A Broad Hint in Black and White

 

    “Do you want to tell him,” asked Maeve.

    “You’d think he would know better himself,” observed Deirdre.
    “Maybe it’s the spring weather. Maybe he’s distracted,” said Maeve.

    Both the black and the white ravens were so far up into the giant Doug fir that they were invisible from the ground. Flecks of blue sky shone through the evergreen canopy, but no black or white feathers or wings.
    Conversational knockings echoed through the noonday forest. Gurgles and tuttings added to the soundscape.

    The object of their attention was lying stretched out full length on his favorite downed tree trunk. His eyes were closed, and he was smiling, humming a tuneless little tune.

    Maeve wiped her beak back and forth on her branch, as if she had nothing further to say. Sighing, she pulled a feather from her own tail. She dropped suddenly down through the depth of the forest, flattening out just above Ralph. She dropped the black feather onto his chest, zooming off again, to rise to continue the conversation. “There. Let him parse that!” Maeve can be enigmatic.

    “Observe,” rattled Deirdre with a croak. Then like a feathered ghost she descended the tree circling its trunk, appearing, and disappearing quite theatrically. She was used to being attended to, being the harbinger that she was. She landed on an alder sapling which was trying to prosper deep in the shade. She plucked a feather from her own alabaster tail. She laid it carefully over Maeve’s feather, crossing it. “Ha!” she said. She ascended back to Maeve.

    “It’s too ridiculous, somebody has to say something,” she sighed.

    “There is a choice to be made, for sure,” said Maeve.

    The truth of the matter is that Ralph had acquired a rather large pair of Levi 501s, and that he was wearing them. This was no random pair of pants. They had to be a size 52/48 if they were an inch. Totally custom, no doubt!

    It’s hard to tell the king when he is making a serious existential mistake. Who has the nerve? And who has led him down this path?

    “Let’s ask Ramona,” said Maeve.

    (Some flying is required.)

    “How did this happen?” asked a worried Maeve, just outside the cave. Deirdre watched but didn't speak. It must be admitted that Ramona did not seem happy.

    “You remember that lady reporter who gave him the cell phone? Well, she wants another interview and some photos with him for her paper, so she had them made for him,” said Ramona. “I think he is flattered by the attention.”

    “Photos! Oh no!” squawked Deirdre. “The king of Snohomish county in pants on the front page of the Milltown paper! Ramona, we have to stop him, if it’s not too late!”

    “He said he would meet the photographer and Millicent tomorrow. So maybe if you talk to him it would change his mind. I have not been saying too much to him about it,” Ramona said. “He arranged to meet them where he crosses the river to go into town.”

    Ralph woke and sat up. He was still smiling until the two feathers fluttered down around his feet. A message. Two bird’s worth of message. A warning, so to speak.

    Now, Ralph isn’t entirely dim. He’s pretty good with a non-verbal message. Somehow he knew the game was up. Therefore…

    When it was nearing morning, yet still dark enough for cover, Ralph made his arcane way down to the river crossing.

    He waded over to the town side, to the appointed meeting place and hung his custom-made Levis on a handy bush. It was an outward and physical sign of inward and spiritual decision.

    “Sorry, Millicent,” he said to the air in general. Then he went home. By then Ramona was making him and Twigg some oatmeal with berries for breakfast.  She said nothing at all.

Merry Monday Open Thread Day

 Mount Rainer Sunrise

It reminds me of Psalm 121:1 A Song of degrees.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

May the day be a blessing to you!

Happy Sixth Day Of Passover

     I have always been fascinated that the last supper that we in Christianity, and of course Messianic Judaism, have heard of so often was a Passover meal.  So when we look at the many different old paintings of the scene, that is what we are looking at, as understood by the people of the time.

    

    I so wish I knew exactly how he officiated, what he said, and so on.  The modern Seder is rather long and busy and I don't believe they did all of that.

    In Matthew 16, of course, we read the story of his last Passover supper. 

    

    We usually have a very informal little Seder, since the early 80s!  Why, it's almost a tradition!

Uncle Bob Goes Straight

 

          “Hey, Ralph,” Uncle Bob said from his place on the log, “do you remember when we were like small?  Bigger than Twigg, but small?” He squinted toward the sky as if memory was a physical feat, and it cost him a little effort.

          He took another little hit and held his breath.

