Short Story

I Had A Wish

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I had a wish for a white shawl recently. I wondered why, then let it go.

I was remembering a visit to one of my friends in Ontario. She introduced me to her neighbour, a spiritualist and psychic. This lady closely resembled and even naturally gestured like my deceased mother. She also shared my sister’s first name. Like mom, Beverley read tea leaves so I asked her to do mine.

In the reading I was referred to several times as a Polar Bear. This caused me to chuckle because I’d once written a poem ‘My Grandma Was A Bear’. That’s how I saw my father’s mother in her personality, her ways and even her physicality. A Brown Bear. Another upstanding Brown Bear (non-human) even greeted her at her door one day as I recall.

The image of my being seen as a Polar Bear came to mind immediately before I had the wish for the white shawl.

The day after my wish, I decided to take a walk and check out our local consignment store here in the James Bay area of Victoria, BC.

As I waited in line to enter the store, I noticed something white amidst clothing in the window. There it was. A white fleece shawl. When I bought it, the ladies who served me said they’d placed it there just minutes before. They looked incredulous when I remarked that I had a wish for a white shawl the day before and it was obviously meant for me.

To my delight, the shawl has an embroidered West Coast Indigenous design of a white sun with the signature of the artist.

I’ve long had a strong feeling that I’ve had at least one life as a member of the West Coast Indigenous Nations. I truly love and admire the elegant sophistication of their artistry.

The border of the shawl was plainly serged. I felt it needed my personal touch so I added a fringe of yarn purchased on the same day. I had no idea what to do with this unusual yarn when I bought it. (This happens a lot!)

Looking at it now, I feel the fringe is definitely the finishing touch needed to express my nature and my creative spirit.

This Polar Bear With Sun Shawl is my wish come true.

A Snowflake In The Air

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It was Snowing when I decided to go for a walk last Saturday, the day before Valentine’s Day. I had just written my poem, A Single Snowflake, before 8a.m. that morning, and walked with the words still fresh in my mind.

Moving through this rare Snowfall here, it felt like I was walking through my poem.

It was shortly after 11a.m. when I came upon the painted Heart on a sidewalk grate. (Perhaps that’s not the technical term for it but I was feeling grateful to see it, so ‘grate’ it is for me.)

The Heart looked like a Valentine card with its ‘target’ Heart and sliding boot print ‘arrow’. Seizing the moment, I pulled off my mitten and used my cell phone camera to record my delight.

The funny thing is that I didn’t take a good look at the photo until I was about to post and share it through my favourite websites the next day, Valentine’s Day.

There it was, a little fuzzy but unmistakable Snowflake in the air. I wonder if it landed on or near the ‘target’ on the ground.

February 15, 2021

Shelley Wilson

Visual Memoirs of My Fifties: Prospecting

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Photo taken in the Rocky Mountain Trench. The weather turned colder and I woke up one morning to a rather large snake that had found its way under my tent, under my sleeping bag, and under me. Neither of us did any harm. Lol.

