Dreifachgӓnger

 

            There was a woman who lived on our street. She seemed fine. Normal person. She didn’t seem given to strange conceits or over concern with conspiracies. She wasn’t given to buttonholing people in public, just so you know. None of this was anything she brought on herself.
            I got to know her a little bit because she had a little backyard garden and I had a little backyard garden, and there was only a small fence separating our gardens. So, naturally, we got to talking and I guess she finally considered me to be a trustworthy person.
            So, one day I was out pulling a few weeds out of the raised beds, when I noticed her come out of her back door. She didn’t come right over to the fence. She stood there looking vacant, maybe even frightened.
            I said, “Hi, Susan. How are you today? Nice day.”
            She looked at me and frowned a little. She looked like she was considering something.
            “It is a nice day,” Susan said faintly, still frowning.
            “Is everything alright?” I asked her. I felt a little pushy saying that, but she seemed to be distressed.
            “I don’t know,” she said, looking at me like she wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure whether she should. She shrugged a little. “Honestly, I don’t know..”
            “Look,” I said. “We’re just a couple of grandmas. You’re alone over there, except for your cats. Who are you going to tell? You may as well tell me. I don’t think anything you say would be a big surprise to me.” I stood with my hands folded, head tilted, smiling encouragingly.
            “OK, Penny. OK. You know those two cats I have? They are identical, you know? Even I can’t tell them apart. It’s been kind of a  joke. Not very funny today,” she said.
            “How so?” I said.
            “Well, last night I went to bed as usual. But, before I went to bed I locked both doors. The basement door is always locked. Always. I checked all the windows, even though it’s been warm, I made sure they were all closed and latched. The place was secure, you know?” She frowned.
            “Of course,” I said, wondering what she was getting to with this recitation.
            “I don’t let my cats outdoors,” she said.
            “I know, and I don’t blame you at all,” I said.
            “I made sure that I knew where both cats were before I went to bed,” Susan continued.
            “I do the same with my two,” I said.
            “You might think I am insane,” she said. “But, I’m not.”
            “I would never think you are insane, Susan,” I said, beginning to get a weird creepy feeling standing there in the early morning sunlight. I didn’t know why, but I felt a cold pickle on my arms. I rubbed them and waited.
            “This morning, Penny, I went to feed my cats. Instead of my two, there were three cats in my house all precisely identical. This is insane. One of them is not a natural cat and I can’t tell which one it is. They all ate and acted exactly the same!” She shuddered a little.
            “How horrible! I see exactly what you mean!” I whispered.
            “One of them is some kind of manifestation, of what, I don’t know,” she said. “And I want it out of my house! But I can’t decide which two are mine,” she wailed.
            “What will you do?” I said.
            “I don’t know. I don’t really want to go back in there with that. Whatever it is!” she cried.
            “I’ll come with you. Why don’t we go look at them together and see what we think,” I suggested. Honestly, I was as curious as heck. I wanted a look at those cats in the worst way.
            “OK,” she said, and I walked out of my alley gate and over to her gate off the alley and into her back yard. She waited by her back door.
            She went ahead of me, of course. We both stepped into the back of the kitchen. I closed the door carefully behind myself.
            Since we made a little noise coming into the house, her cats came to us as cats do when you come into the house. Two rather rotund, absolutely identical brown tabbies. They wound themselves around her feet, then came and sniffed me too. They knew me. I’d been in that kitchen before.
            “Where’s the other one, Susan?” I said.
            “She was just here when I came out into the garden,” she said, looking a little sick.
            We searched Susan’s house in detail. Every closet, every room and cupboard. We searched the basement and the attic.
            We never found a third cat in that house.
            “I’m not insane, and I can count to three,” she said, as if in a trance.
            “I know you’re not,” I said. “But it looks like everything is back to normal,” I said hopefully.
            “Oh, no! It’s not! Even though there are two of them again, I will never know if one of mine has been spirited away by the fairies, and I am left with an unnatural creature which looks like one of mine, but isn’t! And on top of that, I will never be able to tell if one of them is that awful creature or which one it could be!” She stared at me, horrified.
            The best thing I could think of to tell her was that probably the fey kitty had left by the same way it had gotten into her house, and that it was just something messing with her.
            I sure hoped that was true.

🙀

Atmospheric River Days

 

I have a great number of photos of rain on car windows.
The camera focuses on the rain, not the outer scene, stubbornly.

But this one spoke to me of these days,

Hidden, vague, suggestive.

