Reply #42: postcard [View All]

That was a fun read to come home to after my class, MG. I, too, thought of "Stranger than Fiction" when I read it. The characters in that movie were named in the Dickensian tradition, with the name presenting something of their dilemma. Harold Crick (crick in the neck). And Penny Eiffel (falling from on high). There were others; can't remember them all right now.

I had a similar experience to yours with a postcard about a decade ago. It was when DU was young and I even published the postcard. pictures, and story here. It happened at Christmastime, so I posted the link again the following Christmas.

This, too, is a true story.

I pulled my Christmas decorations out of the basement and began my decorating. One of the Christmas items was a picture of three Christmas trees and underneath it said "Seasons Greetings." I was putting it on a hanger at the back entryway when, as I hung it, I noticed a glint of something underneath the picture. I took the frame apart and found a vintage postcard.

The portrayal was of a young girl, perhaps six or eight, playing with a little black kitten on the floor at Christmas. There were various items in the picture, such as toys and in the background, a pair of men's high top shoes, etc.

When I saw the little girl, I thought of how my mother used to style my hair like hers. Not long after that, a picture of me as a young girl turned up and I noted my hair was styled like the girl's hair in the postcard.

Then the other items in the postcard began showing up. Oddly enough, my husband had a pair of shoes that were very much like the ones in the postcard and he left them out in a similar position to the one on the card.

The ball the little girl and cat were playing with showed up, too.

All the items in the postcard presented themselves before Dec. 25. All but one, that is, and that was a little duckie toy with a string. It didn't show up and, looking at all the items in the postcard, I remarked to my little black kitty, whose name was Bitsey, that someday the little rubber duckie on a string would show up. I figured it might be awhile, as toys like that aren't made anymore.

Many years later it was nearing Easter and I was heartbroken, as my little black cat had died. She died in an accident and I was bereft. I could not get over it. It was an early Easter, nearly six months after her death, and I was outside raking leaves in my driveway. I would still cry whenever I thought of her and I recall I was crying that day, too, as I raked my leaves.

I had taken some bags of leaves from the recycling center to chop for mulch and as I emptied them I saw something colorful come out. As I raked through them, I saw it was a little rubber duckie on a string!

Yes, yellow with an orange bill and on four wheels it was able to be pulled on a string! His comical little plastic face smiled up at me as it dawned on me that even though Bitsey wasn't here any longer, the rubber duckie from the postcard picture had emerged!

I was overjoyed and took it as a "hello" from my kitty from the other side. I was so happy I was actually hopping around the driveway. I knew it was she; I felt her there with me at that time.

The little rubber duckie was very dirty, so I took it in the house and got soap and water and cleaned it up. Do you know that to this day, I keep the rubber duckie in my lingerie drawer so that every time I open it, it is like a hello from my Bitsey? I will never part with that toy.

So there it is--a story much like yours--where reality came from a picture and ended with a something very meaningful.


Cher