Intersection of Timelines

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Intersection of Timelines?
The air smelled fresh on a cool but sunny Autumn day in Kirkland Lake. There, the sky can be more beautifully, vibrantly blue than in so many places I’ve been.
That day my husband was working out of the New Liskeard office of a company where he was employed as an insurance claims adjuster. Our teenage children were both at school in Englehart where we lived. I decided to visit my parents’ home in K.L. after experiencing an unusual feeling of nostalgia.
It was a perfect day for family tea and conversation, then a solitary walk through familiar places. I marvelled at the clarity and blueness of the sky as I strolled the same streets I’d walked so many times before. The familiarity of those streets and sidewalks felt so safely ‘comfortable’ and ‘predictable’. I sipped those feelings like a cup of favoured tea as I came to the intersection of three streets close to my former home.
As I began to cross the road, I saw something that remains vivid in memory to this very day.
I stopped to watch as a car drove by. Waiting for a car to go by so as to cross a road without cross walks is nothing out of the ordinary but this was different. As this vehicle slowed down at the intersection, I faced the driver’s side with a clear view of the man driving. He seemed completely oblivious to my presence as I waved enthusiastically to acknowledge my husband at the wheel of that car just a few feet away. I thought ‘How strange! He’s supposed to be in New Liskeard today.’ Just then I noticed that he was wearing a different coloured suit. Gray, not the navy blue suit he wore when he left that morning. ‘Why would he need to change suits?’ The car held a surprise for me too. It was the same make, model, and colour of our car but as it passed I clearly saw that the license plate was not ours!
I stood at that intersection transfixed with overwhelming feelings of bewilderment, and all the ‘what ifs’ of past and present choices speeding through my mind. Years later, after watching the movie ‘What The Bleep Do We Know’ about Quantum Physics, I wondered if I had played the role of ‘the Observer’ witnessing a ‘Timeline’ of different life choices on that truly strange Autumn day. I wonder…
(A true tale that still puzzles the family—Shelley Wilson)


May your Spirit shine brightly, Shelley

How I Became A Tree

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Was it fairy dust and magic wands?The Spirit of Trees in the park had called me to a solitary walk among them. I was happily enchanted by their beauty and strength as I walked past or stopped to gaze up and touch them with tenderness and reverence for Life in them. I was about to leave the park when I decided to stop for a drink of my bottled water. As my thirst was quenched, I noticed a grey Squirrel several yards away watching me. I became still and silently observed its fearless, direct approach with fascination. Without hesitation the Squirrel began climbing one of my unmoving legs.

Well, I didn’t plan to become a Tree, but there I was standing silently among the beautiful Trees of a park with a grey Squirrel climbing up my leg. It was clearly intent on reaching my upper limbs and head.

I reacted by swiftly bending to gently stop the Squirrel’s ascent with an offering of bottled water at the level of my knee. The confused creature paused, looked into my smiling eyes, then quickly backed down. It showed no interest in the water as it scampered a few feet away to stare at me curiously.
My body felt immediate and grateful relief from release of the grip of sharp claws. I had imagined a graffiti of scratches on exposed skin of my trunk and face. I began to tremble and chuckle at the same time.
Now two male Mallard Ducks waddled closely before me. One stopped within a few inches of my sandalled feet. He looked up without the slightest sign of fear or caution. Like the Squirrel and I, the Duck stood rooted in silent wonder.
After a brief eternity, the Duck rejoined his companion.
I was amazed. ‘I have no food to offer’ I thought. ‘Why are they acting like this?’
Then I recalled the previous weekend at a ‘Roots’ gathering to support the Ancient Forest Alliance. It was a mix of instructive talks about Nature and Energy, guided meditations, music, forest walks, Tree hugging, sharing perspectives, plant and artisan sales. I bought a bottle of herbal oil mixed with the Spring resin of Poplar buds for medicinal skin care. Applying it with another mixture of cream containing organic Bee products for my face, hands, and feet became part of my daily self-care. ‘Ah, of course, I must smell like a Tree!’ I mused.
This memory led me to pondering about ‘Tree Energy’ in my stroll through Beacon Hill Park. I’d lovingly touched several old Trees with a silent blessing for each. I even asked one Tree to kindly impart some of its ‘Tree Energy’ so as to calm and clear unwanted ’empathic Energies’ I’d recently experienced. A peaceful stillness breezed through me, leaving a grounded and serene visceral feeling. This happened minutes before I encountered Squirrel and Duck. It was ‘medicine’ and ‘communion’ with Nature at the same time. Everything is Energy.
Did I look like a Tree? Well, before I decided on my walk to the park that morning, I chose to wear taupe brown pants, a top coloured with muted shades of green, and a Spruce green vest. They just felt ‘right’ somehow.
Looking back now, I have to laugh. I’d worn Tree colours, Tree scent, and Tree Energy. That’s how I became a Tree.

(Earth Day 2016)
(a true tale)

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