Some bubbles would look good there.

Brief habitués among the foggy trees.

The street where my sister lives,

Very near my own foggy street.

💬

A Symposium Among The Cats for Purrsday

Ma'ii

 Who is this Hairy Man, and How does he do that Scary Stuff?

 
            “M’now!” said Suzy. “Is everyone here? Toots? Sammie?”
            “Right here,” said Toots. Sammie nodded. “******!”
            “Charley?” said Suzy, not expecting her to pick up really.
            “I heard you,” said Charley.
            “Buddy? You there?” asked Suzy.
            “I’m your cat!” said Buddy. “Merrrrow!”
            “I’m here too!” said Uncle Mr. Baby Sir. “Ahem, I  have some expertise in the matter.”
            “You do? Since when?” said Suzy, giggling.
            “Arizona. I rest my case,” said Mr. Baby Sir. “Been there. Done that!”
            “Done what?” said Suzy, losing focus completely.
            “Mrrrp!” A new voice entered the arena. “Serena here. I heard the call. May I enter?”
            “Of course, Serena! If you heard the invitation, it was meant for you too,” said Suzy.
            “Anyone missing?” said Suzy. “I mean anyone besides my dear brother, of blessed memory?”
            “Well, just the new kits,” said Toots. “How about them?”
            “I think we’ll just leave it open. If they have anything besides mewing to add, it’ll be allowed,” said Suzy. “All right then. To get to the subject at hand. Who is this Hairy Man? Anyone?”
            “I’ve actually seen some! Might be the same one coming again and again,” said Toots. “They slip down the highway like moon walkers under cover of darkness! I think they have extra joints because they don’t jog along, like a human person. They kind of emanate or manifest. It’s quite horrible!”
            “So! Since you’ve seen them, what are they?” asked Suzy. She already felt a little sick to her tummy at the description.
            “They look like big ugly people up to no good!” said Toots. “If they were kind and sweet would they be skulking down the highway at 2AM? No, I say!!”
            “Point in your favor, Dear!” intoned Suzy.
            Mr. Baby cleared his throat just then. Suzy nodded to him.
            “Ma’ii tells me that Mágítsoh is a man. A kind of giant. He lives in two worlds. He confuses modern man,” said Mr. Baby.
            “Who are we talking about here?” said Suzy.
            “Coyote, Ma’ii told me!” said he. “The natives in Arizona call the wild people Mágítsoh.”
            “I don’t like it!” said Buddy, speaking up suddenly. “Regular non-wild people are weird enough, given their heads!”
            “Good point,” said Suzy. “We’ve all heard the camping stories! Brrrrrt!”
            “I have an idea,” said Sammie, who had been silent so far. “What if people believing in them makes them more visible? That means we will see them more and more!"
            “That could explain a lot!” said Toots! “Brrrrrtt!!”
            (General hubbub, meows and off record commentary…)
            “Miss Suzy,” said Serena, speaking up suddenly. “I don’t believe we have any Giant Hairy Forest men here! Bless all your hearts. We do have bears, ahem, and college students, if you get my meaning!”
            “That must be a comfort to you, Ma’am,” said Suzy. “We don’t have that luxury, I must say.”
            “Just roughly, I would say that we mostly agree that they are a type of man, bigger, and less technical. My sense is that they surely are confusing. It probably has to do with wave lengths. Cats see more than our people do, but we don’t see it all, unfortunately. Is this mostly agreeable to you all?”
            (All vote Aye.)
            “Right then. Now. The things they do. Anyone?” continued Suzy.
            “It strikes me,” said Buddy, “that the things they do, that we know they do, function as self defense tactics. There is, by definition, everything else they do, which also, by definition, we don’t know!”
            “That’s like saying ‘if it’s not one thing, it’s something else!’” said Suzy. “Now you’re confusing me too!”
            Mr. Baby cleared his throat in a professorial sort of way, for attention.
            “My source, Ma’ii, told me, quite authoritatively, that the smells described from time to time, the sense of dread, the immobilization experiences, all of that are tactics to allow the Hairy Giants to escape safely, or to protect one of their children from discovery. That sort of thing.
            “This includes the odd noises, howls, whistles and such, which are also used to communicate among themselves. I, however, think he’s pulling my whiskers over that point. I am of the understanding that they are in constant telepathic communication. So the noises are just more special effects for Man’s edification and benefit.
            “He couldn’t tell me in biological terms how they do those things, however,” said Mr. Baby, who then fell silent.
            “IOW, you don’t know, and neither does your buddy, Coyote!” said Susy.
            “Pretty much,” said Mr. Baby.
            “I posit that the whole phenomena could be explained in perfectly natural ways,” said Serena, “if only you wanted to.”
            “You must remember,” said Toots, “that I have seen them with my own eyes, my dear. There’s no explaining that away.”
            “I’ve smelled them!” said Sammie. “Eau d Sweat Socks and Dragon Barf, with some City Dump mixed in.”
            “It is hard to argue against direct personal experience,” admitted Serena, graciously.
            “Well,” said Suzy, “in conclusion, I guess we have addressed the situation, even though our conclusions are not so very conclusive. We must continue to keep our senses on guard, our eyes and ears open, and to raise holy hell if one gets in our houses. It’s the least, and probably the most, that we can do!”
            (General assenting purring and conversation among the members..)
            “OK, let’s call it! Thanks for your contributions! Stay alert! Our people don’t have our senses, and they need our help in so many ways, friends!” said Suzy.
            “Let’s Purr™ together for a moment,” said Toots.
            So, they did. The new kits added some mews and purrs, and everyone went off to pursue their own interests as evening fell.
            Outside, in the forests, fields and river courses, some canny Hairy Men smiled because only they knew their secrets, and they liked it that way.

