Brief Encounters – Blessed

Blessed

I had barely got the sight of her.
She had been watching me with distrust from the shadow of jungle flame tree.
The half-open truck full of tourists slowly made a stop next to the forest line.

I remeber the windy silence of the bushes, the burnt sierra on the ground, the immensely blue sky penetrating through the dried branches of thirsty trees.
The curious were all impatient to spot the beast.

The advertising folder at the entrance of the Bandipur reservation was promoting the breathtaking encounter with the king of the jungle, the Indian tiger.

The promise to meet the majestuous feline was long forgotten when our eyes met.

Her big black velvety wet eyes, her dramatic eyelashes spreading towards the sides of her head, her nose shivering in the air with every breeze, her ears finely tuned to detect  the slightest sign of danger.

She looked right through me.

For a second.

A fraction of a second, maybe even less.

So pure…

She was asking, begging, urging, inquiring, insisting, threatening, whispering with her deep dark eyes.
She kept her straight, tall, head high pose for the time of a wink before she melted into the colored dust rising from the grounds by her hurried springs.

My eyes accompanied her through a few twists and turns until they could not discerne the movement anylonger.

She left me feeling empty, small, blessed!