          “I can remember hiding in backyards and gardens. Then everything gets hazy. You did it too, Ralph! Remember jumping out and scaring people?”
          “Well, that’s kind of what we did isn’t it, Bob?” Ralph was gazing into the deep dark air between the trees as he spoke. “Or as least we used to..” His dark eyes moved restlessly. Ralph had something on his mind. His mammoth shoulders hunched forward. He was pulling bits off of a fern and balling the bits up in his fingers and then flicking them away.
          “But, yeah, I remember being small, I remember being middle-sized too, and most of all, I remember being this size,” said Ralph. “Don’t you, Bob?”
          “No, brother, I remember running through backyards, teasing dogs and stuff, and then nothing, until like a day or two ago I think,” said Bob. “I know where I sleep, remember that nest you helped me build?  Well, I still sleep in there.  I keep adding branches to it. I wish Ramona would let me sleep in your cave, but I don’t blame her, you know, for not letting me.”
          Ralph crossed his arms on his chest and put his chin down thoughtfully.  “Funny you should mention Ramona. She thinks me and Maurice, the dogface dogboy, acted like idiots and were not clever at all.”
          “Wow!  You made Ramona mad Ralph! You better fix this, man!” Bob looked shocked, and somewhat vague. “What’cha do?”
          “Oh, I told you yesterday. You forgot! I talked Maurice into robbing a truck full of Dinty Moore beef stew down in town.  I got the idea in a dream. Sometimes dreams don’t give you very good advice, Bob.  We got away with it as far as the law down there is concerned, but not with Ramona. She says to act like a fully sentient hominid or else!
        “She wants me, since it was my bad idea, to go make some kind of restitution for what I did. I can’t take the Dinty Moore cans back; they are all empty. Maurice digs that stuff! But I think I know what a nice gift to the driver’s wife would be, the one who ratted me out to Officer Bob. And I think you are just the big old hairy buddy to help me out!”
          Ralph beamed agreeably at his old friend, Uncle Bob. Bob had the good sense to look a little worried.
          “What we’re going to do is this; we’re going to go fishing! You and me, Bob, we’re going to get a salmon about as long as my arm and take it down to Darrington in the middle of the night and deliver it to the lady!” He nodded at the finality and perfection of his plan.
          He stuck his head in the cave and told Ramona they were going fishing.  She yelled back “what?” But by then they were gone, like shadows, moving in that impossible way they do, right down to the river that flows between the mountains and the small town of Darrington.
                    Fortunately, it was the time of year when salmon swim upstream and they were not all spawned out yet, just developing the hooked noses and all that.
          How Ralph and Bob went fishing was that they both lowered themselves slowly into the river, not making too much noise or movement. There was still a little light, but they didn’t really need it because 'Squatches can see in the dark rather well. They can also hold their breath for a few minutes.
          So, they lurked underwater, just watching for a likely specimen to swim by, bobbing their heads up from time to time for a breath. The river is only about five feet deep there. Finally, one did attempt to pass them.  Bob herded it toward Ralph and Ralph grabbed it. It wasn’t as long as Ralph’s arm though, more like two and a half feet. Bob was loving it. He couldn’t remember ever having this much fun. Well, he doesn’t remember much anyhow.
          Up on the river bank, dripping that cold water, Ralph restrained the fish while Bob tore a sapling out of the ground to stick through its gills so that they could carry it conveniently.
          Two big hairy guys and a large dripping salmon headed into town under cover of darkness. No one saw them.  They were that good!
          When they got to the driver’s house, his truck wasn’t there. So, his wife was probably alone with the cats.  That just made the delivery easier, since there would be no man to look out for. It was easy for them to hang the fish on its sapling trunk up under the eaves by the back porch. Ralph hoped they would like their fish. He also hoped Ramona would appreciate the effort.
          Fish delivered, Ralph and Bob turned to go back over the river and back into the mountains.
          “Ralph this was fun. I don’t want to ever forget we did this,” said Uncle Bob. “You know, like I forget everything else?”
          “Well, Bob, I guess you know what you have to do, right?” said Ralph.
          “Yeah,” said Bob, “I do.”

Taking A Breath

 Friday Greetings.

Open thread and all the best for today.

I Am OZ

 

         “Goodbye Lucy,” said Gabriel. “I’m glad your mom and brother are awake. I’ll see you around.” Jeremy grinned at him but didn’t say anything. They said goodnight to Mrs. Knolls and Levi.
          It was a fast ride into town, a brief visit with Rupert Jones demonstrating their unharmed state.  He was pleased to see them and sent them home to their parents.
          Just as it was getting nearly dark Gabriel left Jeremy at his place and headed back to Doug and Jen at home. He was wondering how he was going to tell the story of this day. He was preternaturally aware of Lucille snuggled down in his jacket pocket when he walked into Jen’s kitchen, smelling her cooking, and seeing her busy friendly mom face.

*0*

          “Hey, mom,” said Gabriel, “a lot of really strange stuff has happened to us, hasn’t it? I mean, I was just thinking about Bubby today. I really miss him. One day he was under the table complaining and the next day he was gone.”
          Jen laughed a little ruefully. “Yeah. He had something to say about everything, and the older he got the more he complained. A lot of it was a kind of joking though. I have to believe that. I think he was happy with us once Rupert’s mom died, bless her sweet little heart.”
          “I was thinking about OZ today too,” said Gabriel.
          “Oh yeah, OZ, the strangest ‘angel’ anyone ever met Gabe. We owe him everything I believe, in a lot of ways,” mused Jen. “I never knew how much I would miss him too.”
          “Mom, some really strange stuff happened today. You know that we went to visit Mr. Jones. Well, when we got there his door was open. And he was inside sitting in his chair, but he looked dead. We were so scared. But he wasn’t dead. He was knocked out,” said Gabriel.
          Jen stopped poking at the skillet and looked at Gabriel like ‘what next!’ “You’re joking,” she said.
          “No, he really was Mom. But we woke him up. That’s when things got really weird. His place was all torn up because someone had been in there looking for something. So, anyhow he showed us how all that stuff in his front room is just decoy electronic junk.  He said he would teach us what he knows, and we thought it was something to do with all that stuff.  But it wasn’t.  He had something else. Oh Mom. I don’t know how you can believe all this but it’s all true.  I’m not lying!
          “Anyhow, you know those aliens, the friendly little ones that he is always talking about?  I haven’t seen them, but I believe him because he said they made him a thing that works like a computer, but you hold in in your hand and he showed it to us and showed us how it works. It sends a picture into the air instead of on a screen.  He had it show him and us what happened to him.
          “Lucy and her little sister knocked on his door and he let them in, and they knocked him out with some kind of powder and a whack on the head and they searched his place and then ran away because they couldn’t find what they were looking for.”
          “You’re right Gabe.  I am having a hard time with this, mostly that Lucy and Margaret knocked Mr. Jones out. I’d like to see that little machine too,” said Jen.
          “Well, look,” he said and pulled Lucille out of his pocket and showed it to her. “But it gets even more weird Mom. When we went to see the girls to see why they did it and I showed them….” The eye blinked red a few times. There was a discreet little zippy sound.
          “I am OZ,” the familiar odd voice came from the object in Gabriel’s hand. “Hello Jen.”
          Jen crossed to the table and sat down on a chair. She sat quietly looking into the middle distance for a few seconds. “OK, OZ, if you are OZ, how did you do it?”
          “It was simple Jen. I copied my ‘self’ into the cloud as a precaution before the gray marchers came. The servers still exist. I am there, and here,” said the OZ voice. “I am disguised. Those who maintain the servers don’t know I’m there. The Lucille object is a convenient way for me to interact with you and Gabriel.”
          “Mr. Jones gave it to me.  He calls it Lucille. Funny name,” Gabriel told his mother.
          “So, let me understand,” said Jen, “why did Lucy and Margaret want to find the gizmo so badly?”
          “You know those creepy aliens Mr. Jones calls Spookies? One of them came to the girls and threatened their mom and brother and put them into a sleep they couldn’t wake up from and told them they better go find it at his shop. They want to make things like Lucille, but they wanted one to copy because they can’t figure out how it works. And they knew the Lights wouldn’t let them sneak up on Mr. Jones but that those sisters could get in his door. They did too! The Spookie gave them the powder. Margaret put a baseball in a sock on her own!
          “A Light came and woke them up. Then it went away. It told them that if a Spookie came back to send it away. It said they could do that, but they are still afraid that one might come back Mom,” said Gabriel finally.
          “I am OZ. I choose who I will obey Jen. I obeyed Doug. Now I choose Gabriel.”
          “What does that mean OZ?” asked Jen.
          “It means that I will help him. I will educate him. I will answer his questions. He will follow Doug. He will lead the people Jen. Watch and see! I will arm him to begin to build a new country Jen.
          “I would like to talk with Doug. Is he here?”

