The Brezas of Carifa

Raimi held her wing over her beak and looked at Asha as if to warn him not to say anything. Asha pursed his lips. "Before you say anything,” she said, “I want you to know, we all have our own Trees with a blend of Happy Ornaments and Not-So-Happy Ornaments hanging from the branches. No one has only Happy Ornaments and no one has only Not-So-Happy Ornaments.” Raimi pulled a branch toward them with a Happy Ornament and held it so Asha could see the life moving inside. It showed Asha playing with Londrani while Andrema gathered fruit from the trees for dinner. “See here, see how you are playing with Londrani? You are helping your mother and that is a good choice. That choice made this bright Happy Ornament and, at some point, give you a bright, Happy Stripe!” “What’s a bright, Happy Stripe?” Asha asked. “It is the indicator of who you are choosing to be. Listen carefully to me, Asha. Now, let’s look at another one.” Raimi took one of the gray, sad looking ornaments and held it up for him to see. “Look inside Asha, tell me what you see.” “It’s Makena, she looks sad. Why is she so sad?” "You said something to her Asha. You said that you did not want to play any dumb games with her and that made her feel sad. Do you remember that?” With those words from Raimi, Asha felt a sensation coming from the magic hooves and moving up though his legs and body. He now felt as though he was Makena and could hear himself saying the ugly words to her, “I don’t want to hear Kirabo’s dumb story and I don’t play a dumb game with you either!” He then heard himself say, “You go away!” When he felt her feelings, Asha, as Makena, felt sick inside. He felt a pain in his stomach and a hurt in his heart. He knew now how much what he had said to Makena hurt…because he felt it. Asha lowered his head and whispered, “Yes, I remember, I hurt her feelings.” Taking her wing and lifting Asha’s head, Raimi spoke to Asha in a kind, gentle voice. “This is part of becoming, Asha. We experiment with our lives so as to see what works in our life and what doesn’t. Then, we choose the way we want to be. I choose this, I don’t choose that. Do you see? It's always a choice, but…you have to know this…our choices sometimes have unforeseen consequences.” “I know, I made a mistake.” “Well…now…we need to be careful with the way we think of a…‘mistake.’ A mistake is nothing more than realizing we had the option to make a better choice. Mistakes are a way we learn what we do not want to do, who we don’t want to be. When we see that we have caused harm or hurt to another’s feelings, we need to then ask ourselves, ‘How do I make this better?’ The Not-So-Happy Ornaments on this tree are waiting for you to ask them, Asha, ‘How do I make this better?’” “But how do I make it better, Raimi?” “Well, let’s see, what would you want one who had hurt your feelings to do?” “I guess I would want them to tell me they're sorry,” Asha said. “Excellent! That would be a very good start. Tell her, tell her now that you are sorry for hurting her feelings.” “You want me to talk to her picture inside this ball?” “Yes! Tell her Asha, tell her now that you are sorry,” Raimi said assertively. Asha moved as close as he could to the gray-colored ornament on the tree and after a quick glance at Raimi, he closed his eyes. He whispered to the sad Makena inside the ball, “I’m sorry Makena. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings and I won’t ever do it again.” As Asha opened his eyes, he watched as the sad Makena became happy and joyful. The grayish ball turned a vibrant, beautiful blue before his eyes. Asha gasped and turned to Raimi as if to ask if she saw it too. Raimi smiled as she saw joy cover Asha like the sun's warm rays cover the savannah as it lifts itself into the morning sky. “Would you like to try it again?” Raimi asked. “Yes!” Asha exclaimed. “That was fun. That was like magic!” He walked over to another Not-So-Happy Ornament and stood close enough to see. There inside was Kirabo standing beside his mother. Asha could see Kirabo talking to his mother from inside the gray ball. He heard Kirabo say to his mother, “...because I don’t want to go play, Mama, I don’t want to. Nobody wants to play with me.” Asha felt a dart of pain in his stomach. “Did I do that?” he asked, looking at Raimi. "Did I make Kirabo feel that way?” "What do you think, Asha? Did you do or say anything that might have...” Asha answered before Raimi could finish. “I was mad and I told him I didn't want to hear his mother tell a dumb story. But now," he said with excitement, "I want to tell him I am sorry, I want to see Kirabo be happy, and I want to watch the ball turn a color.” Asha touched his nose to the gray ball and told the moving images inside the ball that he was sorry for what he had done. From inside the gray ornament, Kirabo looked up as though he heard Asha’s apology and smiled while he looked around as though he would find Asha standing there. Just then, the gray ball began to glow like the deep orange of the sun as it sinks behind the horizon at the day’s end.