Those four wagon loads of sand lay in a nice pile right in the middle of the alder trees. The project never left Ralph’s mind, but he wasn’t one to push a thing out in front of its time. He’s pretty Zen that way.
One morning he felt like seeing how his old friend Ranger Rick was getting on at the Ranger Station and maybe shooting the bull with him about things, things like the Alder Tree House and so on. Things like that.
Ralph knew Rick would most likely be in his office since it was after 8AM, not that Ralph had any truck with clocks. He just kind of knew when Rick went to work. Rick was a very dependable fellow, and he often had doughnuts in the office kitchen nook. A visit was definitely in order.
It was still pretty early in the morning when Ralph broke out of his forest domain into the Ranger Station parking lot. He noted with satisfaction that Rick’s truck was parked in its usual spot. Perfect.
Ralph knocked on the office door, just to alert Rick, then opened it and stuck his head into the room.
“Hey, Rick, you in here?”
“That you, Ralph? I’m in the kitchen. Sit! I’ll be right out,” shouted Rick. Then he came out with two mugs of coffee and a large Tupperware box of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
For a pleasant quarter hour they drank coffee and ate cookies, talking about almost nothing, like the weather and the number of early spring campers in the camp ground.
Finally, Rick said, “So why have you come out of hiding?”
“By the way, how’s your new camp host working out?” said Ralph, as a delaying tactic.
“She’s good. She’s not quite as tough as Marge was. But she does well with the campers,” said Rick. “I wonder where Marge is these days.”
“Well, therein lies a tale, old buddy. By a round about way, that’s why I’m here this morning eating your cookies and drinking your coffee. Are you ready for this?” said Ralph.
“Sure. I can take it. I think, no matter how out of this world it is,” said Rick, and he laughed.
“Funny you should say that,” said Ralph.
“OK. Tell me,” said Rick.
“This is the short version. Marge was reborn as Leely, becoming sort of a Forest Woman. Ramona dipped her in the river and renamed her. This allowed her to marry Twigg. See you’ve missed a lot recently!” said Ralph.
“Wow,” said Rick. “I didn’t know that was even possible.”
“We didn’t really either. But it was to be. They had loved each other since they were kids, Rick,” continued Ralph.
“I don’t know if you can handle this, but they are off planet having a long honeymoon on the planet of that Mak guy who shows up in a space-going vehicle once in a while. It’s quite a story but it’s a true one.
“Before Twigg and Leely married, Twigg had been working on building his own house based on living saplings up in the meadow with their Gifting Stump. It was to be similar to the bee’s house he made, but a lot bigger of course. But once he was married and off on his honeymoon, we realized that the little sapling house he had in mind wouldn’t do for him and a wife, his own Fire Keeper to be,” said Ralph.
“Oh man, Ralph. That’s a lot to take in! But, how does that bring you here this morning?” said Rick.
“Oh, I’m not really sure. I just wanted to see what you thought I guess. After they were gone, I got an idea. I thought of making a house on the same general plan, but with full grown alders in the same general area. I located a likely group of trees and talked them into growing together at the top into a sort of dome. They’re doing that and it looks super.
“Next, me and Ooog figured a way to make a floor in the house. We carried a lot of sand from the riverbank, and piled it in the middle of the trees. We figured on laying rocks into it to make a strong floor that wouldn’t rot or anything. I’ve been thinking about river rocks, but I don’t think they are the best idea. We need flat rocks.”
“I can see that,” said Rick. “I wouldn’t want to lay a floor with river rocks either. Maybe it would be done, but shale would be a whole lot more stable, I think.”
“Shale! That’s a new word for me,” said Ralph. “Nice flat stuff, is it?”
“Nice flat stuff,” said Rick, beginning to smell the metaphorical coffee.
“Does shale exist anywhere around here?” said Ralph.
“Outside Darrington, where the river cuts through, on a forest road. Of course I will help you collect some shale, Ralph. I’ll take everything out of my truck, and we’ll fill it with river shale. How about that?” said Rick, folding his laptop. “Let’s do it now. I’ll put Dexter in charge for the day. Be good for him.”
Rick got on his phone and called Dexter, who was up at the camp host’s mobile checking things out with Hannah, for the second time already that morning. “Hey, Dexter,” he said, “Something has come up and I need to take off for a while. I want you to come down here and stay in the office until I get back.”
“He’s doing better with this camp host than the last one,” said Rick, laughing a little.
“Oh, good,” said Ralph.
When Dexter came back, he and Rick unloaded all the stuff in the back of Rick’s truck into the office.
“You can call her on your phone if you have to, but stay here,” Rick told Dexter. “We’re going to Darrington for a few hours.”
Ralph squeezed into the passenger side seat, shrinking a bit because he really had to, and they drove out to Darrington, then they took the forest road Rick had mentioned. The road ran near a moderately sized mountain river. There was lots of shale lying around where it had fallen. It was easy to fill the back of Rick’s service vehicle with enough to cover a rather small floor such as in the Alder Tree House.
Driving back to the Ranger Station, Rick said, “I’m only worried about one thing. How are you going to move this stuff out into the meadow? I can’t drive there.”
“I have an idea,” said Ralph. “We can try it right now. If it doesn’t work, I’ll have to think of something else.”
“OK, Ralph. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but OK.”
“OK, Rick. Let’s try it! Park, then close your eyes, but hang onto the steering wheel,” said Ralph. “Keep ‘em closed until I tell you to open ‘em!”
So, Rick parked on the verge beside the highway, grabbed the wheel with both hands and shut his eyes. Ralph began to hum a little. After a bit he sang a song about the meadow and the Gifting Stump and Twigg and Leely and the Alder Tree House. It took a good ten minutes. All the while Rick kept his eyes closed tightly and hung onto the wheel.
Finally, Ralph said, “You can open your eyes now.”
When he did, there they were, in the loaded truck, not parked along the highway, but in the meadow with the back end of the truck facing the Alder Tree House.
“I’m afraid to believe this,” said Rick, still gripping the wheel.
“Have I ever told you wrong, Rick,” said Ralph with a grin.
“No…” said Rick, looking all around in amazement.
“Let’s unload this shale, and get you home!” said Ralph, "the same way you got here!”
🍀
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