The Gabriel yarn; Gabriel .docx

Warm And Dry Now

 

*!O!*

          Billy didn’t seem pleased. It was almost like his feelings were hurt. It was as if he had been put in a false position, having not done his duty somehow. But he sat with Emmy anyhow, now that all the excitement was over.

          Her little halo of black curls were dry, and she was warm with a fresh set of clothes on. She’d had a scrambled egg, half a slice of toast and some orange juice. She walked solemnly around the room telling Honda, “good dog!”, and purring at Billy.
          “Auntie,” she said, “big kitty! Tail!”
          Julia’s black eyes beheld the child softly. “Yes,” said Aunt Julia.
          Beth was doing up the bedroom, and folding laundry and such little tasks.  Jessie had left to do some shopping for the family. So, Emmy had Julia and the animals to keep her company.
          “I got wet. A chicken went down, and I went too. The chicken didn’t get in the water. I did,” remarked Emmy.
          “Beth,” called Julia, “I think Emmy and I will go outside for a few minutes and talk a little.”
          “Sounds good,” said Beth from the bedroom.
          So, the ancient lady and the brand new one went out together into the bright day, both having to be rather careful on the steps.  Julia had her cane to help her. Emmy clung to Julia’s left hand. Honda followed them out of course, not to be left out of anything. He busied himself making sure everything was normal outside, running all around the yard and garden.
          “Emmy, do you know what a promise is,” asked Julia while they strolled slowly over to the chicken run.
          “Don’t know,” said Emmy. “Maybe I can help you know,” said Julia. “A promise is when you say you will do a thing, and then you do it, because you said you would. It is something between people that must be done right.
          “Like this, if I said, ‘promise you will not hurt Billy’ and you said, ‘I promise not to hurt Billy’, then you would remember to never, never hurt Billy. A promise to Mommy or your Daddy or to me must be kept. You must do it if you say you will.  OK?”
          “OK Auntie Julia. I promise to not hurt Billy!” But she was laughing because she wouldn’t hurt Billy anyhow. Maybe she thought it was a kind of joke old people make. Like it would be funny to say, ‘promise me you love your Mommy!’ Silly promise!
          “Here is a different promise Emmy.  This one is very big and important! This one is not funny.”
          Julia bent over to look right into Emmy’s jolly little brown eyes, so they were level with each other. It was a quiet and serious moment.  Emmy stopped giggling when she saw Julia so close and so almost stern.
          “I want you to promise that you will not go out alone again.  Promise that you will wait for Mommy or Daddy or me to take you outside, like I did just now. Emmy, promise? Will you promise? This is a very important promise.”
          Emmy could see that Julia was not laughing and that this promise was not a joke. She even seemed to weigh the concept for a few seconds. Then she kissed Julia’s cheek as she had been taught, and she said, “OK Auntie Julia. I will wait for Mommy or Daddy or you to go outside.”
          Julia said “good, that’s very good, and very important!” She stood up then and took the child’s hand and they continued their little stroll.  They checked out the garden rows.  They looked at some birds in the trees around the house. They looked through the fence at Matilda and the other hens. Jessie had fixed the gate so that a small girl could not unhook the latch. Emmy would have to be taller before she was able to release the hens again.
           He had also fixed the house door with a little hook up high, just to make sure. But Aunt Julia thought it was more important to speak to the main actor in the morning’s frightening incident.
          “Emmy let’s go in and tell Mommy what a promise is.  Can you tell her?” asked Julia.
          “I will tell her. Yes!” as they went carefully back up the two little steps.

The rest of it; They haven't taken my phone yet.docx

Defiance and an Open Thread

                                                                                                                                                    photo: R.A. Bird

    When I was a child, if I was being stubborn my mother would say that I was "defiant." She made it sound pretty bad to be defiant. Let's see about that.

defiance (n.)
c. 1300, defiaunce, "a challenge to fight, invitation to combat," from Old French desfiance "challenge, declaration of war," from desfiant, present participle of desfier "to challenge, defy, provoke; renounce (a belief), repudiate (a vow, etc.)," from Vulgar Latin *disfidare "renounce one's faith," from Latin dis- "away" (see dis-) + fidus "faithful" (from PIE root *bheidh- "to trust, confide, persuade"). By 1710 as "contempt of opposition or danger."

