It was in the summer afternoon, Leona and Pendo were at the Karari river isolated from the rest of the herd of antelopes; to get time alone.
“Do you feel excited about this new journey?” Pendo asked Leona
“Very much so, life is going to change for better. This is the blooming season for us. Okay?”
‘Yeah’ Pendo grunts after a long silence.
“I heard from our elders that it is possible to never meet again” Pendo added, the sentence was left in suspense
“That’s not going to happen! You are my bestfriend, we shall always find each other. I’m confident about that. Remember our children shall also be bestfriends, no, sisters if we have females, and brothers if they’re males.”
“I don’t know Lee, I’m not yet ready for this. But trust me I’m super happy for your new chapter”
“Hey, where’s that sadness on your face coming from?” We got this. Leona interjects.
“Hhhh! Yeah”
Nudging each other
“When I reach to that side of the hill, I’ll do my best to get you there too”
“I know. I’m not used to this kind of feelings. It’s like I’m left alone.”
“I know, separation sucks”
Pendo doesn’t want to ruin the excitement of Leona, but goes ahead to say,
“Your road is about to become better and fulfilling. It is the best decision you’ve made, however at times you’ll be surrounded by many other antelopes and feel lonely, you’ll have what it takes to explore the world and need company of your loved ones but won’t make it because they’ll not be at that standard as you, or will have different priorities. Other times they’ll need you and you’ll not be able to be there. So it’s kind of a lonely path. On my side, I will not be lonely, for the time I am still here, I’ll always have few fellows around. You know, though the only place I’ll want to be is by your side. Time will seem slow for me while you’ll be running out of time. The green pasture is ahead, you know?”
“Wait, it’s not a goodbye thing. I’m not going to die” Leona responded in a trembling voice
“You’re right” but deep down she meant what she said and even more remained on her heart
Early in the morning Leona woke Pendo up to walk her through the valley before moving to the other hill.
“It’s time” Leona said panting
“For what? Oh let me come” Pendo glared at her and said: “You were the one to go; I always knew that”
With tears in her eyes, Leona emphasized: “We shall always run together, for the same cause. Survive and evolve, we must travel the world together. I’ll come back for you”
Few months after, Leona sent a messenger to Pendo, to let her know that she was doing alright but things were tough compared to how she expected it to be. She remembered the last conversation they had, it was coming to reality.
On the other hand, Pendo was living the same old lifestyle. Other antelopes trying to approach her but felt the urge to stay alone and loyal to her friend. She didn’t want to have anything to do with anybody else in the absence of her best friend. The childhood memories, the battles conquered, the dreams shared, all fed her mind with hope.
First year, second year; and three years kicked in Leona wasn’t coming back. Pendo didn’t have authorization yet to go to the other hill. They just communicated through messengers to and from the hill.
In the sixth year, Leona came back. The joy was immense, there was a lot to talk about; the encounters, challenges, and all was to be shared. It was like the olden years when they were still young and loose. They jumped up & down, ran joyfully the savannah and couldn’t let each other go.
“How is it like? The hill, the grass, are there fellow antelopes, tell me everything”
“Well, where do I start? The hill is crazy, it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to, it never gets dark,”
“What? How is that possible?”
“It’s magical, I guess, you cannot comprehend in just one day” Leona said shaking her head
But Pendo’s curiosity was far to be satisfied
“There are many species, it’s not like here. There we see gazelles, jaguars, cheetahs, leopards, tigers, lions, we antelopes, have developed the ability to go for extended periods without drinking. There are many creatures, it’s like every specie has its duplicate different identity. So the race is as thrice harder for one to survive than here”
“What do you mean? How do you explore the beauty of the hill with that competition?”
Leona inhales and proceed, “sometimes we do, like a few days of the year. There every second counts, it’s like you mentioned the other day, for you time is on your side contrary to us.”
“Were you happy when you were still there?”
“Uhm! I evolved remarkably, and survived, and that makes me happy” “You know I always recalled the conversation we had before I go, everything you said turned to be true in my eyes. Most of the time I was lonely in the midst of hundreds of thousand creatures”
“Sorry for that”
[Animals howling in distance]
“Yeah, so what about you? Anything new?”
“Let me see what is new here; a lot of antelopes have left the habitat; the 2nd year after you left, things got worse, hyenas from the North of the savannah intruded in us and many among us were killed, you can imagine the rest of the story”
“Oh no! I heard some stories from new antelopes that came on the hill but I couldn’t fathom what you guys endured”
“It has affected many families till now. But otherwise life is normal, we live each season as it comes. The number of visitors has slightly increased, maybe humans heard of the tragedy and got empathy for us. Hhah!”
