Chapter 40
She Became a Butterfly


“So how did it get into your suitcase without you knowing about it?” Syd wanted to know.

Annie Joy thought back to the day she packed. Urs hadn’t been in her room so when…”It had to be after I put my bag out in the hall that last night. He must have snuck back later and put it in.” She smiled softly as the butterflies applauded her correct answer.

She sat down heavily on the bed and stared at the tiny package in her hands. Whatever it was it would be perfect and she would love it because it was from Urs.

I expect it’s about time for those violins to start playing and the screen to fade to black, Annie Joy. Seems to me I heard those same sentiments in a Joan Crawford movie from the 40’s, ‘cept I think she was dying from some kind of terminal somethin’ or other.

Go fly a kite, Great Minnie! I swear sometimes I don’t think there’s a romantic bone in your body…well you know what I mean. Just go away and let me be. It’s my present.

I just don’t want him building false hopes, giving you fancy doodads that will just remind you of him. You’ve had more than you’re share of hurtin’ lately.

He wouldn’t do that, Great Minnie. We’re friends. He only wants to help me. I’ve never met anyone like him before.

“Earth to Annie Joy. If you aren’t going to open that I sure will even if it isn’t mine,” Syd threatened.

Annie Joy gave a little start and turned to the task at hand. She eased the silver ribbon off and slid her thumb under the red paper, careful not to tear it. She took the lid off and took out the card. There’s barely room for a signature she thought but when she opened it there was a neatly printed message:
The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough. Urs.

What an apt description of their cruise. There had been special moments between them but those idyllic days out of time, those pretend moments were gone now. The memories they had created were their’s to keep but now they had returned to real life and that was as it should be.

She took a black velvet pouch from the box and tipped out a small silver cylindrical pendant suspended from a matching silver chain into her hand. Printed on a tiny piece of paper encased in a clear acrylic capsule were these words:
Just when the caterpillar thought her world was over she became a butterfly.






If Annie Joy could have gotten the words out she would have said, “He understood. That was me. I am that butterfly.” Instead she picked it up gently, hugged it to her heart, and blinked back her tears.

Syd stared at her friend in amazement and wondered at this stranger who had touched a special place in her friend’s heart.

While somewhere far away Great Minnie chewed her words carefully, swallowed them thoughtfully, and reevaluated her opinion of Urs.

Annie Joy smiled gratefully as Syd passed her the box of tissues. She wiped her eyes and nosily blew her nose.

“So you’re the butterfly I take it?”

“Petit Papillon,” Annie Joy whispered.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Syd answered, Sydese for ‘I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.’

“Syd, I need to show you something but first would you put this on for me please?” Annie Joy gave her the necklace and turned around.

Syd fastened the clasp and Annie Joy aligned in the front so it hung straight over her heart. Then still with her back to her friend, she grasped the bottom of her T-shirt and slowly pulled it up over her head.

“Oh my gosh!” breathed Syd. “Just a sec.” She felt around in her purse for her phone. “I need to call Hank and let him know I’ll be late. This is going to take a bit of time,” she said, making herself comfortable on the bed.


**********

It had taken one large Supreme, extra cheese pizza and a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau Syd had thoughtfully provided as a welcome home present to empty Annie Joy’s suitcase. Along the way she’d also managed to unpack some unwashed guilt, wrinkled frustration and well-worn worries. The shiny bright memories she’d store in the back of her mind’s closet to pull out and wear on special occasions.

Annie Joy almost missed Urs’ second gift, hidden deep in the side pocket of the suitcase. Whether by accident or design it was the ideal compliment; pure whimsy and lighthearted teasing, balancing the emotional heaviness of the necklace.





“Learner chopsticks,” Annie Joy explained, laughing and demonstrating her technique on an earring she’d just unpacked. “You remember I told you about the flying bean and meeting Ers that first night. That’s when he taught me to use them, probably more for self-protection than anything else. Otherwise he’d have walked out wearing half my dinner on his jacket.”

“So he has a good sense of humor then?” Syd asked, knowing from experience how Annie Joy’s free spirit and spontaneity could sometimes be hard to keep up with.

“Well at first he was wound a little tight, imagining fans were lurking everywhere. He even thought I might be one because of that Diva necklace you gave me, that’s what the fans are called, Divas. He really was taking himself way too seriously, but I loosened him up a bit,” she grinned remembering his parking lot rendition of Hot Legs.

Annie Joy snapped her suitcase shut and put it in the closet. “You know what’s so funny Syd? I may have helped Ers loosen up a bit but in a way he did the opposite for me. Hearing the same encouraging things from him as everyone back home was the final push I needed. I feel so strong, so focused now. I even had some great ideas on the plane coming home. Please say you’ll stay just a few more minutes so I can show them to you.”