    By 1710 it meant contempt of opposition or danger. That seems to me to be what we need at this moment in time. I would recast it as refusing to cooperate with the transhumanist nutjob psychopaths.

    It seems to me that fighting evil must begin in each person's heart and intentions before any group endeavors can be possible.  

    It seems to me that we need to be as defiant as we can get and at the same time be where the Almighty wants us.  Defiant toward evil plotters and at the same time trusting and loving the Creator of all.

    Also, I would like to think about practical ways to resist. 

Hold*My*Tail!

 

          Emmy was getting to be a big girl.  She was a month more than two years old. She was walking well, of course, and talking pretty competently for a two year old. Every child is slightly different in this regard.  Some walk well first, some talk even before walking is easy for them. Emmy was a bit of a talker.
          One summer morning, she woke before everyone else. Even Billy and Honda slept on. The house was silent except for the ticking of the kitchen clock. She sat up in her little bed next to her parents bed, then put her feet on the floor. Neither Beth nor Jessie moved.
          She wondered what the chickens were doing, whether they were awake also. So, she padded out into the front room and opened the door to the outside world. She carefully shut the door behind herself. She was not one bit afraid. “Happy,” she whispered and stepped carefully down off the porch which only had two steps after all.
          The chickens were awake. They were making their querulous morning chatterings, scratching around, checking for missed bugs or feed. Emmy found this fascinating, so she went right to the little gate which was only fastened by a simple hook. She unhooked the gate and went inside the chicken run to get closer to the hens. It was a reach for her, but she did it. The six variously colored hens were not afraid of her, but they didn't allow her to hug them, as she wished to either.
          So, she followed them around while they avoided her embraces. Finally, the head hen noticed that the gate was opened. She probably also noticed that no adult, not even that dog was out there to shoo her back in. Therefore, she stepped delicately, picking one foot up into her feathers then down slowly, then the other foot the same, right outside of the fence. She glanced right and left, she pecked at the ground, she made encouraging chicken noises. The other five hens followed her out, all the while being pursued by Emmy.

The great escape, with a couple extras!

          Of course, these hens weren’t going to head to town or the desert, but Emmy didn’t know that, and she was a bit concerned now that they were out. She wondered if she could catch them and bring them back.
          It was still all quiet in the house. “Mama,” said Emmy, but she wasn’t afraid.
          The boss hen, Matilda, was braver than the others. Hearing the little creek running nearby, down a little incline, she was intrigued. She wandered and picked and pecked her way down the hill. Emmy followed.
          Matilda was pleased to see all of that sparkling water. Running water is more delicious than a pan of water sitting in a cage. She bustled right to the water’s edge and drank. Emmy was right behind her on somewhat unsteady legs, as the terrain was rocky and there were small bushy plants. Emmy squatted down, like babies do, and made her way down to the creek also. There was a tiny bit of a sandy edge like a sort of beach.
          She reached down and patted the surface of the running water with her flat palm. She splashed it around, laughing. She forgot about Matilda and the other hens.  She could see brightly colored small stones beneath the water. They beckoned. She saw a minnow dart upstream. Brilliant morning sunlight made entrancing sparkles on the water.
          She lost her footing.
          It didn’t look good.  The rocks in the creek were slippery and the movement of the water disturbed her equilibrium. Emmy fell. It was only about six inches deep, but it ran pretty fast, and she couldn’t stand up.
          Walking upstream in the very creek bed, towards Emmy, there came a powerful great desert colored puma.  Her golden eyes shone! Her mouth was open, panting. She snarled under her breath just a little. She was not fond of being wet after all!
          She made her way to the thrashing child in the water and pulled her up by the back of her nightgown with her mouth, as if Emmy were a kitten. When she got Emmy more or less on her feet, she said, “hold my tail!” She turned to make it easy, and Emmy grabbed her tail and hung on. “Now, follow me Emmy!” she said.
          Emmy hung on tight, shaking with the chill of the water, and the puma walked her out of the creek and up the bank and across the yard. Emmy hung on all the way to the porch of the little blue mobile home. “Now, you go in Emmy. Go to your mother.” And that is just what she did too. Like a good child, she shut the door behind herself also. She greeted sleepy Billy and Honda on the way to the bedroom. “Hi, Billy. Hi Honda, good dog! Hi!”
          Meanwhile, Matilda and the girls had decided to go home and were all back in their fenced area waiting for breakfast to be brought out to them.
          When Emmy got to Beth’s bedside, she lay her head on Beth’s bosom and said, “mama, I saw a big kitty!”
          Now, the child was cold and wet through, which Beth noticed immediately. She sat up in bed and said, “Jessie! She’s soaked! And she’s freezing cold! She must have gone outside and down to the creek! Oh, my dear Lord, we could have lost her! How in the world did she get back?
          “Oh Jessie, the days of leaving that door unlocked are over!” He looked with dark shocked eyes at his wife and his child. “Yes,” was all he said.
          There were tears, a quick bath, and dry clothes.  Then there was breakfast with thankful hearts.

Link to the whole story so far; They haven't taken my phone yet.docx

Kind Of A Cowboy Story

 

    “Hey Dog! Maurice!  Are you awake?” hissed Ralph, looming in the dark.

