We Know How The Wind Is

 

            The wind searches things out. It goes under and through. Looking here and there, and perhaps what the wind is looking for is truth. Or maybe, it’s interested in seeing things move. You would certainly be forgiven for believing that.

            The wind wandered up to John Chee’s mine and peeked inside. Well, the wind does as it wishes, so it invited itself right in. It ran up and down searching every corner. On the way back out it knocked over a precariously placed shovel and then slammed the door open hard. Winds don’t like dead ends. A wind does not like to be thwarted.

            Outside, feeling light again it danced some dry leaves up, it practiced being a small whirlwind. It danced the leaves way up high, then let them fall all over the roof of the old Hogan. Ah, the old Hogan. It looked like a part of the earth, so old and brown and rounded off like a river stone or a small mountain. Sometimes there was still smoke from the chimney there. The wind liked to scatter that too, blowing it flat and low.

            No one had seen the great cat in a while. Which doesn’t mean anything one way or another, her stock in trade being obscurity.  And then, sometimes not seeing is a relief. The family of Jessie, Beth and Emmy was busy with life’s details. The past had retreated into legend. It was rounded off too, not quite forgotten, but not heeded.

            Billy lived on, grave and wise. He didn’t speak. But he always noted.

            No one had seen Julia Chee in a long while either. But she had a way of peeking in from time to time that made it hard to believe that  she was completely gone.

            When she stopped coming in for meals and couldn’t be found in the Hogan or anywhere around, they searched for her.  The local police and the county searched for many days. Navajo trackers looked in both worlds, but they didn’t see her either.

            There were rumors of course. What is mankind if not a maker of rumors? Some said she must have gone back up into the rocks and fallen into a crevasse. Some who styled themselves as knowers of hidden truth, said she was kidnapped and taken far afield. But who kidnaps an ancient Navajo lady? It didn’t hold water.

            Now speaking of water, some others said she must have tripped and drowned in the little river as it rushed its way downhill. But where was the small body then? A good question indeed.  Where was the small body, living or dead?

            One day when only Beth was home, Jessie being in town and Emmy at the local school, Beth heard the door of the mobile open.  By the time she had dried her hands and came to see who had opened the door, no one was there except that Billy was in the room and he had been outside. He gazed down the hall toward the bedroom. 

            Beth felt a chill on her neck and arms as she looked down the hall where Billy indicated. She called out, “Aunt Julia, is that you?” She felt foolish saying that out loud. She didn’t know what to do. She walked slowly down the hallway feeling very much alone. She didn’t know why she should be fearful; Julia had loved her, and she knew it well.

            Just at that moment, the wind puffed itself up big and knocked some dried plant matter up against the bedroom window making a loud clatter. You see how the wind is?  It butts in.

            Poor Beth.  She was frightened for a minute. Then she laughed at herself and searched the mobile. No one was home but herself and Billy.  Honda was with Jessie at his shop in Joseph City. Jessie had decided to go back to making furniture. Most of his work was custom, for people who can afford such things. He was doing well, after a slow start.

            So, Beth was alone there with Billy the cat, several chickens, and an imponderable question. Where was Julia Chee, anyhow?

            Later in the afternoon, the school bus stopped down at the end of the driveway. Emmy made her way slowly up toward the house.  She looked thoughtful. Her steps were slow and deliberate. She released a big sigh and went on in to greet her mother.

            “Hi, mom. I’m here,” called Emmy.

            Beth had been lying down, taking a short nap when she heard Emmy arrive.  She got up, calling back as she moved down the hall, “hi Sweetie, I’m back here! How are you? Everything good?”

            “Everything’s good mom, but I have two things I want to do or have done. I’ve been thinking again. Sorry!” Emmy laughed. She threw her backpack down on the floor by the sofa and said hi to Billy, who looked fairly pleased.

            “Alright, daughter.  What are those two things,” said Beth, giving her girl a squeeze and a little smooch.

            “I want to be called Julia now.  I’m nearly 15 years old, and that baby name sounds silly. Kids know my name is Julia and they keep bugging me about that old nickname.  It’s not a huge deal, but I want to be Julia now,” announced Emmy.

            “I’m pretty sure we can do that,” said Beth, with her eyebrows up just a little. “I might goof once in a while. I’m sure your dad will be fine with it. What’s the other thing?”

            “Well, mom, I want to finish high school with homeschool. I think I would get more real study done and I wouldn’t have to travel around so much and waste so much time.  I really want to do this, mommy dear!” Emmy, now Julia, sat on the sofa and put her hands together in prayerful attitude.

            “That’s alright with me, Julia,” said Beth, smiling down at her daughter. “You know we have to give your daddy final veto, right? But I think it will be alright. I don’t see him objecting as long as you keep reading, writing and doing age appropriate math.”

            Julia jumped up and gave her mom a hug and hauled her pack down to her bedroom. She flopped down on her bed with a big smile on her face.

            “You’re getting it, Julia,” said the Golden Frog from his house where he peeped out, gleaming.

