Bob's Yer Uncle

 

            Before everybody had a chance to leave, and before York and company came late and missed the whole party, Ralph grabbed Uncle Bob and pulled him aside to talk.
            They sat at one of the big picnic tables watching the guests gather their belongings and head for their homes. Some had cars to go to, some just travelled woodsy style.
            “Hey Bob, you sure must be busy, man, I never see you anymore,” said Ralph. “Sit on the other side, Bob, or we’re going to tip this thing over!”
            “Oh yeah..” Uncle Bob said rather absently and wandered over to the other side of the picnic table to sit.
            “Back when we were kids I never knew you to sing like that, Bob. What happened?” said Ralph, trying to get to the bottom of this mystery.
            “It’s Minerva, Ralph. The lady who made the cookies? And who has the garden, she plays records all day. A lot of Deep Purple, man! It gets into your head after a while. Minerva likes Steppenwolf too!” He sat there giggling at the memory. “I think she wants to ride a magic carpet, Ralph!”
            “I was thinking that you should come home with us for a couple of days, Uncle Bob. I miss you. It’s not quite garden time anyhow. You think Minerva could get along without you in her garden shed for a few days, Bob?”
            “Oh yeah, Minerva’s a big girl, Ralph. She tells me all about third wave feminism and stuff. I don’t get it, but I don’t stop her from talking either. I don’t think anybody else listens to her when she gets going. And besides, she made me a nice bed in the basement. I don’t really sleep in the garden shed, man. It’s damp out there all fall, winter and spring.”
            “Good deal! All we have to do is walk back up the river to my place. Ramona and the kids can have the cave, but me and you and the cats will make a big fire and sleep old style beside the fire. It’ll be great!” This was, of course, another one of Ralph’s super cool ideas! He was pretty sure any fool could see that it was a cool idea. “Like a campout, Bob!”
            So, while the moon rose in the sky, Ralph and Ramona, and Twigg and Cherry, with Bob and Berry, plus Uncle Bob, all started the short hike up to the Home Clearing.
            They didn’t really need the moon’s light. The forest people have no trouble getting around in the dark. However, moonlight elicits a festive and maybe even poetic mood in them. They enjoy it like a bubbly vintage of some intangible sort.
            They laughed all the way back upstream. Bob and Berry paced before the jolly group, watching the forest and the river and the moon with their great shining yellow eyes, as seriously as guardian angels.
            “Hey look, Bob! Mud! Wanna leave our marks on the earth? It really gets some people excited! Big fun….” said Ralph.
            “Me too,” said Twigg. “Let me make some!” Cherry was asleep in Ramona’s arms, so she didn’t get to add her tiny prints.
            Uncle Bob solemnly made a deep line of beautiful prints. Twigg’s prints wove around and through Ralph and Bob’s. Ramona added a few pretty narrow prints, which were very ladylike.
            “Those look so good, I feel like pouring plaster in them myself!” said Ralph, clearly awed. They all stopped to take a look at their work, in the dreamy moonlight.
            The path became rocky, leading right down by the water. The surface of the river shone like silver foil. It only added to the magical mood. It seemed as if a few fish came up to take a look. As they continued up the path Ralph’s mysterious whistled tunes filled the air, then Twigg tried out the same tunes in his turn. They almost sounded like some exotic night birds, echoing as they walked along.
            Ramona sang an ancient song known only to Firekeepers and their mothers and their daughters. Just as they got home she noticed that her own fire was down to a few smoky hot coals.
            “Let’s get you and Cherry into bed,” Ramona told Twigg, who was sleepy, so he was happy to go get into his little bed with the big beautiful quilt made by Thaga a few years back. Cherry was already asleep.
            “Hey, Ralph, would you and Bob like me to make a pot of coffee before I go in with the kids?” said Ramona. “I have enough for one pot left.”
            “Bob do you like coffee? Minerva ever give you a cup of coffee?” said Ralph.
            “Hot, brown stuff in a cup?” said Uncle Bob. “I didn’t know what it was, she just handed it to me, and I drank it. Seemed to wake me up a little.”
            Ralph built up the fire and Ramona put her big coffee pot on the grid over the fire, boiling up a big tall pot of coffee.
            “I think I’ll go in now,” she said.
            “We’ll still be out here in the morning, Mona,” said Ralph.
            “I know, Baby,” she said with a little wink.
            Most of the night, by the light of the fire, Ralph and Uncle Bob talked about the old days when they were boys and how everything had turned out for them. Until at last they just got too drowsy to talk much, in spite of the big pot of cowboy style coffee. They sat there blinking in the firelight, with the stars winking overhead.
            The moon set, and it got a bit darker. The forest was very quiet except for the crackling of the fire, and an owl commenting softly.
            Then Ralph said, “what do you think about not being stoned all the time now?” His eyes were closed, and he was just about asleep, curled up beside the fire.
            “I remember stuff a lot better, Ralph, it’s like I’m alive for real. I don’t lose time like I used to.” Then he dropped off to sleep on the other side of the fire.
            All during the rest of the night, once Ralph and Uncle Bob stopped talking, Berry and Bob slept near them, close to the fire also.
            At first light, Maeve saw them there, but she kept her big beak shut to let them sleep a while longer. She flew right on over the Home Clearing, but she would be back later, as she always was.