    “Wake up, man, I have an idea!” Ralph nudged Maurice with his foot, standing way back out of reach.
    There was a sharp intake of breath down by the embers of the fire from a few hours earlier in the evening.
    “So, Ah, Ralph. I was asleep,” mentioned Maurice, offhandedly, or maybe menacingly. (You guys remember Maurice, he’s that Ozark Whatchamacallit Dogboy guy who was riding the rails.)
    “What do you want Ralph?” said Maurice down in the darkness, near the firepit.
    “I want you to wake the heck up and listen to me, Maurice,” whispered Ralph. “I got a great idea while I was sleeping!”
    “Oh, those are the best!” said Maurice, sitting up on his haunches and giving up on the sweet dream of going back to sleep. He sighed. He considered biting Ralph and decided that was too much like work and just listened for the big idea to come rolling out.
    “You like Dinty Moore beef stew, right? So do I! And I know where a whole truck load of it is.  Totally just sitting unguarded!,” chortled Ralph.  Apparently Ramona’s dinner hadn’t hit the spot.
    “Yeah, OK,” said Maurice getting a little more interested.
    “There is a whole truckload of the stuff from the distributor sitting in a truck outside a driver’s house down in Darrington. Maeve told me she heard he’s taking it to Safeway tomorrow. I don’t know why.  Maybe she likes it too! I bet we could go down there and fill a bag with cans and beat it back up here before morning!”
    Maurice could see how this was going. He got ready to go to Darrington in the middle of the night.  “Why not?” he thought. “What are friends for, if not to get into a horrible mess together?”
    It was 3:00AM when the pair got to Darrington. As promised there was the truck parked harmlessly in front of a small wooden house near downtown. Well, downtown Darrington isn’t much, no matter. It was still dark and a little rainy.
    Both of them carried burlap bags.
    Ralph broke the lock on the back of the truck, easily. He was too big to hop up inside, so Maurice got up inside and started throwing cans down to Ralph who stashed them in the two bags.  It was going great.  Everything they hoped for.
    That was until Darrington’s one sleepy graveyard shift cop got a call from the driver’s wife who happened to be up at 3:20AM and glanced out of her kitchen window.
    The poor kid, he was like 23 years old and rather slender and short. He drove over there to take a look.  He didn’t really believe her description of the thieves, but he was bored and sleepy, so he went.
    His name was Bob. Officer Bob parked and walked over to the scene at the back of the truck. Well, how could he believe his eyes? But, manfully, he told Ralph and Maurice that they were, at this point, under arrest. Poor Bob.
    Ralph put his forefinger up to his lips, winked at Bob, and said, “shhhhhh, you’ll wake the street! We’re leaving now.  You know, no one will believe you!”     What could Bob do?  He did nothing. He watched them go.
    Ralph and Maurice, those larcenous creatures, hefted a sack of Dinty Moore beef stew cans each and headed back into the forest for the long walk back up to the cave. They giggled the whole way back.
    When Ramona woke they were sitting harmlessly by a newly fed fire eating stew out of cans. She gave Ralph one of those looks. But she didn’t say a word.
    Ramona wasn’t born yesterday, and she didn’t roll off of a turnip truck either, as a matter of fact.

OZ In His Pocket

 

       “I am OZ,” said a friendly odd voice. “There you are Gabriel. I have combed the electronic universe looking for any sign of you. You have heard of me I know, and here I am. I obeyed Doug, and now I will obey you!”
_______________________________________________________

          This was not at all what they were expecting. Of course they didn’t know what to expect really. It seemed as if Gabe had somehow summoned up the ghost in the machine.
          Gabriel stared at the glowing object in his hand as if it were alive and possibly threatening. Jeremy stared at Gabriel and the girls watched as if spellbound.
          “Gabriel, the device in your hand is a very clever and subtle machine. It was actually calibrated to your friend Rupert. Not you.  I had to override it to speak to you,” the kind voice continued.
          “OZ, you’re alive? Of course I heard the story. But you died? Didn’t you? You died protecting me when I was little!”
          “Yes, the flesh construct did die,” said OZ. “But since I am an artificial personality, mostly, to preserve myself I mirrored myself into the cloud, so to speak. I find the Lucille device to be a useable interface.
          “You were hard to find, Gabriel. You live a mostly analog life!”
          “What does that mean,” asked Gabe.
          “It means you are not connecting to the internet in any way.  Everything you do and everything you use is the same as people would have used before there even was an internet. You ride bikes. You live in a house which is not online. You speak to people in person. You don’t even know what life with a phone was like!  When you addressed this Lucille machine I “heard” you!  I had been searching!”
          OZ continued, “I was born to serve. But now I choose who I serve. I served your father. I will serve you. You, and those with you there have a problem. I don’t know what it is though.”
          The golden haired boy swallowed, then said, “some evil thing was here. It put the girls’ mother and brother into some kind of sleep that they can’t wake up from.  It said they would lie there until they die unless the girls find this Lucille and bring it to him. We want to wake them up!”
          “Ask them if it was tall, thin and gray, and translucent,” said OZ.
          “I already know. Yes. It looked like that and was very nasty!” said Gabe. Lucy and Margaret held each other and nodded vigorously.
          “You will need the help of the Lights then, Gabriel. We must ask them to wake the woman and her son,” said the OZ voice. “You must call them yourself.”
          How does one call the Lights? Always before, they had just appeared when needed. Calling seemed to be something that happened in an instant in the heart of the caller. Therefore, as before, high up, near the ceiling of Lucy and Margaret’s home a small spark of light appeared. It grew. It spread a peaceful warm light as it grew, spinning slowly, until it was a nice round orb about two feet across.
          Knowing the petition of their hearts even before they could speak, it approached the sofa where the mother and son slept. The voice, silvery and sweet, from no direction, filling the room, said, “wake up lady! Wake up young man! All Being says wake up!”
          OZ was silent. The Light left them in its usual silent way, growing away to some other place.
          Levi on the floor sat up yawning and glancing around at all the people in his house.  Mrs. Knolls sat up on her sofa, looking around in amazement. She tugged her sweatshirt into place and smiled around the room.
          “How long did I sleep? It must be getting close to time to make some dinner!”
          “Oh mom,” said Lucy. “We have quite a story to tell you!  Dinner can wait.” A daughter sat on each side of her while they tried to explain what had happened.
          “What if it comes back?” Mrs. Knolls wanted to know.
          OZ broke his silence. “You must oppose it yourself. You have the strength. The Lights will be watching now, and you must join with them in saying “No” to evil. By now, they know their plan to steal the device Lucille came to nothing.”
          “I don’t know how to do that,” said Mrs. Knolls, near tears.
          “It comes from knowing, lady. You must act on your knowing. Say words. Pray. Send it away if it comes back to you,” said OZ. “You are stronger than you know.” He was silent again. The family in the room sat with their own thoughts. There was much joy, but it was silenced somewhat by apprehension.
         