🌿🤎🌿

Some Other March 18th. 2010

 

Every year the blossom date is different.

This year, they are still tightly closed.

But I can see the petals there, ready to go.

Japanese Pear.

It was only a wee twig when we moved in here in 2000.

26 years of Dream Time.

🤍

All Tomorrow's Flowers

 

 

 
            It had been a strange winter and early spring. When it should have been snowing, it didn’t. Or not much. Long days went by when there was no snow in the Great Forest. Oh, it was cold alright, but the clouds hanging heavy in the sky withheld the expected snow.
            One morning that spring when Ramona woke and put her feet on the stone floor of the cave home she could tell that something was different. The light, just a tiny line of light, around the big wooden door was dead white. Finally. She knew that the weather had changed overnight at last.
            She stretched and looked around the dim interior where her family slept. Ralph was flat on his back, snoring. Cherry and Blue made one indistinguishable mass under her quilt. Bob and Berry slept on their ledge, face to face, like stone carvings. She thought of Twigg and Leely and the new one.
            Then Ramona padded silently to the door and passed outside.
            Flakes of snow like goose feathers swirled down filling the air of the Home Clearing. They fell too thickly to allow her to see much further than a small area where she stood. Glancing at the fire circle, she saw a small, thin column of smoke passed upward through the falling snow. She wouldn’t need a lighter or kindling. Her fire was alive, just really small.
            It was almost silent, but if she listened, she could hear a kind of whisper, the sound heavy falling snow makes. She heard the wind high in the tops of the firs moving their branches just a little. It wasn’t a blizzard, just a snow storm.
            Cold doesn’t bother Ramona, but she set to work building up her fire. She found the remaining live coals and fed them some small dry twigs. Then she knocked the snow off some larger pieces that Ralph had stacked near to the fire for her. It didn’t take long to have quite a large fire burning. She began considering breakfast. There were no fish waiting in her bucket. She had some raw venison, but that would take too long. She was out of eggs. Thaga’s hens were on their winter slow down. So, it would be oatmeal and raisins. She had those in the cave.
            When she went back inside for supplies and her big pot, Ralph was awake.
            “It’s snowing, Baby,” she whispered.
            “Oh, good!” he whispered in answer.
            They went outside together. She made the pot of oatmeal with raisins then went in to wake Cherry and Blue and get bowls, spoons and butter. Bob and Berry slept on. They would hunt up some breakfast for themselves later. Neither cared for porridge.
            “Oh! It’s snowing,” said Cherry. She was getting to be a bigger girl, but she could still float when she wanted to. She rose up through the cold air, looking to the sky, allowing the feathery flakes to light on her face.
            The four of them, including Blue, had their oatmeal porridge and then Ramona made coffee for herself and Ralph. Cherry and Blue had some warm mint tea in Ooog’s clay mugs.
            “What shall we do today?” Ramona asked in formal Saslingua, because she wanted to make sure that Cherry could speak the old language.
            “I would like to go visit Thaga,” said Cherry, very correctly.
            “We can do that, Cherry, if you like,” Ramona said, smiling at the child still overhead tasting the snow falling in her face.
            Ralph said he would take the cats and his big leather backpack, made by Ooog for him that one Gifting season, and do a bit of hunting and wood gathering. It’s a daily chore for Ralph, king or not! Wood and food, every day.
            The dirty dishes went into the five gallon bucket, for later washing at the river. Ramona and Cherry went back into the cave and brushed their hair with a nice brush, from the same Gifting day, and then they were ready to go see Thaga.
            Naturally, Maeve appeared just as they were ready to leave. Given the choice of going with the hunters or the visitors, she chose to go with Ramona and Cherry. The white snowflakes on her black feathers looked very fine, and she knew it too!
