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“Maurice! Hey, buddy, good to see
you! It’s been a long time since you got on that train up in Skykomish! Look at
you, you look great!” said Ralph. “Have a seat! Have a seat! Everybody!”
Watching, I felt like it had all been a worthwhile endeavor after all. Maurice was bristling with happiness and excitement. I had never seen him look so frisky, so in his element, the out of doors.
The deep voice continued, “Who did you bring with you, Maurice?”
“We started that ice cream shop together,” answered Maurice, while Joe and I found places on one of the logs. Joe set his guitar case on the ground beside himself and shrugged out of his pack. Maurice was still wearing his and that silly pet carrier, so he looked a sight.
“I ran into Joe, he goes by Folkie Joe on stage, when I was hiding in the woods, and he was a totally broke street musician. Ah, Ralph! You’re still here!” said Maurice. “We had Dinty Moore stew together in the basement of an old beat up empty house! Remember that, Joe?”
“Oh yeah, how could I ever forget that? I thought I was a dead man when you showed up!” said Joe, speaking for the first time. “Ralph, sir, I am honored to meet you! Maurice told us a lot about you, and your family and your pumas, and your home. Being here is fantastic!”
“Was it all good, Joe?” laughed Ralph.
“Yup! All good!” said Joe, nodding and grinning.
“So, Ralph,” said Maurice, waving a wild hand at me, “this lady cat is Sleeky Sue. I call her Sneaky! She was in that rail car I snuck into. She saw that I was injured from breaking a fang out when I slipped. She helped me, and I helped her open a carton of cookies that was in there, and we got along just fine. She’s really smart, Ralph! The ice cream shop was her idea. She has a lot of ideas!” He kept waving his arms around.
“Sleeky Sue!” said Ralph. I sat up straight, and tried to look smart, because Maurice said I was.
“I can tell that you have been a great friend to my friend Maurice, here,” said Ralph. “Thank you!”’
“King Ralph, for it’s easy to see that you are king here, I must say that both Maurice and Joe have made my present life possible. I owe them, sir. I am at a total loss to imagine where I would be without them! Ideas are all very good, but they are empty without the means to carry them out,” I said.
“Joe made the songs that made the money, he’s quite famous now! Maurice has been my friend and helper all along,” I added.
“I see that you are a truth-teller, Sleeky Sue. You and Joe are very welcome here. I thank you for coming. You have to meet Ramona. She’s around here somewhere…”
I turned my head, and there she was! She stood behind me without having made a sound. Ralph’s glance had shown me where to look. The overall impression she gave was sweetness. As light and graceful as any deer she stepped near to the fire.
“I am Firekeeper here. Welcome to my fire! Thank you for the long work of getting here!” she said. She was maybe seven feet tall and much more slender than Ralph. She was lighter in color too, and maybe softer looking. Her serenity was easily seen in her expression.
“This is Twigg, our son,” she said, and suddenly he was there beside his mother. I guessed that he might be about ten years of age, and he was a fine looking boy, exuding energy and curiosity.
“And here is Cherry,” said Ramona. A little blond girl peeked out from behind her mother’s legs. “Cat!” she said.
“Hello, Cherry,” I said. She vanished like a puff of smoke.
I introduced myself and Joe to Ramona, who was taking a seat beside Ralph.
Twigg spoke up then, “These are my cats! One is Bob, one is Berry!”
I noticed then that either Bob or Berry was crouched down by Joe’s guitar case, and that either Berry or Bob stood beside Twigg. I think I know when a cat is smiling. These cats were smiling.
Ralph wanted to know about our trip. Joe told him all about the train ride across the country and a lot about what we had seen on the way.
Maurice jumped in and described the finding of Allegory, now his red book. He showed Ralph that he had learned to write, revealing the pages that he had written on.
“You amaze me, Maurice!” said Ralph. He did look amazed. I deduced that Ralph did not write, though his spoken English was excellent.
“Sue taught me, it’s hard for her to write with her little kitty paws, but she sure knows how, she also taught me to read, Ralph!”
“Well, you sure have surprised me! All three of you! Music and ice cream. A wonderful combination,” said Ralph. Maeve still sat on his shoulder, just listening to the talk.
“Do you all like trout? I was about to pan fry a whole bunch of them! Ralph has figured out a way to talk them into coming to him! Silly fishes!” said Ramona, with a slightly carnivorous giggle.
