The Golden Egg of Easter
by Sissy Freeborn

We have an Easter egg hunt every year. The kids from ages 3 to 8 are in one group and the 9 through 15 year olds are in the other. Hollow eggs are painted all colors and hidden in the park for the little kids to find. The older group have eggs that are hidden in the small woods. In each egg is a slip of paper indicating which of the prizes they have won, from candy eggs to the big 10-pound chocolate rabbit that stands at the prize desk each year. But, one egg has no slip of paper indicating the prize. It is the golden egg--the top most prize, the holy grail of Easter eggs. For finding this egg you could ask for and receive anything you ever could want...within reason and the towns budget. So, this year my granddaughter climbed on my lap and announced she was going to find the golden egg. "For you," she said solemnly. "So I can ask to have you made better, Grandma". I often ask God to cure me, but it seems that I haven't gotten an answer yet. For me it would seem there is no instant cure. One time all of the worlds problems were solved by "Fathers knows best" in 45 minutes. But not today. Actually, I don't know what it would be like to be cured instantly. Perhaps a light would shine from above and violins would play quietly off to the side and I would get up and walk and run again? But, God's miracles are not all instant. Sometimes it takes almost a whole lifetime to happen. Waiting doesn't make them any less of a miracle. Bonnie O'Hanlin could tell you of a miracle that took a whole twenty to thirty years to happen. Ya see, it all started like this. Just like my Mandy, Bonnie sought the elusive and rare golden egg of Easter, because she wanted a horse. She had carefully made a chart as to where the egg was found all the years before. Some years, of course, it never was. But she was bound and determined to find it this year, she had to. It would be her last chance. This year she was 15. She thought she knew where it might be, because she saw Mr. Cockrein, who was in charge of the golden egg, slip out of the woods near Goose Creek the night before. So, that was were she headed, bypassing all the other spots for candy eggs. It seemed like a good plan but it was a big area to search. There were so many places to hide an egg the size of a soft ball. A red headed boy played on the far bank of the creek. He was not a towns person. But, many of the hill people did come down, at times, to fish in the river. Bonnie had always wanted red hair, but her mother had told her that "only harlots change their hair color and that was that". It was near the time to end the Easter egg hunt and she had been looking all day without spotting one egg. Many of the kids had already turned in their eggs for candy and prizes and left. So, she sat down on a log and watched the boy playing on the bank of the swollen creek. She noticed he was a few years older than she was. She was just noticing boys as something of interest to her. Then, a glimmer caught her eye...a shimmer of gold. There in the branches was the golden egg. It could never be seen standing up. Only by sitting down could she see it. As she reached for it, she mentally picked out the dappled gray mare she wanted so much. "Now see the kids laugh at her, when she brought the egg triumphantly to the prize desk," she thought. Just as she was envisioning their reactions and savoring her triumph, she heard a yell and a splash. She looked at the boy with the bright red hair. He had fallen into the stream and was being washed down over the rocks. Just beyond her, the stream got bigger and much deeper. Bonnie stuffed the egg into her pocket and waded into the ice cold water. She reached the boy, just as he was passing her. She pulled him out of the water, as he was gasping for air and half drowned. The movement unbalanced her and she plopped down in the cold water. "No need to do that," the boy said. "I didn't need no help from no girl. No McKinney does," and he strode off in a half trot and half run, trailing water behind him. "Your welcome," yelled Bonnie, to the departing boy. She was wet and cold and miserable. For comfort, she reached for the egg in her pocket and found it was gone. She looked everywhere for it, but she could only conclude that it had been washed down stream in the strong currents of the spring floods. Bonnie had no choice but to return home wet cold. She was sure to receive a scolding for ruining her new Easter dress. She became a focus of ridicule about that day. Not only did she never get the horse that she so desperately wanted, but she had to be reminded often of her experience with the boy. No one believed that she had saved a boy from drowning, since nobody could find him. For 20 years long years, noone believed any different. But in time, all people grow up and so did Bonnie. She married and Bonnie was finally happy and the lost egg was a distant fading memory by the time she had her first child. Then came the tragic accident, that killed her husband, and she had to bring up her child alone. All thoughts of childhood dreams were soon put away forever to meet a hard adult life. They were at the beach again today. Bonnie and her son went as often as she could get off of her wretched job. The beach was the one place she could afford. She watched her boy play on the raft in the water. When she spotted him dive off the raft, she got angry. How may times had she said not to do that? But Daniel simply had no fear. He came up and hit his head on the raft, then he slipped into the undertow. She was in the water in a minute, but the strong rip tide was between her and her boy. Try as she may, she just was not strong enough to reach her son. She thought all was lost, when a large man jumped in and pulled her son to the shore. As she broke through the crowed, she saw a man giving her son CPR. Something about the mans flaming red hair stirred old memories. When the crisis was over she invited the man to talk and bought him a cold drink and at the beach stand. "Tell me," she asked. "How is it you're so good in the water? Are you on some swim team?" "No hardly, Ma'am," he smiled. "But ,when I was young, I fell into a stream and nearly drowned myself, so I decided to learn how to swim." Bonnie questioned him further, "Did anyone pull you out? A girl perhaps?" The man looked at her a full moment and then said, "Yes. How did you ever know. I never told anyone that part of it. She was a gangly sort of girl. But I never forgot her. She ... wait a minute you can't be that girl. You're so beautiful." "Your name is McKinney, isn't it?" Bonnie responded, remembering a wet, little boy yelling that name. "Yes it is.," the man answered excidedly. "You ARE that girl. You MUST be. I have loved you since I first saw you. I never thought we would ever meet again. Your husband sure is a lucky man to have you as his wife." Bonnie told him of her loss and of all the ridicule she got from saving him that day. "I was pretty stupid that day, Bonnie," the man replied. "I wished a hundred times I had not run off. I wanted to look for you. But, we moved the next day and, well, I just haven't found anybody yet to match my memory of you. But, I'll not let it happen twice. Would you and your boy come to my ranch? We could get to know each other better. I raise horses for a living. I am sure your son would love to ride one." "One wouldn't be a dappled gray mare, would it?" Bonnie asked, with a twinkle in her eye. Astonished, he asked, "How ever did you know that? Are you a mind reader? She would be perfect for you to ride. Oh, please come visit my ranch, "he pleaded, with tears in his eyes. "I have dreamed of you all my life." "Of course, I will," Bonnie said, wiping the tears away from her own eyes. "It took so long, but I guess the egg worked after all." No need to tell you all what happened next, except that Bonnie McKinney will be at the Easter egg hunt this year, with her son Danny and the twin girls. If you ask her, I am sure she would gladly tell you all about it. As for me, I'll be there with my granddaughter, Mandy. Perhaps she will find the golden egg of Easter and they will find a cure for MS this year. If she does, well, then I'll certainly share it with you folks. I suspect, however, that I'll have to wait a bit longer. It's OK, though. I understand now. It is all in the learning, you see, and God is not finished with me yet. Love, Sissy