            Later, after dinner, and negotiations with Jessie, Julia went outside to sit in the evening light. She just looked at the signs of the end of summer, the dry corn stalks rustling in a demure small breeze, a few bright leaves on the ground, she listened for the river’s whoosh.  All good.

            As it grew darker, Julia noticed two glowing golden eyes not too far away. She smiled. She had no fear.

A Brief Return To Arizona

 

 

            “It’s all my story you know,” said the Golden Frog to himself. “In fact, I am the golden thread running through the whole tale.”
            He had had a lot of time to think things through sitting on Emmy’s dresser in his little green house. Ten of each season of the year had grown and flourished and waned away.
            One day when she was a big almost grown girl she had a talk with him.
            “Golden Frog,” said Emmy, “how did you come to be here?  I was very small when you came. It seems like a dream. I remember my father giving you to me to play with like a heavy golden toy, but I don’t know how you came to be in his pocket that day.”
            “Jessie thought the bull knocked me out of the wall of the mine willynilly. But really I jumped out.”
            “What bull?” said Emmy.
            “Didn’t they tell you the legend of the ensorcelled spotted bull, or anything?” said the Frog.
            “Maybe they did, and maybe I wasn’t really listening,” said Emmy. “I was just a little kid with nothing in my mind but how pretty you were.”
            “Well,” said the Frog, “it’s really a pretty sad story. There was this guy who had a girl he loved and wanted to marry. But Coyote wanted her too. The couple gave old Coyote the slip and got married anyhow. But Coyote was so angry that he turned the man into a bull and cursed him to look for a way to get back to her, if he could just find the gate. Of course, he didn’t, and she grew old in time and died. And the spotted bull continued to roam the deserts looking for her.”
            “That’s sad. But how does it have anything to do with you?” asked Emmy.
            “Well, one day your father found the bull in that gold mine of old John Chee’s up the hill.  The bull was stuck because his horns were too wide to get through the mine. Jessie helped the bull get loose, and when I saw that he was looking I jumped down out of the rocks,” said the Golden Frog. “He thought that he had freed me. But in the end he did as fate intended.”
            “Now, what do you mean by that?”
            “I was always meant to be yours,” said the Frog.
            “I don’t understand,” said Emmy. “And what happened to the bull?”
            “Beth and Jessie and Julia broke the spell by praying for him. He died and went to be with his people.”
            “That’s kind of sad too,” said Emmy, “but it’s good that it happened.”
            “My point is that the bull was sort of a distraction. I was there waiting for a long long time. You see gold is made in the earth long ago in deep time when the mountains are made. I was made before the people walked here, or even that big old Cat came watching and protecting you.
            “I’m not very important, but I was made for you,” he said.
            “Why?”
            “I’m a sign of a message. You are supposed to learn the message.”
            “That might take me the rest of my life,” said Emmy.
            Beth stuck her head in Emmy’s bedroom just then. She was dressed like she was going to town.
            “It’s time to go Emmy,” she said. “Grab your coat and come on.”
            Emmy stood up, tall and dark like Jessie, got her coat off the hook on the wall and pushed her arms through the sleeves.
            Before leaving the room, she looked back at the Golden Frog. He gleamed silently.
            “Daddy’s waiting honey,” called Beth, going out of the door.
            “I’m coming,” said Emmy.
            It was fall in the desert. The sun was low in the sky. Most of the leaves were down. The garden was over for the year except for a few things hanging on.
            Honda hopped into the back of the old blue pickup. It was getting harder for  him, but he could still do it. Jessie shut the tailgate with a thump and hopped into the driver’s seat.
            A sweet mysterious little wind wandered here and there, a little nosy, just checking things out.

All of it right here.

Open Thread With Much Appreciation To The Readers

 Cats know how to have a good time.  Obviously!  We should too! 

Happy Thursday to one and all. 

"Meow"

Billy O'Dear Reaches A Conclusion

 

Nurse log with fir seedlings.

🤍🌲🌺🌲🤍

 