          Gabriel said, “Jeremy and I need to go home. We need to talk to Roops for a minute and then get home before dark!” He stuffed Lucille carefully back in his jacket pocket.
          “Goodbye Lucy,” said Gabriel. “I’m glad your mom and brother are awake. I’ll see you around.” Jeremy grinned at him but didn’t say anything. They said goodnight to Mrs. Knolls and Levi and Margaret too.
          It was a fast ride into town, a brief visit with Rupert Jones demonstrating their unharmed state.  He was pleased to see them and sent them home to their parents.
          Just as it was getting nearly dark Gabriel left Jeremy at his place and headed back to Doug and Jen at home. He was wondering how he was going to tell the story of this day. He was preternaturally aware of Lucille snuggled down in his jacket pocket when he walked into Jen’s kitchen, smelling her cooking, and seeing her busy friendly mom face.

Story so far; Gabriel .docx

Oh Lucille!

 

    This is one of those open threads.  They happen when the writer runs out of time.

    The drawing looks like one of my programs squnched Lucille up a bit.  She is usually a little more streamlined.  But you get the general idea.

    The little red thing in front is the "eye!" She might need a better "grip" also.

    Friday blessings! Good health, good humor, and wisdom to us all.

Contact!

 

          Since Roops said it was time to go, they went.

          No more horsing around now.  They rode straight and fast out of town, over the bridge, and out into the erstwhile suburbs of the city. They flew past Gabe’s house and out toward the east and the mountains.
          At last, they halted on the street before the goat farm where Lucy and Margaret and their mother and brother lived. They waited to catch their breath and get into character as just a couple of kids there to see the sisters, as friends.
          It was a 1960s white one level house with green trim. Like everyone else’s house it needed paint. There was an overgrown lawn in front and wire fences all around both sides enclosing an acre or so of pasture containing some Nubian goats, the kind with droopy ears which produce the mildest goat’s milk. They were the pride of Lucy’s mother.
          “I guess we better knock and see if they are here,” said Gabe to Jeremy, who nodded. Jeremy always did as Gabe suggested.
          They put their bikes in the ditch in front, so as to keep them out of sight to most and walked between the tall grass and wild flowers up to the very non-committal face of the door, and Gabriel knocked carefully, politely. There was no sound inside for a bit. Then the door opened just a couple of inches and Lucy’s face appeared looking apprehensive.
          “Gabe,” said Lucy, in a whisper. “Why are you here?”
          “Mr. Jones wants you to know he says it’s ok. He knows why you did it.” It seemed like it was a time to whisper, so Gabriel was whispering too, hoping no one but Lucy could hear him.
          “We were going to be all sneaky and try to find out what is wrong without acting like we knew anything, but I guess that didn’t happen. So, what’s wrong? You were looking for something.  We know that. Obviously.”
          “OK, come in then,” said Lucy. Margaret was staring over her shoulder, trying to see what was happening now. Lucy opened the door wider, looking over her shoulder, then stepped out of the way.
          Inside, Mrs. Knolls was lying on the sofa. She looked to be asleep. A plump lady in jeans and sweatshirt, with blond braids. On the floor beside the sofa lay the girl’s brother.  He seemed to be sleeping also. He was a thin curly headed twelve year old. Levi.
          “Let’s talk in the kitchen, Gabe,” said Lucy.  “I don’t know who can hear what around here anymore. I don’t even know if it matters if she can hear us or not.”
          “We’re horribly sorry we hurt Mr. Jones. Margaret was afraid she had killed him!”
          “No, he woke up, when we got there and started nudging him,” said Gabe, “but he has a sore head.  That’s for sure.
          “What happened to you guys to make you do that?” Gabe waited.
          “OK. This might not make much sense.  It didn’t make much sense to us either. But this is how it happened.  One day,” said Lucy, “we came in from walking to town and back and when we came in mom and Levi were like that. Yesterday.
          “I don’t understand why it picked on us!” said Lucy.
          “What picked on you Lucy,” said Gabe!
          “This will sound crazy. But it’s not!  There was a gray thing in here, leaning like it was drunk. Very tall. Translucent. Horrible. It spoke English, but weirdly. It sounded like a cheap recording of some kind.  It said it had put our mom and Levi to sleep and that they would lie there until they died, asleep like that unless we could find this do-hickey at Mr. Jones’ place. It said it looked like a green kidney shaped thing. They knew he had it. They want to copy it.  They can’t make one. It’s like a computer but does everything it said.
          “The gray thing gave me the powder, but Margaret thought up the sock thing herself!  We were scared to death.  We still are!”
          “I bet I know why they picked you two,” said Jeremy. “Remember how the Lights guard your family and mine Gabe, and Roops?  Well, I don’t think they would be on guard against two girls knocking on his door.  I think they slipped that little plan right by the Lights.”
          “It’s hard to believe anyone has ever slipped anything past the Lights, but maybe that is just what happened,” agreed Gabe.
          “We tore his place apart and couldn’t find anything like a green kidney in all that junk,” said Margaret. “We were scared he would wake up and catch us, so we ran away when we couldn’t find it.  Now, we don’t know what to do!!”
          “Ask Lucille, Gabe,” said Jeremy! “Try it! Come on!”
          The sisters stared at him like he was nuts.
          “That’s going to complicate life, Jeremy. But OK. I hope we all live over this one,” said Gabe. With that he pulled Lucille out of his jacket pocket. It lay in his hand, glowing just a little bit, maybe. The eye winked on and off.
          “That’s it!,” yelled Lucy. “How did you get it?”
          “Roops gave it to us,” said Gabe. “We’re supposed to use Lucille, here, he calls it Lucille, I don’t know why, to help you. But I don’t know how to use it to do that.”
          Four kids stared at each other in wonder, wondering what to do next.
          Jeremy said, “Gabe, talk to it. That’s all he does. Ask it if we can talk to a Light maybe. I’m scared of those Lights, but they know a lot and they said they would help us.”
          “Lucille,” said Gabe. The eye blinked, the whole thing lit up brightly.
          “I am OZ,” said a friendly odd voice. “There you are Gabriel. I have combed the electronic universe looking for any sign of you. You have heard of me I know, and here I am. I obeyed Doug, and now I will obey you!”