We all said that sounded great, so she went to work right before our eyes. She cleaned many fish and laid them out on a big square flat pan on a grid over her fire, which had died down to nice coals. It doesn’t take long to cook fish the size of trout, so soon we had a fish dinner. There were shallow wooden bowls to eat from that appeared to have been made by hand of course.
As if to answer my thoughts, Ramona said, “Our friend Ooog made them!”
Just as I was admiring them, there was some noise from up toward the other end of the clearing. Ralph and Ramona grinned at each other as another Forest Man appeared. But what a different sort he was. He was pouchy and saggy looking, with a sleepy looking face and rather dusty looking hair.
“Here is Uncle Bob,” said Ralph. “He likes to have dinner with us sometimes!”
When he got close, he seemed to see the extras around the fire clearly for the first time. He goggled at us for a minute and said, “Wow, Ralphie! Are you guys having a party?”
“Kind of, Bob. It’s kind of a party,” said Ralph, explaining who we all were. “Come on in Bob, have some fish! We have lots!”
“Cool,” said Bob. “Hi, you guys. Hey, you brought a guitar, man! Can you play it?”
“A little bit,” said Joe.
“It’s been a long time since I heard a guitar,” said Uncle Bob. “I really like the Dead, man!”
“So do I!” said Maurice. “Show him what you can do, Joe!”
“Alright, man,” said Joe agreeably.
He played, and sang, Mountains of The Moon, Saint Stephen, Golden Road to Endless Devotion, and Alligator, to my absolute amazement. Joe always said he wasn’t a fan.
Uncle Bob wept tears of joy on his bowl of fish. Maurice sat rapt, listening.
“Thank you, man,” Uncle Bob sniffed happily. “I better go back to the Stump. Thanks for the fish, Ramona. It was a party, Ralph! Good night, everybody!” And he sort of woofled off the direction he had come from. Presumably that was the direction to get to his Stump house.
The sun went down. The fire glowed. Ramona tidied up the after dinner things.
“I think I’ll go home too,” said Maeve. “I’m getting sleepy.”
The stars came out overhead. The smoke of the fire smelled sweet and dreamy. I heard an owl. A little bit of wind drifted through the trees.
Ramona sent Twigg, Cherry, Bob, and Berry, into the cave to go to bed.
“I think this is the happiest I have ever been,” said Maurice. By the light of the remaining fire, he wrote a few notes in Allegory. Without his fangs he wasn’t very scary looking. I was very fond of the guy. He was alright for a reformed Ozark Howler.
Ralph yawned a little, and said, “So, Maurice, what do you think? Where should you be? You could just stay here on the west side of everything. Or you could go back to Missouri to help Folkie Joe here and Sleeky Sue. Either way could work out fine. Which sounds best?”
Maurice cocked his head, looking at his old friend just across the fire circle. “I love you Ralph. You are more to me than a brother. I love Ramona and your kids. But I think I am changed. I can’t live the forest life now. Maybe I am getting a little old too, you know? I might even be a little lazy. I think I will go back with Joe and Sue.”
“That sounds right,” said Ralph. Ramona smiled at the old Howler, who grinned sheepishly back at her with the firelight shining in his eyes.
“So,” said Ralph. “Would you guys like to go home the easy way, or the hard way, the way you got here?”
“Sir,” I piped up, “If there is an easy way, let it be as you say!”
“Is that OK, Joe? Maurice?” I asked.
Both nodded, as they had so many times before when I made a decision.
“You can come back when you want to, of course,” said Ramona, “we will always be here.”
“Gather up your packs, the guitar, and the cat thing, and hold hands,” instructed Ralph. Well, I could see that being in the carrier might be best after all, so I got into it. Maurice put it on over his shaggy chest. Then he and Joe both donned their packs. Joe clamped the guitar case between his knees, to keep a good grip on it. Then, with me between them they held hands and waited.
“Close your eyes and picture where you are going,” said Ralph. We thought of the apartment in Branson and Ralph began to sing. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. It almost sounded like the wind, but deeper, and there were words, murmured in an unknown language. He sang and sang.
We opened our eyes standing together in the living room of Joe’s fancy apartment in Branson, Missouri. The place smelled a little stale like a home does when no one has been home for a while.
