Taking Tiger Home

While watching a spectacular sky at Devil's Lake recently, I noticed a small something on a picnic table nearby.  As I approached, I saw that it was a tiny stuffed animal, a little tiger.  I looked at it and it looked at me.  I wondered who might have left the little tiger behind and who might shed a few tears at bedtime without a beloved stuffed animal to hug.  It made me think of the time I left behind my precious teddy bear during one of my dad's school lectures, only to have it mailed back to me.  There were tears that first night when I realized he wasn't there at bedtime.  Standing at the picnic table that night at the lake, I did an irrational thing and turned the tiger to face the lake and the sunset so that it could at least have a lovely view as it waited to be rescued.  Fortunately, when we finished our walk and passed by the picnic table again, the little tiger was gone, likely in the happy hands of a child who just couldn't go to sleep without taking tiger home.