if I were only turning to view a bush or tree that was coincidentally in its direction but certainly having nothing to do with the blue-eyed creature itself.

We walked for some time as I secretly enjoyed my company more than I can ever say.  Then the White Horse went into a steady trot, turning its head back to look at me as it slowly gained ground ahead of me on the path.  As the distance between us widened, I started to run to catch up with it, but I couldn't run very well because it had been 15 years since I ran and I had been smoking too heavily and lost my breath easily.  I mean, I tried to run, but my body just couldn't do it.

I started to laugh.  "I am old," I exclaimed out loud, and tears just started running down my face as my laugh backfired somehow in my emotions, and I started to cry.  I fought the cry off as best as I could, but a great knot was forming in the center of my throat choking me and I was losing the fight and that is when I started crying and hollering at the Unicorn to slow down but I knew it wouldn't slow down, I knew it was just going to keep gaining ground in front of me until it was so far ahead of me and then gone.  I was a pathetic blubbering mess of tears and snot running out of my nose as it went further and further away and then disappeared.

For one moment there, I had had this vision of running beside it again, even grabbing hold of its mane and jumping on its back.  How ridiculous of me, I thought.  I couldn't even run.  And with that, I fell to my knees and released my great loss in a surrendering cry, a loss that I did not even understand in the first place.  An all-encompassing defeat and loneliness came over me like a black cloud and a deep well of emptiness filled my being.

Its mouth slobbered all over my elbow, and it nudged me gently with its nose on the back of my shoulder as it stood once again beside me.  "Quit slobbering all over me for God's sake," I said to it, as a kind of half laugh half cry sound came out of my mouth.

The Unicorn lowered its front legs to the ground, its head bowing slightly as its horn emitted a luminous, white light.  I got up off of my knees and went beside it, pausing for a moment as I looked into its blue eyes.  I swung my leg over its firm body straddling it as it gracefully got to its feet.  It stood for a moment as if to say, "Behold the woman on the Unicorn."  I stroked its neck with my hand and arm and petted its mane as we began to move along at a steady pace down the grassy path of the Meadow.

The End.
Copy Right Lynn Guevrekian
Short Story Fiction
Creative Writing

I'd like to tell you about something I saw in the Maple tree.
It was perched on a branch during sunset's glow and sat there being so free.
Old Maple tree in its eternity, green summer leaves that flow.
As we live, we may learn if we allow ourselves to grow.                 

 To be with God, to love the day, to flow as easy as air.
My Racoon friend spotted me watching him from my chair.
Gracefully and with delicacy he moved at one with the tree.
His silouette gathered my heart in love and unity.                                         

For awhile I watched him and he watched me without making an utter sound.
He decided I wasn't a danger and came down to the ground.
He ran off into the night to do what he may do.
And that is how we parted without any further adieu.

Something In The Maple Tree
by Lynn Guevrekian

Years ago before one of my friends was married or had children we hung out a lot and were best friends. I visited her at her apartment one evening to socialize. She had her other best friend there too and the three of us ordered a pizza.

When they delivered the pizza they brought the wrong kind of pizza so we ended up getting an additional free pizza because they delivered another pizza free of charge. Now that is a good pizza place.

After eating lots of pizza we had some drinks and our conversation at one point shifted to the subject of Batman. Someone asked, "What is the name of the actor that played the Penguin in the original version of Batman?"

For some reason no one could remember the name. All three of us took turns trying to remember the actor's name but no one could remember the name . Several different names were suggested but none of the names were correct.

All three of us were laughing our butts off because we were blurting out all tbese different names of actors but none of them were the correct name. The name escaped all three of us and it seemed to be on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't get to it.

I remember at one point in desperation to spit it out and come to a conclusion I blurted out, "Cloris Leachman!?" which is actually a female actress.

We had fun that night and our conversation was on many different topics but several times during the evening it shifted back to the guessing of the actor's name that played the penguin in the original Batman. The night ended without anyone figuring out or remembering the actor's name.

