Seven Days 'Til Heaven
By McKinley Mueller

My eyes roamed over the familiar scenery as memories of my childhood flooded my thoughts. Something in my peripherals caused me to turn my head to catch another glimpse of a reminder of one sad memory that was etched in my brain forever, a Luna moth, I thought to myself as a wave of sadness crashed over me....

My ten-year-old self was overjoyed to be spending eight days at my grandma's house all by myself ñ no parents, no siblings, just me and grandma. I loved being in Canada; it felt like I was in a different world because I had to have a passport and didn't know anyone. Grammy and I were on our morning walk on the path through the woods when she stopped abruptly to point at something. "Oh, look, Pumpkin, it's a Luna moth coming out of its cocoon ñ such a rare thing to see, indeed." I went through the oohs and aahs as I stared up at the magic above me. "Now you watch this thing, Hun, because it's only going to live for seven more days in our world," Grandma told me.

My curious self asked, "Where does it go when it dies?"

"I don't know, Sugar, but I'd like to think some place nice." The next day we went back to the spot where we saw the moth and to our disappointment it wasn't there. I turned around, crushed, ready to go back home, when Grandma said, "Look, honey, there it is!" She was pointing to this magnificent light green moth, big enough to be a bird with intricate designs etched on its back that were meant to look like eyes. The design was fascinating; it resembled a cake iced with luscious colors of pink, white, and tan piping, finally finishing with white and black gel tracing the bottom of the eye. Its wings were a whole other thing in themselves with the pastel lime color being showcased on a feathery canvas. "Six more days, Sugar, six more days."

When we got home I made a calendar with seven days on it and crossed off one with a big red X. We continued our ritual of a morning walk only to be pleasantly surprised time and time again with the honor of seeing it for four more days.

On the sixth day, I walked in the kitchen and was hit by the wonderful smell of her homemade chili. She was stirring the chili with one spoon while singing into another one. My face must have mirrored a look of mixed horror and surprise because she felt the need to explain why at 83 she was dancing around her kitchen like a spring chicken ñ a crazy one. "This song just came on the radio, you see, and it was your granddaddy and my song on our first date, and our first dance at our wedding. He used to love coming home to me, singing it."

I felt my face shift into a look of glee. "That's sweet, grandma."

"C'mere honey let's dance." We must've spent an entire hour just dancing around her small yellow kitchen, singing with all of our might. When she was tucking me in that night she said, "So something's been itching at the back of my mind, Sugar. The other day you asked me where moths go when they die. People rarely find the dead moth's bodies, but I did some thinking and decided that they most likely end up in heaven, so you haven't got to worry your pretty little head about a thing."

"Oh, all right," I said with a smile.

The next morning we went on our morning walk, but the Luna moth was nowhere in sight. "Hun, why don't we go home and make some lemonade?"

"Yeah, that sounds like fun!" But, it turned out I didn't have a knack for making lemonade.

"Here Sugar, why don't you look for that Luna moth one more time."

"Okay," I said. Rummaging through the vegetation there were we saw it when it was alive, I spotted it on the bottom of the sycamore tree. I was overjoyed because my grandma was going to be so proud of me for finding the Luna moth. I very carefully picked it up but once it was in my hands, I ran so fast I could feel the wind rushing by me as if I was an Olympic track runner. I couldn't wait to show grandma ñ what a perfect end to a perfect week. I ran up the front steps, my feet thudding on the old concrete, and opened the door. I was not prepared for what I would see. I went from being the happiest ten-year-old the world to being what I can only imagine as being the saddest ten-year-old. I was thinking I was going to come home to smiling grandma more excited than I was about the moth, but instead I came home to a very silent grandma.

First, I called my mom because I didn't know what to do. I mean, they tell you to call 911, but I was in Canada, and I've never been in one of those situations before where you actually have to dial those three numbers. Her first reply was, "What? Hang up and call 911." She also said she'd be on the next plane. They came, but they couldn't do anything about my grandma. That made me mad; after all, they were the paramedics; there was supposed to be able to do something about it! But they couldn't, she was already gone.

I blinked as I came back to reality, reminding myself that I'm 30 years old and that happened 20 years ago. In my mind I think that, based on what she said, the Luna moth and grandma met each other in heaven. She somehow knew that I had found that Luna moth and she was the proudest grandma of all.