Chapter XV A Sign

Lucy waited for a sign that her sorrow and misery would come to an end. She meditated on a stick. The stick didn't move but she knew that nothing stays the same forever and after a long time a breeze blew strong enough to cause the stick to roll away and down the path.

She waited. The sign arrived. It was heralded by the arrival of a peahen in her garden one afternoon. She was slavishly bringing in the washing for her ungrateful family when around the corner of the house came a strange, large bird. It walked around the yard with the chickens for the rest of the afternoon.

In the morning Lucy looked out and couldn't quite believe her eyes. There was a peacock standing on a mound in the paddock.

She knew it was the sign she had been waiting for. That very afternoon she sold the house and property to the next door neighbour. At last, after years of torture she was able to see some light beginning to shine.

When the picnic rug had turned evil Lucy had tried to run out the gate but he had slammed the gate as she had tried to run through and left her wedged between the post and the gate for years. As much as Lucy struggled to free herself, the gate seemed to be jammed, squeezing the life out of her.

The peacock arrived and untied the chain that was holding the rusted gate and set Lucy free.

For the next number of months while the sale of the house was arranged the Peacock, named David, stayed with Lucy, giving her courage. He would find her in the afternoons and they would sit together watching the sunset.

Lucy found homes for all the animals to go to, the evil picnic rug didn't care about them. She advertised for a kind lady who came to look after the blind goat, her name was Kathy, she said that it was important to take care of these special animals. Lucy knew Mamada was going to a good home.

The man from the pet shop came and helped Lucy catch David and his mate. He took them to a safe home at Hunter Valley Zoo. Lucy and Wayland visited him the other day. He was most surprised and pleased to see Lucy. He looked very well and happy.

Lucy was free of her hideous marriage but to get away she had had to give up her children. The evil picnic rug stole the house she was going to move into with the boys and left her with nowhere to go. She had to go and stay in a friend’s spare room until she could find a place of her own, but by the time that would happen she had had to agree to the boys living with the evil picnic rug.

This was what they wanted to do anyway because the evil picnic rug let them do whatever they wanted to do, they were allowed to drink poisonous coke and play computer games for all hours and watch bad movies and TV all day long. He even let them go for drives in the boots of friend’s cars. Travelling in the boot of a car is a very dangerous practice, and the eldest son learnt this the hard way when he was smashed in one. The evil picnic rug didn't even tell Lucy her son had nearly been killed and was in hospital. Poor Lucy was spending the day worrying about loosing her favourite purple cardigan, which you will be relieved to know a nice girl found and gave back to her. Wayland eventually rang one day and asked if she had heard the news, that William had been in bad car accident.

You might wonder how Lucy managed to become happy again after all her suffering. She sat on her big red cusion in the empty house that she no longer owned. she had nothing. She gave up her farm, she gave up her animals, she gave up her family, she had no home, no money, no possessions, everything was gone. And in giving everything up and owning nothing she made room for all the wonderful new things that would come into her life.

Peacocks are a symbol of renewal and resurrection.