It was like we had never been gone, but Maurice still had Allegory in his jacket pocket. Proof enough for me! He had notes too.
Watching, I felt like it had all been a worthwhile endeavor after all. Maurice was bristling with happiness and excitement. I had never seen him look so frisky, so in his element, the out of doors.
The deep voice continued, “Who did you bring with you, Maurice?”
“We started that ice cream shop together,” answered Maurice, while Joe and I found places on one of the logs. Joe set his guitar case on the ground beside himself and shrugged out of his pack. Maurice was still wearing his and that silly pet carrier, so he looked a sight.
“I ran into Joe, he goes by Folkie Joe on stage, when I was hiding in the woods, and he was a totally broke street musician. Ah, Ralph! You’re still here!” said Maurice. “We had Dinty Moore stew together in the basement of an old beat up empty house! Remember that, Joe?”
“Oh yeah, how could I ever forget that? I thought I was a dead man when you showed up!” said Joe, speaking for the first time. “Ralph, sir, I am honored to meet you! Maurice told us a lot about you, and your family and your pumas, and your home. Being here is fantastic!”
“Was it all good, Joe?” laughed Ralph.
“Yup! All good!” said Joe, nodding and grinning.
“So, Ralph,” said Maurice, waving a wild hand at me, “this lady cat is Sleeky Sue. I call her Sneaky! She was in that rail car I snuck into. She saw that I was injured from breaking a fang out when I slipped. She helped me, and I helped her open a carton of cookies that was in there, and we got along just fine. She’s really smart, Ralph! The ice cream shop was her idea. She has a lot of ideas!” He kept waving his arms around.
“Sleeky Sue!” said Ralph. I sat up straight, and tried to look smart, because Maurice said I was.
“I can tell that you have been a great friend to my friend Maurice, here,” said Ralph. “Thank you!”’
“King Ralph, for it’s easy to see that you are king here, I must say that both Maurice and Joe have made my present life possible. I owe them, sir. I am at a total loss to imagine where I would be without them! Ideas are all very good, but they are empty without the means to carry them out,” I said.
“Joe made the songs that made the money, he’s quite famous now! Maurice has been my friend and helper all along,” I added.
“I see that you are a truth-teller, Sleeky Sue. You and Joe are very welcome here. I thank you for coming. You have to meet Ramona. She’s around here somewhere…”
I turned my head, and there she was! She stood behind me without having made a sound. Ralph’s glance had shown me where to look. The overall impression she gave was sweetness. As light and graceful as any deer she stepped near to the fire.
“I am Firekeeper here. Welcome to my fire! Thank you for the long work of getting here!” she said. She was maybe seven feet tall and much more slender than Ralph. She was lighter in color too, and maybe softer looking. Her serenity was easily seen in her expression.
“This is Twigg, our son,” she said, and suddenly he was there beside his mother. I guessed that he might be about ten years of age, and he was a fine looking boy, exuding energy and curiosity.
“And here is Cherry,” said Ramona. A little blond girl peeked out from behind her mother’s legs. “Cat!” she said.
“Hello, Cherry,” I said. She vanished like a puff of smoke.
I introduced myself and Joe to Ramona, who was taking a seat beside Ralph.
Twigg spoke up then, “These are my cats! One is Bob, one is Berry!”
I noticed then that either Bob or Berry was crouched down by Joe’s guitar case, and that either Berry or Bob stood beside Twigg. I think I know when a cat is smiling. These cats were smiling.
Ralph wanted to know about our trip. Joe told him all about the train ride across the country and a lot about what we had seen on the way.
Maurice jumped in and described the finding of Allegory, now his red book. He showed Ralph that he had learned to write, revealing the pages that he had written on.
“You amaze me, Maurice!” said Ralph. He did look amazed. I deduced that Ralph did not write, though his spoken English was excellent.
“Sue taught me, it’s hard for her to write with her little kitty paws, but she sure knows how, she also taught me to read, Ralph!”
“Well, you sure have surprised me! All three of you! Music and ice cream. A wonderful combination,” said Ralph. Maeve still sat on his shoulder, just listening to the talk.
“Do you all like trout? I was about to pan fry a whole bunch of them! Ralph has figured out a way to talk them into coming to him! Silly fishes!” said Ramona, with a slightly carnivorous giggle.
