Sleek.
Dark, tawny coat.
Flattened forehead, prominent nose.
Spotted cub.
Crouching.
Red tongue lapping dark water.
Playful cub pouncing about.
—He did it, Heather says. He did what so few of us do. He became who he was supposed to be.
—I know it had to be unimaginable for him, but he managed to live a lifetime and do some real good in the world by surviving the night, stopping those men, saving these images, Caroline says.
Heather nods.
—He did what so few of us ever do—found out the meaning of his life, rediscovered real passion, purpose, rededicated himself to love.
—He did, Heather says, nodding. You’re exactly right. It’s … I’m … I just wish he could be here.
Caroline looks around the room, her trained eyes taking in each astonishing image with the peerless pride of a mother.
—He is.
Beyond the women, on the far wall behind them, hangs the only image not taken by Remington or one of his traps. Just a snapshot, but one that, in its way, completes the exhibit.
Taken by a grieving, but grateful mother, with a son’s new camera, just before being rescued by a passing fisherman, the image is that of a cypress tree trunk on the bank of the Apalachicola River, the letters MM carved into its bark.
A monument.
A memorial.
A remembrance.
The artist, by his own hand, reminding his many admirers to make preparations, for they, too, will soon experience their own dark night of the soul, waking to the full weight of their mortality, journeying to the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.
MICHAEL LISTER is a novelist, essayist, screen-writer, and playwright who lives in Northwest Florida. A former prison chaplain, Michael is the author of the “Blood” series featuring prison chaplain/detective John Jordan. When Michael isn’t writing, he teaches writing, film, and religion at Gulf Coast Community College, operates a charity and community theater. His website is www.MichaelLister.com
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