THE TAIL OF BOOMERANG ROO

            Cracked creek bed mud turned to dust neath rancher man's boot.  In that hell of drought, death lay all about.  Dehydrated skin stretched thin hid the dust of the dead within.  "In the outback, thirst knows no difference between cattle nor animal kin," said rancher man Slim.  And he wondered when 'the big dry' would ever end.  He was just about to pray again, when the corner of his eye caught movement.  Where had that movement been among the dead?  And there he saw it again.  The twitch of a tail.  From the pouch of a dead momma roo, the bent tail of a joey stirred life.  Without thought Slim pulled out that little bent tailed roo.  In his arms Slim saw the cause of it all; the bent tail told the tale; bore the canine marks of a dingo chew.  Slim said, "Bent like a boomerang, you poor little roo."  And as helpless as Slim was in the drought and all, he helped the helpless. Carried little bent tail roo back to the truck.  Put him in the seat.  And from his canteen, water little roo did sip.  

            And months came.  And months passed by in the one room home of Slim and roo.  Most nights Little Roo, as Slim called him, slept curled up in his bent tail on Slim's lap. Rocking away in that old homemade chair, Slim minded hardly at all.  For company in the outback, he had next to none at all.  Solitary life and no wife, such was Slim's life a boat in the desert, but his oars never gave up straining against the burning sand.  And as the 'the big dry' stirred dust, the heart of Slim stirred only closer to God above.  Many a night Little Roo listened to soft spoken Slim reading the Bible.  And Little Roo, although he understood not a word, still knew blessing, as he drifted off to hoppy land. 

            In the early morn and near sunset, Slim took care of barnyard chores.  There was Naomi to tend, the goat from who knows where, who had just shown up the week before Little Roo.  So as if part of God's plan, Slim had goats milk to milk.  Milk for Little Roo to be fed from the finger of a glove tied to the end of a bottle.  And there was Little Roo's rehabilitation.  Rehab mainly consisting of hopping away from Slim in a lopsided arc, due to the off balance of that bent tail, then hopping back in a curve.  And one such sunset evening Slim said, "The name Little Roo just will not do.  For you are a special bent tail roo, and though you hop away, you always return, not straight away, but in an arc like the boomerang do.  So do I dub thee, Boomerang Roo.  But just Roo for short will most times do."  And the newly dubbed Boomerang Roo stood  looking up to his adopted dad; tilted head from side to side; and by his new name he did abide.

            And late one night, Boomerang Roo in lap, the rocker slowed rocking. The voice of Slim in prayer grew tired.  The Bible slipped from his hands.  And Roo and Slim slept quiet... so quiet... they felt not the cool air roll slowly through their one room home.  Heard not the solitary ping on the tin roof above, followed in a moment by another, then another, till the rain fell spanking that tin to cry new born baby life.  Roo woke first.   In fear Roo leaped from lap bounding off furniture and round the walls.  Till Slim caught him or Roo caught Slim.  Round Slim's right leg Roo wrapped arms and legs and boomerang tail too.  Slim laughed and with Roo clinging on, shuffled up to and opened the porch door.  There the nose of Boomerang Roo krinkled, breathed in for the very first time... the smell of rain.  And standing in that porch door, Slim thanked the Lord, as the mist of living water washed over them.

            The sun rose.  With milk bucket in hand Slim made aim for the barn to visit Naomi the goat.  But something was missing, the shadow of Roo.  Slim just figured Roo didn't want mud on his paws.  For where had been dust now was mud galore.

             What possessed Roo to go out that morn on his own?  In a long arc Boomerang Roo hopped and he hopped and he hopped... over a hill.  And where Roo stopped, was where he stood.  Maybe it twas the gunning of the truck motor Roo heard, or maybe the spinning of mud slick tires; but for sure twas the will of One with higher power:  that Roo arrived at the very stuck truck of Ruth.  Ruth saw Roo, gave up the futile slinging of mud, and exited the truck.  And up to Ruth, Roo hopped.  Ruth stammered, "Wha-what a-a-a  cu-cu-cute little ra-ra-roo!"  To Ruth's surprise Roo tilted his head and, looking up at her, took her hand in paw.  Without thinking, Ruth was lead to the hill top, where down below she saw the house of Slim and the barn.  "Da-a-a-down hill fra-from here," to her new friend Ruth talked.

            And near the barn door, still holding Roo's paw, Ruth met Slim, carrying a pail of Naomi's milk.  "M-m-m-my na-na-name is Ruth!  I-I-I been la-la-lookin' fa-fa-for my ga-ga-ga-goa-goa-Naomi!!!" She said.

            And Slim with smile sighed, "What few be about call me Slim, but my given name be Boaz."  He lifted up the pail of milk and added, "I might just know the whereabouts of that old goat."  And together Slim and Ruth and Roo walked hand in hand in paw; and entered the one room house called home...  Ruth never stuttered again...  And yes, the cows did come home, more than there were before...  And from hearts of dust a garden grew from rain anew...  And Slim praised the LORD!!!

  

            Isaiah 58:10-11 KJ, "And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:  And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."

            Please share "The Tail of Boomerang Roo," with all who need a tail straitening.  For a infinitely more awesome and true story, please read in the Bible the book of Ruth.  Only cause we love you.