We all said that sounded great, so she went to work right before our eyes. She cleaned many fish and laid them out on a big square flat pan on a grid over her fire, which had died down to nice coals. It doesn’t take long to cook fish the size of trout, so soon we had a fish dinner. There were shallow wooden bowls to eat from that appeared to have been made by hand of course.
As if to answer my thoughts, Ramona said, “Our friend Ooog made them!”
Just as I was admiring them, there was some noise from up toward the other end of the clearing. Ralph and Ramona grinned at each other as another Forest Man appeared. But what a different sort he was. He was pouchy and saggy looking, with a sleepy looking face and rather dusty looking hair.
“Here is Uncle Bob,” said Ralph. “He likes to have dinner with us sometimes!”
When he got close, he seemed to see the extras around the fire clearly for the first time. He goggled at us for a minute and said, “Wow, Ralphie! Are you guys having a party?”
“Kind of, Bob. It’s kind of a party,” said Ralph, explaining who we all were. “Come on in Bob, have some fish! We have lots!”
“Cool,” said Bob. “Hi, you guys. Hey, you brought a guitar, man! Can you play it?”
“A little bit,” said Joe.
“It’s been a long time since I heard a guitar,” said Uncle Bob. “I really like the Dead, man!”
“So do I!” said Maurice. “Show him what you can do, Joe!”
“Alright, man,” said Joe agreeably.
He played, and sang, Mountains of The Moon, Saint Stephen, Golden Road to Endless Devotion, and Alligator, to my absolute amazement. Joe always said he wasn’t a fan.
Uncle Bob wept tears of joy on his bowl of fish. Maurice sat rapt, listening.
“Thank you, man,” Uncle Bob sniffed happily. “I better go back to the Stump. Thanks for the fish, Ramona. It was a party, Ralph! Good night, everybody!” And he sort of woofled off the direction he had come from. Presumably that was the direction to get to his Stump house.
The sun went down. The fire glowed. Ramona tidied up the after dinner things.
“I think I’ll go home too,” said Maeve. “I’m getting sleepy.”
The stars came out overhead. The smoke of the fire smelled sweet and dreamy. I heard an owl. A little bit of wind drifted through the trees.
Ramona sent Twigg, Cherry, Bob, and Berry, into the cave to go to bed.
“I think this is the happiest I have ever been,” said Maurice. By the light of the remaining fire, he wrote a few notes in Allegory. Without his fangs he wasn’t very scary looking. I was very fond of the guy. He was alright for a reformed Ozark Howler.
Ralph yawned a little, and said, “So, Maurice, what do you think? Where should you be? You could just stay here on the west side of everything. Or you could go back to Missouri to help Folkie Joe here and Sleeky Sue. Either way could work out fine. Which sounds best?”
Maurice cocked his head, looking at his old friend just across the fire circle. “I love you Ralph. You are more to me than a brother. I love Ramona and your kids. But I think I am changed. I can’t live the forest life now. Maybe I am getting a little old too, you know? I might even be a little lazy. I think I will go back with Joe and Sue.”
“That sounds right,” said Ralph. Ramona smiled at the old Howler, who grinned sheepishly back at her with the firelight shining in his eyes.
“So,” said Ralph. “Would you guys like to go home the easy way, or the hard way, the way you got here?”
“Sir,” I piped up, “If there is an easy way, let it be as you say!”
“Is that OK, Joe? Maurice?” I asked.
Both nodded, as they had so many times before when I made a decision.
“You can come back when you want to, of course,” said Ramona, “we will always be here.”
“Gather up your packs, the guitar, and the cat thing, and hold hands,” instructed Ralph. Well, I could see that being in the carrier might be best after all, so I got into it. Maurice put it on over his shaggy chest. Then he and Joe both donned their packs. Joe clamped the guitar case between his knees, to keep a good grip on it. Then, with me between them they held hands and waited.
“Close your eyes and picture where you are going,” said Ralph. We thought of the apartment in Branson and Ralph began to sing. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. It almost sounded like the wind, but deeper, and there were words, murmured in an unknown language. He sang and sang.
We opened our eyes standing together in the living room of Joe’s fancy apartment in Branson, Missouri. The place smelled a little stale like a home does when no one has been home for a while.
It was like we had never been gone, but Maurice still had Allegory in his jacket pocket. Proof enough for me! He had notes too.
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