“Those are siblings of hyenas, they kill each other for power, belongings and come to make their own discoveries on us” Leona pointed out with anger
“But they also protect us, like at that time of hyenas they came and shot them to death”
“Just be mindful about them, okay”
“Okay”
“So tell me, do you have new friends here?”
“Not really. It’s the simple talks and meet-ups but I keep my distance”
“I know you, it must have been hard for you in my absence”
She had no idea, Pendo couldn’t put it into words the impact of her absence for that long.
“Sure!” affirmed Pendo
“Next time I’ll come back earlier, cause I don’t think you can make it there. It’s too hard, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you”
“But you managed it, why don’t you think I can?”
Leona takes time to respond, “It’s… It’s, trust me when I tell you that it’s hard to even survive one single day. And I know how soft and tender you are, others would take advantage of you or you would get involved in things that might at the end destroy you. Look, up there we live almost like humans, there’s no mercy even for your own. It’s every man for himself”
“You’ve changed..” Pendo quavered
“See! You can’t easily get it. You think I’m lying but I’m doing you a favour. Listen, the beauty and all opportunities of there don’t come on a silver plate”
[Distant roars noise] “Come, it’s already dark, let’s join others” Leona added
Deep down Pendo was hurt, she felt underestimated, judged instead of protected. But she kept quiet
Leona spent the next few days visiting the savannah
The next couple of years Pendo tried to train herself to be aggressive, thinking it would enable her to be qualified to go to the hill; she didn’t let anybody know about her plans
One evening she approached Sakadi, an old male zebra that once went on the hill,
[scamorling in distance]
“How does one become aggressive enough in order for them to go to the hill?” Pendo asked
“Pardon?”
“My best-friend went to the hill a long-time ago, I thought she was coming back to pick me but she thinks I’m soft I can’t survive there. So I want to prove her wrong, cause I really want to go!”
“Oooh!” He laughed “What’s the urge to go to the hill? Is your friend okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. I just want to leave this place. I must go, if she did, I can too”
“You are right, if she did, you can do it too. But you don’t need aggression”
“You did not hear what I said, did you?”
“I heard you”
“I want to be the opposite of myself. The opposite of soft and tender and naïve”
“What makes you think you are naïve?”
After a long pause, Pendo articulates: “Leona knows me well, we grew up together and she thinks if I go there other species would take advantage of me”
“That’s all? Because Leona said so that means it is true? I want you to share with me your own experience that indicates you are naïve”
[Wings fluttering]
“I don’t know, well she didn’t say that I’m naïve, but technically soft with tenderness that’s naivety”
“I see. And now you want to be aggressive and tough?”
“Yeah”
“My perspective on the hill, you don’t need all that. Observation is key! Be attentive, listen and observe.”
Pendo rolled her eyes. “What does that mean?”
“See what’s around you, know who’s around you, look in the eyes and see what’s there. Make it a habit. Observe the moves, I promise you won’t fail to know their intentions. Nothing is hidden under the sky. The lion that kills us didn’t dream about it overnight, he just came and calculated our moves. So on the other side of the hill, you enhance that skill because the pressure is high.”
“Are we all capable of that? Or it’s an inherent thing”
“Everyone is capable of that, it takes determination, courage and practice. It doesn’t mean everyone should get there in their life, but if you want to challenge yourself, if you want growth and evolution, go there, not for any reason to prove yourself.” he let her stew on that for a while
“I see what you do for your fellows in this savannah. It’s impeccable! I believe you can do even greater things up there; you just need to overcome your fears.” Sakadi proceeded
“Another thing, embrace who you are. Whatever happens, do not accept to lose your identity! It’s important”
Pendo turned and looked him in the eyes in awe; she couldn’t believe what her ears just heard. Someone sees her.
She was stuck with this new friend, because to her, he got words of wisdom and gave her hope to do anything in this world, and later on decided to go to the hill.
After several years without seeing Leona (one of the things she used to fear) she understood that God put friends on one’s path for a reason, some come and go, because organisms have different purposes, others come miraculously, and you wonder if they are new creatures then they share their stories and you realize they’ve always been there. It all falls in place at the right time. She kept in touch with Sakadi, made new friends, and lived a fulfilling life she always wanted.
