Coming Back To Earth

 

            He opened his eyes. He released a huge gusty sigh, befitting a king. He looked around and all that his eyes could see was very good. The great forest went on and on nearly forever. Not even he had walked to its end, and he never would. The air was so intoxicating that he could almost see its constituent gas’ shining particles.
            A single ray of sunlight found him there, lighting up the brown haircoat on his chest and belly. He gazed there, momentarily bemused to be lit by the sun like that. Did he have any sense that this was the light of a star? I think that he must have. Maybe when Mak took him for that little joy ride in his ship they discussed such things. I know they talked about the oddities of time.
            He smiled because when he started to be aware of his own thoughts, he could hear Maeve swooping around and hollering her favorite word. Evermore, to be sure!
            There were other sounds. He heard Ramona call Twigg to carry some little thing or other. He heard his son respond. Cherry laughed. He didn’t hear the cats, because they are generally pretty silent.
            He heard Ramona singing an old Saslingua folksong sung and kept alive by Firekeepers, among themselves. She had learned it from her mother, who had learned it from her mother, of course. To tell the truth, Saslingua sounds a lot like Russian. It has many sibilant sounds.
            Ralph was coming out of his meditation. He took a deep breath. He made fists with his hands and stretched his arms as widely as he could. He looked around again, and love of all he saw expanded in his heart anew. Maybe it was hearing Ramona singing that reached him right then.
            Ralph put one of his great feet on the forest floor. He had only been floating about hip height. “To touch the earth, is acceptance,” he told himself.
            He allowed his leg to carry his weight again. In a moment he put the second foot on the forest floor. It felt good. He was renewed. Ralph had landed.
            He sought the fire, silently, padding on quiet feet, hoping to surprise Ramona.
            “I hear you, Ralph,” said Ramona, going about her business, making soup and some little breads. “Are you hungry? When you come back, you are usually extra hungry.”
            “Oh, Mona. How can I think about my stomach when I hear you singing that song?” said Ralph.
            “I bet you could, if you tried,” laughed Ramona, who knew him pretty well.
            “I can wait until it’s time to eat,” said Ralph, taking a seat on one of those logs by the fire.
            “You know, Baby, when I put both feet on the ground, I realize how much I love it all. Right here. Right now. It’s very very good. I feel like the air is made of love.
            “They call me the king out here, and yeah, I guess that’s true, but you are the Firekeeper here. You are the still place it all revolves around,” said Ralph.
            She stopped what she was doing for a second, smiled at him and winked.
            Twigg, sensing that a mealtime was near, appeared and leaned on Ralph, both waiting for soup. Cherry, who certainly didn’t need to be taught that floating thing, arrived with Bob and Berry, who keep an eye on her while she plays out of Ramona’s sight. Heaven help any creature human or otherwise who tried to harm her!
            “I have one more thing I want to teach you, Twigg,” said Ralph. “Let’s do it tomorrow.”’ 
            “OK,” said Twigg in that easy way kids have, not questioning, just accepting.
            Then, they all ate their  fish soup and those little crunchy bread things Ramona was experimenting with. Maeve came in for a landing and had soup and bread too, since she was a widow and had no one to go home to.
            They all sat around the fire, until it burned down to coals. The children started yawning, so then it was bed time.
            Maeve took off before it got completely dark, and everyone else settled in for the night in the cave with the green door, overlooking the Home Clearing.
            All during the night the sky turned and all the stars of Heaven looked down.