            It wasn’t a long walk. The snow was piling up. It was up over Ramona’s ankles, almost to her midcalf. Cherry didn’t walk through it; she drifted along beside her mother. Maeve couldn’t fly that slowly, so she just sat on Ramona’s shoulder.
            Everything looked so different from the days before. The path was white and smooth. The early buds and leaves each had a tiny cap of snow. The snow sat up on top of the deep grass, so it would have been a little hard for a human to push his way through. But Ramona had no trouble with it. She trudged right through. They had a good time with it.
            It was the only cabin out there, and Ramona knew that, as did Cherry and Maeve, but it seemed a little changed somehow. Maybe, it was hard to say. The garden and outside areas looked a little bit like something was missing, but maybe it was just that the snow was covering some things.
            However, there was a thread of white smoke rising from the chimney, and there was a light on. They could see it, deep in the room that the window opened on. So, Thaga and Ooog had to be home. The snow continued to fall thickly, obscuring the view. That had to be why the house seemed a little changed.
            Ramona brought her child and her friend Maeve to the porch, stomped the snow off of her lower legs and feet and knocked on the door. They waited for a couple of minutes there in front of Thaga’s door.
            At last the door opened. A rush of warm air greeted the callers.
            “Hello?” said the young woman in the doorway. “May I help you somehow?”
            She was short, like Thaga. She wore her hair up like Thaga. She wore a print dress that was ankle length with a handknit sweater in blue wool over it. She was so much like Thaga. Her blue eyes held nothing but questions. She smiled tentatively, and said, “Please come in!”
            “Thank you,” said Ramona, a bit weakly, and they trooped on into the kitchen of the cabin, where a young man in leather pants, with long dark hair, was eating breakfast at a wooden table much smaller than the one Ramona remembered.
            “We were looking for Thaga and Ooog,” said Ramona. Cherry stood at her knee and Maeve watched solemnly from her shoulder perch.
            “Why, of course, we are Thaga and Ooog,” said the young woman. “You have most certainly come to the right house. We built this place not so many years ago. No one else has ever lived here, my dear,” she told Ramona.
            Maeve whispered under her breath in amazement.
            “Sit down at my table please. What did you say your name was? It’s cold out there. Maybe we should have a little nibble and figure this out!” said Thaga.
            They got seated around the table. Ramona introduced herself, her child and her bird.
            The young man, with a grin, said, “I’m Ooog for sure! The only one around here!”
            Thaga served gingerbread cookies and tea with sugar. They all just took a moment and looked at each other.
            “You are very much like Thaga and Ooog, whom I have known for many years,” said Ramona, “but so very much younger! I don’t understand!”
            Thaga looked thoughtful for a moment or two, without answering. Ooog sat there, having a few more cookies and smiling.
            “You know what I think, Ramona, Cherry, and Maeve?” said Thaga. “I think that you just came early! I don’t know how you did it. But, I believe we will be good friends, and that I will come to love you very much. I can see that much. That’s the only thing I can imagine has happened. Some talk about a wrinkle in time!
            “Next time you come to visit, I believe we will know each other as we always did!” said Thaga. “Please, always come again!”
            “We will. We will always come again, Thaga,” said Ramona, but there were tears in her eyes because it was so strange. “We will go home now. Thank you both for your kindness!”
            Cherry went to Thaga and hugged her, as she always had. Then there were some tears in Thaga’s eyes. She held the child for a long moment.
            So, Ramona took her leave, with Cherry and Maeve, and they began to walk home through the heavy falling snow. It was even deeper now, almost up to Ramona’s knees. As she walked she noticed that some early blossoms also had dainty caps of snow.
            “Evermore..” muttered Maeve, as if to herself.