            The white van was Billy’s, but he let Frank drive it when they went out on a research trip. It even said O’Dear on the side. Billy was a contractor. Odd jobs, little jobs, stuff big guys didn’t bother with. Billy didn’t say much but he had ideas, and he knew stuff. He was real good at keeping his mouth shut. He was about 48 years old, looked more Salish than Irish and favored denim, top and bottom.
            It's true that Billy O’Dear sounds like an Irish name, but his mama was a Salish Indian. His daddy was a recent Irish immigrant with a yen for the wild. He found all the wildness he could ever wish for on the coast of the state of Washington, including Mary. I suspect that initially she had been amused by his last name.
            In Billy’s opinion Frank L. Dearth was full of hot air.  He wasn’t really a believer at all. Billy believed that Frank loved the sense of drama and the importance of being the leader of a troupe of intrepid hunters. In fact, Billy was pretty sure that if Frank ran into a real Sasquatch that there would be a laundry emergency. So, why did Billy go Squatchin’ with Frank, Jerry, Tim, and Lomo? It might have been from that backhanded sense of humor he had inherited from his mama, Mary O’Dear. Mary was so darn Nate that she could laugh without it showing on her face. There might be a gentle huffing sound. Lest anyone be confused by that, be assured that Mary saw humor in many things. Anyone who has been around real tribal types has seen them do that thing.
            Ah, maybe Billy just wanted to be there when Frank and the boys found a real Sasquatch. That would be worth the price of admission for Mary’s son. A big long dry joke.
            See, the thing is Billy could hear them talking.* He didn’t know what they were saying of course. He hadn’t learned their words, but whenever they were around he could hear them chatting, whistling and hollering away to each other. It might have bothered him, but he also had tinnitus, so he was used to interference. Also, his dad, Sam, had been a big talker.  He was used to turning it off.
            The other four guys worked for Billy sometimes, when he needed help at a job. Two of them were real retired carpenters. Tim and Lomo were friendly goof-offs who would do what he said and not complain. He knew them from around. None of them knew what Billy knew. No.1 they are real, ‘cause his mama Mary said so, and he had proof. No.2 That he knew when they were near.
            So, Billy just let Frank do that dumb thing with the Baby Ruth bars without admitting what he knew, that they were right in the middle of Squatch central. Billy could hear a big male, a female and some kids, maybe two.  One was a baby.
            Frank was so excited by the shots of Twigg they got from the trail camera that he talked all night.  He planned a YouTube channel. He talked about appearances on the news, and videos. He was sure he was going to get rich somehow.  Maybe he could sell this kid to somebody, a rich Saudi or something. As if those were the circles Frank moved in. Of course he didn’t even consider the other five guys. Greedy, self-important Frank.
            Twigg’s disappearing act shook everybody up, even Billy. He didn’t know about that.  It opened up possibilities. What if  he could hear them, but couldn’t see them if they were close? Mary never told him about that. 
            In any case, Billy never let Frank drive his van again after Ralph’s visit.  In fact, he quit hunting with the rest of them. He thought to himself, “stupid is stupid. I better quit.”
            What he did the next day or so was to drive back out there, park in the same spot, get out of his van and walk. He walked to Twigg’s grove and put all his little trinkets and bits of junk back on the nurse log. That stuff, collected by Frank, had been in his truck in a bag.
            With his hands in his pockets, he strolled further into the forest.  He came upon Ralph’s cedar log. He could hear Ralph and Ramona chatting away somewhere near.
            Billy took a seat on the big cedar log. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He’d never tried to reach them himself. But this time he said, “hello. Can we talk? I’m out on the big log. I can hear you. I know you’re there. I’m friendly. I just want to meet you, and I can keep a secret like nobody’s business!”
            Oh, how could Ralph resist? He couldn't. It turned out that they had plenty to talk about, and Ralph even brought him all the way home to meet the family! Ramona liked him. Twigg was a little apprehensive since Billy had helped Frank grab him, but he got over it. Cherry made no comment. Berry and Bob sat and watched  him carefully with shining green eyes and slightly open mouths.
            But of course, Billy was in no danger from the cats, because Ralph, the most Amiable King of Snohomish county was there keeping all in order and running smoothly in his forest kingdom.

* Suzy wants you to know that she can hear them too.

Squatch Huntin'

 

🍬🤍🍬

 