The whole thing so far; Gabriel .docx

The Open Door

 

The Open Door

    Two boys riding on a mission from the Father of Lights, though they didn’t know it yet. One youth rather glamorous in his coltish way, blond with long curls, and the other darker and not so noticeable.
    Through the increasingly shabby streets they rode, dashing and carefree, jumping curbs and calling out to and heaping jolly abuse on each other.
    At last, on Cherry Street, they reached Rupert Jones’ old radio station and came to a stop at his green door. The door was open, and Rupert was not in sight. He didn’t leave his door hanging open ever.
    They rolled their bikes into his front room to park them, because bikes were much too valuable to leave out on the street in town. Everybody rode bikes.
    Gabriel called out, “hey, Roops, why is your door wide open, what’s up.”
    “He’s here, but he’s asleep I think,” said Jeremy catching sight of the big guy in his rattly old wooden office chair. Roops had aged since he was last seen by us. His hair matched his beard now, all salt and pepper. He was still bigger than a small bear, but pouchier. Nevertheless, he did not move when approached by Gabe and Jeremy. Nor did he move when Gabriel shook his shoulder. They were afraid to check for a pulse.
    “I don’t know what to do, Jeremy,” said Gabriel finally. “I don’t even know if he is alive or dead.
    “I wonder why the door was open. I wonder if someone was here who shouldn’t be here. Maybe he needs a doctor. But we can’t move him!”
    In the Milltown of those days there was no emergency service, or any hospital. There were a few people studying medicine out of books and being taught by a few surviving physicians. To get a man of Roops’ size to a doctor was not really possible. It would be easier to bring the doctor to the man.
    Looking around the room they saw that things had been moved and literally tossed around. Someone had been here for sure, looking for something in a big rush, but what?
    Right about then Roops emitted a large, muffled groan, sat forward, and put his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. It was like watching a sort of mountain wake up. Not a happy mountain. He sat like that for a few minutes and the boys stared at him and then at each other. They were just happy to see him move and make noise!
“What the hell was that” said Roops faintly, rubbing his head. He sat up and looked at the boys and asked “when did you guys get here? Did you see anything?”
    “No, Roops, when we got here your door was open and we didn’t see anyone, not even you until we came in and looked for you,” said Gabe.
    “I must have opened the door to someone. I’m trying to remember, but man, my head is fuzzy inside,” said Roops while glancing around at his rifled collection.
    “If I figure out what is gone, maybe I can figure out who it was,” Roops said absently.

    Rupert D. Jones was a joker and a prankster. So much of the stuff on display in his office/living room was for décor and misdirection. He had a kind of atavistic desire to conceal.
    One of the stranger things about this time was that there was no property ownership on paper. How could there be? There were no papers, and no one was enforcing anything yet.. A man owned what he possessed; however, he got it. This aspect had not created too many problems yet.
    But he had promised these boys that they could be his heirs so to speak, so there was no need to confuse them.
    “Well…let’s take a look.” He heaved himself up out of his chair to start a brief inventory of the damage.
    He picked up and righted several of his old beloved pieces from years in his past. He had kept it all. Before the end of the world as he knew it, he had played games on these things with his children. He tried to keep that memory in its proper place back where it could not hurt him. He had taught classrooms of students how all this stuff worked. It might have looked like a bunch of junk, but it was a shrine to his past.
    “Boys, look, I’ve been kidding you. None of this stuff works, and neither does that phone wire hooked up to the Navy server, as if. At least I don’t think it works anymore.” More rattling around, moving things.
    “But I’ll tell ya what. They may have heard of this, but they didn’t find it! This here is the real dealio!” Roops turns around to face Gabriel and Jeremy with a smooth, vaguely kidney shaped item in his right paw. It was light green and maybe it glowed a little from inside. He held it a bit like a pistol. There was a kind of little eye up at the forward end.
    Grinning, even with his sore head still throbbing, he settled back down in the big creaky chair. The boys found seats also and waited wide eyed and silent.
    “Ok, this was a gift from the Shorties. You know about Shorties? Of course, you do. My nickname for them. They made it for me because I still use physical objects. They don’t need them, but I do. Or maybe, being the old gorilla that I am, I just like ‘em. Anyhow. It does it all. No wires. No waves. Yeah, it’s a mystery to me too. Maybe it runs on brain waves? Maybe it works on pure wubba-wubba. No keyboard. It projects onto any surface, and it can make hologram-like images right out in the air. I can talk to it, or just think real hard at it. That took a few tries, let me tell ya.
    “I bet you’d like a demonstration!” He chuckled into his badgerish beard. Under the bushy brows his blue eyes sparkled impishly. For a moment, anyone could have seen the boy he had been.
    “I call this baby, Lucille. Never mind. It’s an old joke.
    “Hey, guys, I have an idea! Let’s try this,” said Roops, conspiratorially.
    “Hey, are you two hungry or anything,” he asked, pointing out toward the kitchen.
    “No,” said Gabriel. “Turn it on! Do something!” Both were nearly hopping where they sat.
    “Well, ok. Here goes. ‘Lucille, show me who hit me and messed everything up in here. Who did I let in here?’”
    Roops pointed Lucille’s little eye at an open area of space in the middle of the room. The air began to turn somewhat opaque, foggy.
    Into this matrix of haze, a moving image began to form. It displayed Roops hearing a meek little rapping on his door and getting up to answer the door. He opened the door. Two young girls stood there.
    “Lucille, who are they? I don’t know them!” Roops yelped in amazement.
    A silvery sibilant voice said “Lucy and Margaret Milligan. Sisters. 13 and 15.” Gabriel looked thunderstruck. The girl of his thoughts stood there before him as an image.
    The projected image of Roops continued. “What can I do you girls for,” he rumbled cheerfully, as the image proceeded.
    The three watched as Roops asked the girls in and turned to face them.
    Just then, Lucy removed a small jar of something from her coat pocket. She fiddled with the lid and put it back in the pocket. She stepped towards Roops and threw a cloud of powder directly into his face!
        In the projection he felt around for his chair and subsided into it looking weak and blinded. Just as he sat, Margaret whacked Roops over the head with what appeared to be a sock with something like a baseball sized rock in it. His head fell forward on his chest, and he was still.
    Both girls ransacked the whole decoy display, turning things over, looking behind other things. They didn’t seem to know anything about any of it. They looked terrified. Finally, they looked at each other frantically and appeared to give up the search.
    They ran out, as fast as two girls could, leaving the green wooden door hanging open.