🌸🤍🌸

A Few Observations From The Road Today

 

 

            Since I ran out of story writing time on Suzday, I thought maybe I’d just do a short report on driving my kid back to Seattle. It’s always a bit revelatory. Every trip is different.
            It was a good day for driving. A nice gray day. It wasn’t raining. Just even cool light. I don’t care for driving southward into the low winter sun.
            I headed south on Evergreen which becomes old 99 when you get south of Everett. It used to be the highway. The north/south route. I actually remember before they built I-5. When first completed, it was never crowded. It was so easy to get around the area quickly. Not so now.
            After some fish and no chips at Mikie’s in town the first characteristic thing we came upon was a protest at the intersection by Aurora Village, a shopping mall. People holding this year’s model of protest signs crowded all four corners of the intersection. Most were against ICE picking up illegal gate crashers. Many carried No Kings signage. I’m never quite sure what that one means. I suppose they imagine this president wants to be king, for there were also many Traitor Trump signs.
            The people seemed very pleased with themselves. Many were photographing each other. There were tall important looking men, no doubt personages of some nature. Goodness knows. I don’t.
            These people looked well-off, all white. Classic libs. My thought was that they wouldn’t have to live with the results of what they want done. No, it would be the average lower class members who would have to live with the increase in crime and all the other results of illegal migration. But I’m sure that’s considered acceptable for the class of people standing at the intersection.
            Seattle proper, the city, seemed quiet. You don’t see many goofballs on the street in cool gray weather. They seem to come out when the sun shines.
            However, on 35^th NE, I think it is, I notice that the RVs and cars sitting along the road were back, the ones selling drugs openly on the street. Every once in a while the city moves them out, but they were back. Some of these RVs process stolen goods too. Quite a scene.
            Navigator lives in a nice Jewish neighborhood a few miles east of the U, so it seems pretty safe for a downtown neighborhood. Her bus connections are perfect. Bus stops right at the door of her building and the hospital where she works.
            Heading back north, I drove over  to the freeway to just make the trip quickly. No traffic to speak of. As I got out of town, I noticed that the foothills of the Cascade were half occluded by cloud, probably I was looking at snow falling. Mt. Baker, which is usually visible from the freeway was completely hidden, but the slopes of the foothills were patched with great swathes of snow. I was pleased to see it, as we need the mountains to be deep in snow.
            Even here, the clouds are low and look snowy in that white, opaque way.
            So, I had opportunity to compare the folly of mankind to the patient existence of the mountains and the snow coming in its season.
            It was an easy trip. The old Element ran like a good little old machine. I was thankful.

🚗

Purrfect Composure™

 

The two glamorous young fellows.

««⁜»»

          Suzy and I were having a little conversation at the old salvaged DOD desk yesterday. She has more room to move up there since the recent updating of that landscape. We had been listening to some surf music, Swaying Palms, by the Aqua Velvets. Suzy often requested surf music. She said it was practically like taking a quick vacation to sunny beaches and palm trees.

            I asked her what it was like to be a plain little cat with such glamour young fellows around stealing all the oxygen in the room.
            She said, “Oh, that’s a human thing. We cats don’t put much stake in personal appearance. All cats are not grey in our minds, we do note the differences, but we don’t consider one cat better than another because of the pattern or color of our fur coats.
            “On the other hand, we all, unless something has gone terribly wrong, feel quite glamorous.”
            “How does that work?” I said.
            “Well, look at those kittens. They don’t care that they have fancy spotted coats. They just feel like kittens. What is important to them is to be loved and treated well. Mrrrp? Is it not so?” she said.
            “I believe you, and that seems quite fair,” I said.
            “That’s all we older cats ask too,” she said.
            “Well, you know, Suzy, I think the same could be said for anyone, anyone with good sense. We people often get caught up in desires for more than that. Accomplishments and possessions. It’s exhausting in the long run. Sometimes I think you cats have this figured out,” I told her. She seemed pleased, if the purring I heard was any indication.
            We sat together and listened to the music for a few minutes.
            “Say, Suz, did you know that today is Suzday? How about that?” I asked her.
            “You know what I’m going to say, right?” she said.
            “That all days are about the same to you?” I said.
            “Pretty much, but I’m still tickled that you guys named a day of the week after me!” she laughed. “Toots is proud of her day too!”
            “What would you like to do on your day?” I asked her.
            “Some more surf music would suit me fine,” she said. “How about Twilight of The Hepcats, on Guitar Noir? I don’t know what hepcats are, but they must be cool!” she said.
            “Right! That was their total deal!” I said. “They were very cool, Miss Suzy!”
            So, we listened to the song together. Then she went off to catch up on her napping on the back of the sofa.

😺