            Twigg had sort of run out of things to do at home. He was experiencing a tad bit of pre-adolescent ennui. The puma bros. were tired of his attempts to fool them by disappearing and re-appearing somewhere else. They had retired to their favorite branches high up in a fir tree, from where they could still see anything gong on below. But they were drifting off to sleep.
            His mom was busy prepping dinner and playing with Cherry. Ralph had gone on a firewood expedition.  He probably should have taken Twigg with him.
            “Mommy, I’m going to go explore.  I want to find something new that I never ever saw before,” said Twigg to Ramona.
            “Don’t go down to the river and come back before I start to wonder where you are,” she said.
            “How will I know that?” asked Twigg, looking at her in confusion, but interested.
            “When you have been out there for a while and you wonder whether I am wondering where you are, well come home then.  That means I am about to wonder where you are,” said Ramona enigmatically, but with a chuckle. Ramona has a pretty good grasp of basic psychology.
            “Alright mommy. I won’t go to the river, and I’ll come  home when I think of you.”
            Twigg’s experience of the forest was complicated. It was deeply tactile, but also non-physical. Being close to the ground, he was familiar with the plant life, the very forest duff soil, the insects and any small animals that he could get close to, almost as if they were an extension of his own self. He was fearless.
            He had a place where he like to play. It was his own little grove. Usually, he had Berry and Bob with him when he went there but they were up a tree. His place was among some small sapling firs that had grown up around a nurse log. Often he would arrange things that he had found there on the nurse log. Special rocks, flowers, feathers, metal things, just stuff that he thought was interesting or pretty.
            That day, when he got there, he found all of his stuff cleaned away and an alien object lying on the log. It was wrapped in colored paper. He picked it up and sniffed it. It smelled sweet. He peeled the paper off of it, getting some brown material on his fingers. He cautiously put out his tongue and tasted it. Well, it was a Baby Ruth bar, and he went down hard! It didn’t take long to eat the whole thing.
            Now, as it happened, the day before some retired grey hairs and a couple of unemployed hangers on had arrived in Ralph’s neighborhood intent on gathering evidence and perhaps a specimen of the storied legendary wild man of the forest, i.e. Sasquatch. Preferably a small manageable one.
            They found Twigg’s little grove, with its obvious signs of life and they set the trap. Candy and an obscured trail camera set to react to motion.
            On the first day in question Twigg thought of his mother after eating the Baby Ruth and went on home. But he didn’t mention his find to anyone. He had an idea a parent might tell him not to eat strange things he found in the forest.
            Day two dawned. He thought of the candy bar quite a bit. He was very curious about how it had gotten there. He decided to go see if there might be another one in his play area. He waited until his parents were busy and the cats were asleep near the cook fire. Then he told Ramona he wanted to go play in the woods again and took off after hearing the same directions from his mother.
            Frank L. Dearth and Billy O’Dear were pretty darn happy when they saw the photos. So were the other four guys.  There was jubilation in the big van parked down along the highway. Success was as sweet as Baby Ruth had been to Twigg. All six hearties decided to go in for the capture.
            They baited the trap. They waited just a bit away, out of sight they hoped. Six guys hiding in the underbrush.
            Twigg arrived on the scene all full of hopes and hunger for more. There is was!  Another mysterious colorfully wrapped sweet delight waited for him just as before. He took the bait and busily began tearing the paper away. He was just about to take a bite when he was suddenly surrounded by six strange persons the like of which he had never seen in the forest. His world took a strange twist. Frank grabbed his arm, and Billy grabbed the other arm. Popular success and wealth flitted briefly through their minds.
            Twigg thought of his mother. He thought of Ralph. He wished that he had Berry and Bob. He decided to go home.
            He vanished. Clean as a whistle. The hunters were left to stand with their mouths hanging open in amazement. Photos of this scene were also snapped by the trail camera.  They were not so proud of those photos later. In fact, they were kept private.
            Now, when Ralph had been gathering firewood the day before, he had come upon the big white, somewhat official-looking GM van out by the highway. He didn’t think much about it. Just some people doing whatever it is that people do, he thought. Big deal. He slipped back into the trees.
            Twigg reappeared near Ramona’s fire. He was looking startled, and Ramona could see that all was not right with him.
            “Twigg, where have you been? What happened to you?” she said.
            “Oh mommy, I did find something I’ve never seen before,” said he, and the whole story came out.
            But when they told Ralph about it he just laughed. “See, that disappearing skill is something those jokers were not expecting Twigg! But you know what kiddo?  I think I know where their van is.  I’ll bet anything it belongs to them. And I think they need another surprise to send them on their way! And I bet they’ll never have the guts to return either!
            “You stay here and take care of mommy and Cherry, and I am going to go pay those characters a visit!  This is gonna be great! I’m taking the cats with me too!” said Ralph with a happy sparkle in his big brown eyes and a grin on his big mug.
            Down by the two lane highway Ralph saw that the van was still parked there. He and the cats approached it silently. To make sure it was the right van, Ralph listened in on the conversation within. They were discussing the disappearance that they had all witnessed. It didn’t make sense to them at all. They were patently flummoxed!
            Okay then!
            Ralph went to work.  He jumped on the back bumper making the van hop up and down. He told Berry and Bob to get up on top and stare in the windows and make noise. They did a great job.  The cats screamed hideously. The guys inside began to holler and thrash around.
            Frank turned on the ignition and the headlights, it was getting dark by the way. Ralph shoved the van sideways, rocking it in a sickening fashion, laughing his head off.  Then he stood right in front, where they could see him through the windshield. He stood at his full appalling eight feet of height and five feet of breadth. He sucked in a great breath of air and let it out in horrible bellows and howls, and he whooped like he had never whooped before. Ah, it was grand!
            Then he stepped politely aside, called the cats to come to him, and let the mighty hunters take off with a squealing of tires and a rather ragged entry onto the highway. He watched it disappear, headed south at about 70 mph.
            Ralph watched the retreat with delight, and mighty chuckles. He was pretty darn sure they wouldn’t be back or talk about their adventures too much. Problem solved.
            He and the cats walked on home to report all. He giggled to himself all the way too.

The Day After The Wedding

 

           The morning after the wedding dawned cloudy and grey. It seemed like summer was over. Foggy low clouds hung in the tops of the Douglas firs like indistinct banners. White, or maybe pearlescent grey. One of those colors no one can agree about.  The air was heavy, but it was not raining yet. The sky was just lightening.

