The Umbrella that wanted to fly

by Nellie Curtiss…

Once there was an umbrella that wanted to fly. She started out as only a wee thought that began with a song sung by John Prine called The Blue Umbrella. 

Her sail and stalk with a crank system were designed in Germany. The total outfit was meant to withstand any force the midwestern winds could spring. She was designed to stand tall and tilt to the rising and setting sun.

Manufactured in China, she landed at Wayfair where she was cataloged as a multi-version with all colors of the rainbow.  This particular Umbrella dressed in lime and was dispatched to her adopting owner in the San Luis Valley in time for the Cinco de Mayo celebration in downtown Monte Vista.

Her owner had looked through Amazon, Walmart, QVC and Budget Patios. She chose the lime umbrella from Wayfair as it also had a tilt mechanism.

On the day she was delivered, the all-weather base also arrived. Her owner, a retired and disabled senior citizen, didn’t yet know how the new patio umbrella would be lugged to the back deck. 

It so happened that the volunteer with SLV Spay Neuter Alliance dropped by to see what traps were needed to catch four feral cats who had moved in.

Lime listened as she heard her new mother say, “Oh, yes, my patio umbrella arrived today.”

Then she heard the visitors say, “Would you like us to move it to the back deck for you?”

“Oh yes,” Mama said.

Lime spent a couple days in the cardboard when Mama pulled her out still wrapped in plastic. She posed against the lime-colored railings for another day. Lime heard the community cats jumping and lounging about. They sniffed her material.  Even so, Lime began to wish she could fly.

“If I could fly,” she thought to herself, “I would fly across Mount Blanca and over Pikes Peak and over the country to Galveston Bay.” She made a dream of how she would fly like a helicopter flies to rescue others. She imagined flying through the skies just as a catamaran glides through the oceans.

Laura pulled up and greeted her mama. After they had measured windows for blinds, the two came to the back.  The long clear bag was removed, and Lime watched as the base was assembled and water weight added. Soon enough Lime snugly slipped into her base. The sun was peeking through the row of houses and so Lime leaned toward the sun to shade her new mama.

“What a wonderful surprise! Thank you so much,” Mama smiled and thanked Laura.

After Laura left, Mama tucked Lime in for the night by lowering the umbrella’s sail and tying a bow.

The next morning as the sun was approaching the backyard, Mama woke Lime up for a display and tilt to the sun.  Mama even fetched her coffee; then she refreshed the outside water for the community felines.

All of a sudden, Mama remembered her home supplies and vitamins were ready for pick up at Walmart.  So, Mama gathered her Inogen portable oxygen concentrator, cell phone, wallet and keys.

While Mama was gone, Lime enjoyed the wind whistling about the Aspen trees. “Oh,” she thought, “How I wish I could fly!”

Just like that, the wind twirled her around in her base and lifted her up, up and up some more until she touched the branches of the century old Aspen with eyes in its trunk. After a couple seconds, Tigger, one of the orange tabbies, looked startled from his position on the back yard sidewalk. Lime giggled by flickering her wings.

“Oops,” she gasped as the wind once again drew her down and around the yard until she tumbled, landed upside down by the clothesline. Then Lime thought, “Uh, oh.”

Later Mama glanced out the window in the back door and was confused. She didn’t eye her lime umbrella. Peering to left of the deck, to the middle of the yard and to the right, she finally saw Lime upside down in the dirt beside the seldom used clothesline.

Lime couldn’t help but remember the song, The Blue Umbrella by John Prine and the lyrics: Well, feelings are strange / Especially when they come true.

Lime thought, “I flew!” She also realized she had dreamed and rode the wind when it appeared. However, for now it was safer to be the bright spot in her mama’s day.

— Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@gmail.com

Cutline for picture: Colored marker and ink pen sketch Titled  “The Umbrella that flew!” by Nelda Curtiss, 2023.