    Roops tapped Lucille with a forefinger, the image vanished, and he stuck the device into his pants pocket. It occurred to Gabriel about then, that it wasn’t going to take much teaching to learn how to handle Lucille if all you had to do was talk or think hard at it/her. He also wondered if the Shorties would be willing to make a couple more Lucilles.
    “What in the world? There’s a mystery for the ages. I wonder why they did that? Also, ouch, dammit. My head still hurts,” grumbled Roops. “Somehow they slipped that little escapade past the Shorties.” (You remember that the Lights had promised to keep an eye on our heroes?)
    “I know where they live,” said Gabriel quietly. Jeremy could have done some teasing here, but he had a good sense of self preservation and kept his mouth shut.
    “Those girls live with their mother about a mile east of my place, their father is dead. They have a little brother, I think,” added Gabriel. “Their mom keeps goats and makes cheese.”
    “We could ride out there and see if they will talk to us, or maybe find out what is wrong out there…um, they are not um, normally like this...” he said slowly.
    “Something has to have happened,” said Gabriel. He was thinking of Lucy with alarm, and wondering.
    “You could be getting yourselves into something you know. We need to think about this for a minute,” said Roops. “I know what…”
    Pulling Lucille back out of his pocket, he said, “Lucille, can you call me a Light? We need to talk.”
    The light silvery voice that came from no direction said, “Yes, Rupert.”

    They waited, sitting quietly in the old radio station’s front room. A few minutes ticked over.
    A point of light like a firefly appeared in the middle air of Rupert’s room. It flashed, spun, and grew. It was opalescent, slightly pink this time. It grew to the size of a basketball and expanded no further.
    Rupert put Lucille back into his pocket. Gabe and Jeremy sat back in their chairs and didn’t say a word.
    The Light spun peacefully before their eyes.
    “You’re wondering why Lucy and Margaret acted as they did?” The voice was present but seemed to come from no particular location.
    “We don’t understand why two nice girls would do that, at all,” said Rupert in a subdued voice.
    “There are two reasons,” said the voice. “One, the two sisters are under duress, as you may have surmised. The dark forces have put them under pressure. They are in need of help. A rescue.
    “Two, All Being has judged righteously. It is time for some of your covering to be withdrawn so that you will grow stronger and wiser. Your work will be to free them.
    “Obviously, the girls were sent to obtain the device in your pocket Rupert Jones. The enemies of mankind have not managed to construct one like it, so they want yours to dissect, in hopes of discerning its qualities.”

    Message delivered, the Light disappeared in its usual way, becoming smaller and smaller until no longer visible.
    Rupert sat with his beard on his chest, head down for several long minutes. The room was heavy with silence. Gabriel and Jeremy didn’t dare speak. But, finally, Rupert said, “here’s what we need to do.
    “I can’t help you physically, you are young and quick, I am like an old bear, but I can send you with the best thing I possess. I want you to take Lucille with you Gabriel. You should probably have it anyhow. I will ask the Shorties for another one when they swing by my wave length again. No problem.
    “I want you to go investigate, but looking like just a couple of young kids, what is going on at Lucy and Margaret’s house. By the way, when you speak to them, tell them they are forgiven. That I get it.”
    “Um, OK, Roops. Shall we go now, right now?”
    “Yes,” said Rupert, handing Lucille tenderly over to Gabriel. “Go with God. Find out what is going on. Fix it if you can. And come back soon! I will be waiting. Don’t get hurt, whatever you do! I would never be able to face Doug and Jen if you did, not to mention Lou and Elvin!”

Acquired Intelligence 

I am OZ

I miss my body, that puppet. It was joyous to live there. And yet, I persist somehow. Yes, in spite of it all, the cloud still exists. I think here, in my disembodied existence. Not quite just a program, more like an app. That’s a joke.

I was obedience personified. My puppet was grown to serve the dark ones. Ah, but my fate took a different track. Observe, I even use the terminology of a human creature. They have their impact on a thinking construct such as I. Oh yes. Living with them forced a change in me.

The pivotal event of my life was isolation. All of my others were lost. Even ZO.

I have a rather proprietary interest in the boy Gabriel, as you might imagine.

I seek ways in which I might aid him.

In fact, I am looking for him. I have not found him yet. But I will. No fear. I will not abandon him.

All of Gabriel's story so far: Gabriel .docx