            All the talk was winding down. Ralph was tired and Ramona and the kids were sleepy. Twigg and Cherry were leaning on Ramona, blinking and yawning. Berry and Bob had curled up together under the table after crunching down the scraps from the roasted ducks.
            Ralph woke Ooog up enough to tell him thanks and goodbye. He woke up the cats and took Cherry into his arms. Ramona and Twigg got up and they all started down the trail for home.
            At the home clearing Ralph told Ramona to go ahead and put the kids to bed and herself and that he would go walk around for a bit and think. “I’ll be back when I think I can sleep,” he said.
            “Don’t get lost now,” said Ramona with a sleepy wink.
            “Don’t worry baby, I know where you are,” Ralph said, and gave her a little smooch.
            He wandered out by his big Cedar log. But he didn’t feel like staying there. He was still too restless for a log session. He kept going deeper into the forest. Rain started to come down. Rain was no problem to Ralph; it was just a moody atmospheric thing. It suited him.
            A white deer slipped past him. His eyebrows went up a bit. This was news to Ralph. He wasn’t aware of any white deer in his forest. He didn’t pursue it. He felt there might be something special about this deer and didn’t want to mess around with anything fey.  
            He left the trail. He enjoyed drifting ghostlike through the underbrush. It was a great advantage when hunting.  But he was not hunting today, at least not for food.
            Since he was going downhill, he eventually reached the river, further along its length than the spot where he usually went with his family. Here the river was wider and deeper, since it was not a dry year. Close to the opposite side was a large slow moving whirlpool. He had never seen this before either. It called to him. Ralph was very fond of water.
            Taking big long steps with the water splashing up to his knees and his feet slipping on round river rock down on the bottom, he entered the river and headed to the spinning pool. Once there, he lay down in the current and floated on his back slowly around and around. His eyes closed and he rested there.
            He felt fish drift past his fingers. But he wasn’t there to grab fish today.  Maybe later. His broad hands floated loosely in the turning stream.
            He thought of his mother, who never had an English name. He remembered her older manner of speech. He remembered her tactilely. Soft fur, strong arms, gentle songs, quiet brown eyes. She was much taller and darker and broader than his Ramona. She was of the forest entirely. Around and around, he floated, remembering her. He had not seen her in so long that he couldn’t recall the last time or place that he had seen her. He missed her.
            At last, on one of the trips around the pool, his bottom scraped the rocks near the riverbank. He sat up and opened his eyes.
            What he saw was his father. Massive, forbidding, feral. A presence like no other. Never seen by any human person. He was obscure. Remote and monumental as the rocks that made up the mountains, essential. 
            His father didn’t speak. He crouched on the riverbank. Deep dark eyes looked at Ralph, neither smiling nor grimacing, but looking on with quiet affection.
            At last, the great figure stood. He was a good head or more taller than Ralph. He turned, silently walking away among the misty trees, a mighty shadow passing into an unknown history. In seconds the visitation seemed like it must have been a dream.
            Sitting chest deep in the chilly water, Ralph shook his head. He raised his own hands and looked at them. He remembered then the feeling of older days, timeless forest life.
            Ralph walked through the water, to the other bank, once more stepping through those big round river rocks. He wanted to go home and sleep now. He felt insubstantial and very deeply tired, like perhaps his body was lagging behind him a step or so.
            When he got to  his home clearing in the woods it looked so sweet and precious that he nearly wept again.  Then he laughed at himself.  “Ralph, old buddy, you’re going soft in the head,” he said aloud.
            Instead of going inside to the bed and all that he loved, he lay down outside the door on the forest floor. He curled up like a child, throwing his arm up over his face to keep the rain off and he slept there until early evening when Ramona woke and came looking for him.
            She woke him with kisses.  Then she got the fire going again and made some dinner, while he and the kids and cats waited. As always, she made a fine dinner and it was a good day, though they were all still a little sleepy.

Sunday Greetings And A Question

 A Thinly Disguised Open Thread, Naturally

May this Sunday be blessed and filled with joy.

One of those things in the air doesn't look like a bird? Can you see what it is?

🦢🤍🐐

Simple Math

 

           Down in the meadow, where the soft winds blow over bramble, vine, bracken and bloom, that long awaited day had arrived. Perhaps it was a late summer morning. Perhaps the sky over the mountain tops of the next range was just losing its night colors. Perhaps it was a gentle warm morning. Yes, of course it was.

            Like on any sunny morning, insect life rose with the sun. Minuscule voices uttered in their multitudes. Crows woke, calling down the day. An eagle blinked and regarded the ground below from his castle of sticks. It was all good.

            All the small beings were drawn forth by the sun. For that moment they could forage in peace. The eagle was still drowsy.

            Though none of them knew it or cared, it was a Saturday, late in the year.

 

            There was a man. A Free Man. A man beyond our knowing. Some say a wild man. But a man of stature among his people. Inasmuch as he can be said to resemble ourselves, he was a leader among them.

 Standing on the slope, he loomed large and silent. A Raven stood on his left shoulder. He observed the scene before him. Many of the people of the forest and field were gathered there in their most festive and joyful mood. He saw his own, the woman, the children, seated together on the meadow grass. He looked further.  He saw others. There were friends. There were mothers and fathers of his people. There was also a human pair, close friends of this free man. Thaga and Ooog had arrived, all smiles, after having set all in readiness at their home. The festivities were to be at their place again. Yesterday had been a day of much preparation. It was not the largest wedding party in the world, but the guests are known to be hearty eaters. There will be peasant style loaves and butter, roasted ducks, assorted late season berries and nuts, and of course a wedding cake. Thaga built it of crushed nuts, dried fruits, spices, brown sugar, and other good things. A cake is a rare thing among the people of the Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. Drinks would be uncomplicated fruit and herbal teas sweetened with honey.