I went home that night and went to bed. I woke up at 3 a.m. in the morning and sat up in bed for a moment and whispered "Burgess Meredith." Then I promptly went back to sleep.

It seems that even while sleeping , in the back of my mind I was working on the missing information that was causing such a dilemma.

Over the years I have done this type of thing again and again quietly to myself when trying to find an answer or solution to a problem often much weightier and more significant than the remembering of an actor's name.

Pizza Night
By Lynn Guevrekian

A Rasberry is the sound Archie Bunker makes when he sticks his tongue partially out of his mouth and then blows air through it.  

<<<<<<<<<RASBERRY>>>>>>>>>>>

Cats and Birds communicate well. The Cat stalks the Bird and the Bird flees for its Life and then the bird is caught and killed by the merciless hunter. Now that's a pretty clear communication.  Birds are cats prey. It has caused a dilemma for me over the years because I love cats but I also love birds.

I already had two parakeet birds when I brought my first cat home. To remedy any conflict I put up a shelf and kept the bird cage on the shelf. The shelf was up high and I had to step on a stool to reach it but it granted the birds absolute safety from my two cats while I was at work or away. The second cat I got was a female gymnast that could jump high and climb anything but the shelf was not in her reach.

Over the years my original set of birds changed because they died, except for a blue colored bird that survived the three other birds in the span of ten years.  I named this bird "Bluebird."  Everytime a bird would die I thought it was sad that the single bird was all by itself and I would drive to the pet store and purchase another bird to make the world right.

After the third bird died there was a short lapse of time that Bluebird stayed by herself.  I noticed that Bluebird was not sad at all.  In fact, I never saw her so happy.

She started singing all the time and jumping merrily around the cage like she was having the time of her life.  She would go into the corner of the cage and do little somersault flips in the corner of the cage that were so funny and cute that I would laugh out loud when I saw her do it.  I would make a clicking noise to the bird that she would repeat back to me and at that point I just couldn't find a good reason to purchase another companion bird for my single bird that was so happy to be on her own.

At the end of the day when it was time to relax, I would be in the living room watching evening television with my two cozy, affectionate cats.  Usually pet people consider their pets their family as I did, and I started bringing the bird cage in the living room in the evenings so that Bluebird would spend time with the family.

It is perfectly alright to laugh at this because it is hilarious that someone would consider their cat creatures their family but I was sincere, single and loved my pets which have always been a major part of my life. Since I didn't have anywhere to put the birdcage I just set the cage on the floor against a wall right in front of me so I could see the cage at all times.

At first my girl cat would sit in front of the bird cage and just stare at the bird and watch the bird closely.  I would make an announcement to my cat that Bluebird was a family bird and not for hunting.

As time passed, the cat would lay casually by the bird cage and watch the bird casually.  Further down the road the cat would lounge and take naps by the bird cage, abandoning  the need altogether to watch the bird so closely.  The other cat stayed away from the cage and was not interested in the bird.

The cat and the bird started playing through the cage.  A game of tag was initiated by the bird. Now, in the evenings they played tag through the cage and I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself.

My twelve pound girl cat was gentle and careful as she pawed where the bird was chirping and jumping inside the cage and insisting dramatically that the cat catch her and when the cats paw touched the bird through the cage it was caught and the bird would acknowledge the catch by touching the cats paw with its beak and then continue jumping all around for the next tag.

They did this on a regular basis.  It was neat.  It was love.  It was fun. Sometimes when the cat would leave the cage and be heading a few feet away, the bird would make a lot of chirping sounds as if calling to the cat and the cat would stop, turn around and go sit back at the cage keeping the bird company.

The bird actually called the cat back to the cage to hang out.  I was never so brave as to let the bird out of the cage to play with the cat without the protection of its cage.  

It was just a pleasure to see the cat treat the parakeet bird as one of the family as the two of them became very good friends.

A Long Poem About A Cat
By Lynn Guevrekian