The Flamingo and the Hedgehog

Opening view. We see Hedgehog sitting on a bench unable to control his crying. He is sitting on a bus stop bench and has a suitcase on the bench with him. He is rocking back and forth on the bus bench. His quills are quivering and he looks very upset.

Hedgehog: (wailing) Oh dear, oh dear me! 

In walks Flamingo, all colorful and jazzed up, wearing sunglasses and sipping from a tropical drink. He stops at the bus bench and stoops down so that he is close to Hedgehog’s crying whimpering face.

Flamingo: Whatever seems to be the trouble, my pudgy little friend?

Hedgehog: (wailing) Oh dear, oh dear me! I seem to have lost something that I cannot possibly recover! 

Flamingo: What is it that you seem to have lost, my dear friend? You already seem to have a grasp on your suitcase. What else can you possibly have lost?

Hedgehog: It’s not a physical object, no no no. I have all my physical things at my burrow, and I have all my physical things in my suitcase, and I have all the physical things in my pockets. It’s nothing physical. 

Flamingo: Then whatever is it that you have lost?

Hedgehog: (whimpering) I’ve lost…I’ve lost…I’ve lost my confidence!

It is at this moment that the Hedgehog bursts into a new bout of uncontrollable tears and buries his face in his hands, rocking back and forth. The Flamingo sets down his tropical drink and puts a wing on the Hedgehog’s shoulder. 

Flamingo: There, there, friend. It isn’t so bad. It can’t be so bad as all that. Nothing is ever permanent. 

Hedgehog: Oh yes, it is! Oh yes, it is! Some things are forever, some things are indeed permanent!

Flamingo: Clearly you have never heard of the Buddha. 

Hedgehog: The – the – what? The brooo-ha-ha?

Flamingo: (laughing) No, nothing about a broo-ha-ha. The Buddha. The Enlightened One who started a whole philosophy and way of being. You’ve seriously never heard of him?

Hedgehog: (whimpering) I’ve only heard of the Great Cake Monster in the sky, the one everyone prays to and says will bring you good luck every once in a while.

Flamingo: Well, I’m not talking about any Cake Monster here. I’m talking about the Buddha. You see, my fine friend, he talked in his days about the normalization of impermanence. Do you know what that word means, impermanence?

Hedgehog: (sniveling) That nothing is ever permanent?

Flamingo: That’s right, my furry little friend. That’s exactly right. The Buddha talked about sand castles being built on the shore and then being washed away by the coming tides. 

Hedgehog: (whimpering) Those poor sand castles.

Flamingo: Bah – poor nothing! Those sand castles knew that the waves would eventually come, just like the ones who built the sand castles knew that they would come, just like the waves themselves knew they would come. They were all just a part of the system of life. And the system of life is impermanence. Nothing lasts forever. 

Hedgehog: Then why – then why – then why build the sand castles at all? If everyone knows that the waves are coming eventually?

Flamingo: So that they can be built, and have presence, and can be seen by all those who walk back and forth along the shore. 

Hedgehog: Humph. That’s nice and all, but my issue with confidence is different. I’ve gone and finally lost it this time, this time for good. I shall never get it back. It took me years to get it back the last time. 

Flamingo: How do you know that you shall never get it back, my silly little friend? Can you see the future?

Hedgehog: No. Can you?

Flamingo: No. But I can look for patterns. And the pattern of impermanence tells me that you shall find your confidence again, just as you have lost it, in the most unexpected time and place. 

It is at this point that the Flamingo removes his wing and stands up from the bench. A bus approaches the stop. 

Flamingo: I must continue on my way now. And it looks like you have a bus to catch.

Hedgehog: (wiping away tears) But how will I know where to look?

Flamingo: Keep both eyes open. 

The Flamingo picks up his tropical drink and walks away. The bus pulls up to the stop and the front door opens. Passengers get off and start walking to other terminals or to the exit. The Hedgehog wipes away his tears, stands up from the bench, grabs his suitcase, and walks to the open door. As he is stepping onto the bus, the bus driver smiles.

Bus Driver: Say! I really like that color on you!

The bus doors close and the bus pulls away.