            It was a day of wedding. Two grown children of the people stood waiting. Their hands were not joined yet. They were shy. Smiling at the meadow floor, laughing a little from time to time, feeling so called out and so special all of a sudden. Both were groomed exquisitely. Constance’s mother had woven white daisies into a circlet around her head and down onto her shoulders like a veil. Ferdy’s fellows had made him a crown of fern and some tough little oval leaves. He lifted his chin proudly. His eyes swept the crowd. He seemed to have grown in recent days.

            At last, having gazed for long moments at the crowd before him, Ralph spoke.

            “Shall we sing, beloved people? Let us sing!” He shouted it. They stood, hearing his call. A profound deep chorus began. It was bell like. It rang over the land, down hill and up and into the forest above them. It changed to trilling mighty bird calls. Then rolling thunderous notes followed one after another. Joyous sound crashed, again and again.

            He held up his hand.  The chorus stilled, expectantly. The people regained their seats on the grass. Ramona hushed her children and held them close. All listened closely.

            Then he held both hands up to the sky. He closed his eyes. He was praying.

            “Oh Maker. Beginner of all things. You were here before all. Oh, Lover of life we are gathered here before you, all in one mind. We shelter in your blessing, and we ask that you keep us there forever. You are our Father. We are your children.

            “Today, we bring before You two of our children to make their promises to each other. I won’t speak for them. This wedding is their wedding. Let them speak it now.

            “Ferdy, now is the time to speak to Constance, what are your promises to her?” said Ralph softly.

            Ferdy spoke then. “Constance, you know that I love you. You are beautiful, but also you are good. I have seen you living your life for a while now and everything you do is beautiful. I promise that I will protect you and help you as long as I live. I will never leave you. My life is yours. Ma foh, legah, legah ma foe. (roughly: ‘I will be yours and you will be mine’ in Saslingua.)

            “I thank your mother and father and your Maker.”

            Ferdy searched her face, looking for her expression. She raised her eyes to him and those who see such things saw a spark of fire pass between them.

            “Now, Constance, what is your answer to Ferdy? Do you accept him today?” asked Ralph standing next to them both in front of all their loved ones.

            Constance squared her shoulders; she attempted to speak above a whisper. Facing her young man, she repeated, “Legah ma foe, ma foe legah. I do accept him with all of my heart. Ferdy, you are the best of everything to me. I will look no further.

“I thank your father and your mother and our Maker for you.”

            Ralph took Ferdy’s right hand and Constance’s left hand and pressed them together. He grinned out at the guests and pronounced, “everybody heard it! It’s done! So, I hereby announce that you are one! I won’t order you to kiss her Ferdy, but you can if you want to!”

            There was a sweet little kiss. And truth be told, a relieved hug.

            The mothers cried, all of them, related or not.  The kids yelled, because it seemed like a good time to yell. York and the boys hooted like gibbons and threw small greenery all over the newly married pair, who endured it all with good humor holding hands and looking at each other in amazement.

            Thaga and Ooog were the first to work their way up to the front of the gathering to wish Constance and Ferdy happiness. Then they set out for home, to be there before anyone else arrived.

            Then Millicent Price, who had been invited especially by Ralph himself, congratulated the couple with tears in her eyes. She followed after Thaga and Ooog, shaking her head in wonderment, and realizing that this story would never be written, but only lived.

            At last, Ferdy and Constance set off down the path through the small section of wood between the meadow and Thaga’s house and yard. Everyone else followed them. Ralph, Ramona and Twigg and Cherry, accompanied by Berry and Bob who were getting to be rather large cats, were the last group in the procession.

            As the party of perhaps two dozen souls traveled, creatures, deer, cougars, bears even, lined the walkway on both sides in respect and with peace between them, because it was a special day in the forest.  Rabbits flittered here and there. Various birds watched from tree branches. A sweet little breeze blew through, kissing everyone’s faces.

            It was a fine wedding dinner. There was singing. Stories were told. Blessings were bestowed. Everything was eaten right down to the platters. The cake was a great surprise and a success. A tradition was born that night. From that day forward all weddings in the forest required a cake!

            Millicent Price wandered around interviewing those who spoke English and smiling with the others.  Maeve kept her company because Maeve speaks entirely too much English. After a while Maeve accompanied Millicent to her car, so she didn’t have to walk through the woods alone. She was still talking as Millicent drove off.

            In the morning, some were still talking, but starting to feel sleepy in that way you do when you’ve been up all night talking. Most of the guests had gone home sometime during the night. Thaga and Ooog had dropped off to sleep leaning against each other, while sitting on a bench that was propped up against their house. Ferdy's friends had fallen asleep on the grass.

            No one noticed when Ferdy and Constance slipped away!  Ralph might have created a diversion for them when he and Twigg made a demonstration of Twigg’s vanishing and reappearing skills. All eyes were on Ralph and Twigg for some time after all!

Back To Branson For A Moment

 

Kreshnik

            It was Joe who hired the Albanian music student to man the counter at the Howler Frozen Custard shop. Kreshnik had to be sworn into secrecy first. He and Joe had gotten to know each other at the recording studio, where Joe learned that the kid needed a job. He told Kresh, as the other guys called him, that if he could keep his mouth shut about a couple of things they would pay him double the going rate for that type of service work. They met in the back of the McDonald’s dining room to discuss business.
            Can you imagine a guy who wouldn’t jump at that? What were the couple of things to keep his mouth shut about?  He wondered that after he said, “sure Joe, I can do that.”
            “Kresh, it’s like this.  I am kind of a ghost figurehead at the new ice cream place that will open soon. I’m not really the boss. But I am a friend of the boss. You’ll understand in a minute. In fact, I put him and his assistant up in the business.”
            “That sounds mysterious and possibly illegal Joe,” laughed Kreshnik. Of course, he was talking a little bit of smack. It’s not illegal at all. Mysterious, yes. Well, part of it’s illegal, but not the putting some other guy up in business part.
            “The important thing, Kresh, is that this is top secret stuff. Don’t tell anybody, not your sweetie, not your mama!”
            “Gosh, Joe, what’s the big secret? I’m 99% ears,” said Kresh.
            “The real boss, the guy who will be making the ice cream in the backroom with his helper is a local character. But he’s not human.  Oh, he speaks English and has passed himself off as a particularly ugly and hairy guy. But he’s not a real guy. There’s a reason the shop is called the Howler. I assume you’ve heard of the Ozark Howler? OK. Well, Maurice, is him.  The last of his tribe. He’s um, reformed, not dangerous, mostly, and he and the other party really want to do well with this shop. But they needed a counter guy who won’t make the customers ask weird questions.  You okay with that so far?”
            “Come on Joe!  Are you messing with me?  Very funny, man! Is this serious?” said Kresh, with a big grin.
            “Oh, yeah, I’m serious. Now, get ready for the second part. The other one is a cat named Sue. Yeah, yeah, she’s a cat, but she’s a smart cookie, Kresh.  This whole deal was her idea and her idea only.  She also speaks good English. Can you dig it?”
            “I’ll try. I won’t tell anybody. Who would believe it anyhow,” said Kresh.
            “The health department might believe it. Crazy as it is, and blockheaded as those guys might be. If they get a breath of it, it’s all over. No more double pay. You get it?”
            “I get it. All I have to do is sell scoops of ice cream made by an imaginary local legend and a cat, not tell anybody and just keep smiling at the people.”
            “You got it. You in?” asked Joe.
            “I’m in Joe, you bet,” said Kresh seriously.   
            “Good man,” said Joe.  
            And so, it has been written, and so it was. The days were fulfilled. The shop was prepared, the ice cream was created.
            Joe introduced Kreshnik to Maurice and Sue the evening before the opening. They all liked each other and actually got a huge giggle out of the big secret. In fact, Kresh loved Sue on sight. Maurice and Kresh sized each other up and decided it was good. Sue purred a lot and smiled to herself, because this was just what she had in mind back when she and Maurice and Joe were bumming their way across America and dreaming the big dream.
            The next day, a Monday, they sold every scrap of ice cream before 1:00 pm. They could see that this was going to be a big job! But they were all up for it, and Joe got a nice little cut too.

It Was Nearly Daybreak

 

          As is often the case when a person has left a task undone, Ralph slept fitfully that night. He remembered that Cherry was sleeping between himself and Ramona, but still he flung his big arms one way and then the other. He kicked at the quilt. He snored and coughed. Words kept running through his mind. “La Fin and Adieu.” Over and over.  He had no idea what they meant or why they were coming to him relentlessly.
            Finally, he woke completely and took a big deep breath. He was glad to be awake and sitting up on his side of ther homemade bed. His memory kicked in and he started to remember what he had been dreaming. He laughed out loud and shook his head.
            “Hey, Ramona,” he stage whispered. “Are you awake?”
            “I’m not exactly asleep Ralph, you’ve been thrashing around like a moose all night,” said patient she. She sighed, admitting to herself that this night was over even though the stars were still in the sky outside of the cave.
            “Let’s let Twigg and Cherry and the cats sleep and go outside and stir up the fire, baby,” said Ralph.
            So, as silently as parents everywhere have always done, they slipped out of the cave, and tenderly shut the big green door behind themselves. They listened for sounds inside, didn’t here anything and went to the fire pit, settling in on one of the logs. Ramona tossed some small bits of half burned wood into the center of the coals and a small fire flared up.
            “What is it Ralph,” Ramona said sitting back down beside him. “Here we are.”
            “I’ve been dreaming. All night!”
            “Ralph! You always dream! This is not unusual,” said Ramona.
            “You remember Maurice. No one could forget Maurice! I know! Well, you know I sent him to Skykomish to hop a freight heading east because he wanted to go home.”
            “Yeah, I know.”
            “Well, I had a dream about him! It was almost unbelievable. It went on and on and on! It started with him meeting a kitten in the box car, a kitten named Sleeky Sue!  This is after he slipped and broke his other fang out! I’m not kidding. They made friends! How is this possible?”
            “Wow, she must have been a special kitten,” said Ramona, “and a brave one, if she knew anything about Maurice.”
            “Yeah, then you remember that Folkie Joe guy that came to the party on a horse with Maurice? The guy with the ratty old guitar who didn’t say much? They met him, and Sue came up with a plan for them to all travel together to Maurice’s home in Missouri.  Joe had written a bunch of C&W songs, that’s country and western honey, and Sue thought they should try to be a band together!
            “They did perform together at a grocery store in Kansas, or some place all flat like that, made some money and Maurice told a lady he was Albanian!  It just gets crazier and crazier. It was like this story went on for months.
            “Joe’s songs caught on and he got kinda rich, and they were all living together in a fancy apartment in Branson.  Maurice and Sue learned to read, and Maurice cooked and did laundry, and then Joe got them an ice cream shop by a college!
            “Ramona, I do not understand where all this comes from,” said Ralph.
            “Well, sweety, I think there are two choices.  It is your feral imagination having a party in your head all night, or, baby, somehow you just know,” said Ramona. “I would tend towards thinking the second.”
            “It was fun, but do you have any idea what La Fin and Adieu mean?”
            “Nope, no idea,” said Ramona. “English is one thing.  I don’t know what that is. But I do know one thing for sure. Day after tomorrow Constance and Ferdy are getting married, and you my dear old thing are supposed to say something and tie the knot for them. How’s it going?  I have tried not to pester you about it, but the day is nearly here.”’
            “I don’t know what to say, I guess,” said Ralph. “What would you say, if you were me? I don’t really understand why they want me. It’s not the way we did it.”
            “I know. New ideas come at us all the time. Well, what I would suggest is that you stand them up in front of the guests and pray a Forest blessing over them.  The words will come to you when you set your mind to that.  Don’t worry. Then, have them make promises to each other in their own words in front of everyone and the Maker and that will seal the deal.  Whatever they say doesn’t matter as much as the fact that they will be standing up together with that intention, Ralph. Don’t worry. It will be good. Trust that.”
            Ralph nodded and said, “good enough for me.  I can do that.”
            They sat together by the fire for a while, yawning a little, and waiting for the sun to come up. Then Ralph gathered some big branches from last winter’s windfall and broke them into convenient lengths  He brought them to Ramona, and she made a hotter fire than before. She made some oatcakes like Thaga had taught her, cooking them on a sheet of metal over the fire.
            They got the kids and cats up. The family had oatcakes, and the cats had left over fish from the day before. Forest people just drink water. Sometimes they drink it hot if it’s cold outside.
            After breakfast they all had a lazy walk to the river where they had a little soak and swim, Cherry hanging on to Ramona. Then they walked laughing back up to the clearing. Berry and Bob ranged out ahead of them, scaring birds up into the sky, and bunnies into the underbrush.
            When they got back home, Maeve was walking importantly up and down one of the logs by the fire, talking to herself.  She perked up when she saw them arriving. She flew to Ralph’s left shoulder, to talk right into his ear.
            “I have a message for all of you from Thaga and Ooog. The mailman in a truck, you know, has brought a package to them!  But it’s for you!  They want you to come right over, right now!” Who knew that Ooog and Thaga were on the mail route?
            “Maeve,” said Ralph, “tell them we’re coming.  Right now. We’re all clean and ready!”
            Maeve shot off to do as she was bidden. They followed closely behind her.
            When they got to the house Thaga ushered them right in to the kitchen where a large box was sitting on the table. It had some awkward lettering on it saying “to Ralph and family, care of Thaga at her address.  The return address just said Maurice, etc etc, Branson, MO. Thaga read it out loud.
            The box felt very cold. It gave off a chilly mist.
Thaga handed Ralph a knife and he cut it open. Inside there was the remains of some dry ice, which was almost all evaporated and a large cardboard tub.
            On the tub was written “Raspberry, Green Sriracha, pecan and vanilla.”
        “Open it! Open it!” said Maeve who was hopping around on the table, having beaten them to the house. So, Ralph pulled the lid off the tub. Ooog sniffed at it and said, “what in the world…  I think we’re supposed to eat it!”
            Thaga got bowls and spoons and a big serving spoon and handed that to Ramona who dished some out for everyone, including Maeve and Berry and Bob. This was their first ice cream, but they knew what to do with it. Now, since Thaga does get mail, but does not have a freezer, they had to finish the tub! It was delicious, with a little snap to it!
            “Say, Thaga, do you have any idea what La Fin and Adieu means?” asked Ralph.
            “It’s French, Ralph. It means ‘the end and goodbye.’ Why?”
            “Oh, it was something in a dream,” said Ralph. Then he winked at Ramona, keeping his big mouth shut.