Uncle Bob and Ralph Go Fishing

 

            Ralph woke first. There was dew on his hair and the fire had died way down. Looking over on the other side of the circle he saw that Uncle Bob slept on. He had to smile. Bob looked like a big child curled up there.
            Berry and Bob were already up and had gone into the forest for a little early morning hunting.
            Ralph was thinking about this and that. But, in the meantime he padded over to his big pile of deadfall branches and small tree trunks that he kept for fuel, mostly for Ramona.
He broke some of the longer pieces over his knee, like anyone would, except the pieces were much thicker than any of us could break over our knees!
            He put some of the pieces on the coals in the fire, then got down on his knees and blew on the coals, a big gusty breath or two to get the flames to catch the new wood on fire. Satisfied, he got up and sat on one of those chunks of log they used for seating out there.
            Maeve drifted silently out of the sky. She landed on Ralph’s shoulder and said, “hey, Boss.”
            “What do you think about anything, Maeve?” said still sleepy Ralph.
            “I wonder what he’s doing here, and why you guys all slept outside,” said Maeve.
            “We slept out here because I don’t have an extra bed in the cave. As to why he’s here? I’m wondering myself, Blackleg. You know, sometimes you find out later why you did a thing. Sometimes you don’t know in front.” Ralph laughed. “Now I sound a little like Bob himself!”
            “Where’d he come from?” said Maeve.
            “Is that one of those questions, Maeve, or do you just wonder where he was living?”
            They were both whispering, as if Bob were a small child who must not be disturbed.
            But he woke anyhow. He sat up and yawned and rubbed his eyes.
            “Hey, Bob, you have anything at Minerva’s house? I mean anything that’s yours and you care about?”
            “No, Ralphie, I’m like a dog. Except I make the garden. The tools belong to Minerva!”
            “How did you end up there, anyhow,” asked Ralph.
            “It’s a little hazy. But I remember hiding in her shed and hanging out in the garden,” said Bob. He didn’t look very cheerful about the whole thing, like maybe sleeping in a basement wasn’t so cool.
            “Hey, let’s go down to the river! We can catch Ramona some fish and let that cold water really wake us up!” said Ralph. “I’ll tell Ramona. Hang on.”
            Ralph stuck his head in the cave, saying, “Mona, we’re going to the river for a little while,” in a stage whisper. “We’ll come back with fish! Probably!”
            “OK, Baby, we’ll be here when you get back,” she said softly.
            Later, down in the river, in the early morning light, Ralph and Bob found that whirlpool that appears there sometimes when it’s needed. Like a couple of boys they floated around and around. Once in a while one of them would grab a nice fat trout and thread it onto a green branch  to keep for later.
            “Bob, you know I still have that portable portal you had and lost. It’s in the cave, up high,” said Ralph.
            “Oh yeah? I forgot all about that thing,” Bob giggled as he floated. “I wonder if it still works? It was pretty cool!”
            “One way to find out,” said Ralph, also floating around the pool.
            “Did you ever want to just go someplace else, Bob?” said Ralph. “I mean, what’s the best place you can think of to be?”
            “I never thought about where I was very much, Ralphie. I just kind of moved with the flow, you know? I never picked a place and went there. I never chose anything at all. It just happened, I thought.”
            The whirlpool took them around a few more times. The sun rose up higher and brighter.
            “Well, let’s take these fish to Ramona. I’m getting hungry. You?”
            “Yeah, me too,” said Bob.
            “I bet she’ll cook these while they’re fresh,” said Ralph.
            They dripped river water all the way back to Ramona, the kids, and the fire at home, bringing a dozen or so of spotty trout threaded on the green branch.
            While Ramona got the trout ready to cook on her big flat pan, Ralph reached up onto the natural shelf in the cave just right for hiding things and pulled down the portable portal. It looked like a sort of dully shining snake, a kind of stretchy big loop. It was dusty, but Ralph took it outside and shook the dust off of it. As soon as he shook it around it brightened up. It seemed to want to form itself into a circle too! It became larger as it suspended itself in the air.
            A shining golden circle, it waited there in the morning light. A potentiality manifested.
            It waited there while they had fish for breakfast, and herbal tea to drink.
            “It looks like it still works, huh, Ralphie,” said Bob, a little awed, as he ought to have been.
            “I’m pretty sure it does,” said Ralph.
            Ramona said, “do you really need a portal, just to get out of Minerva’s garden? You could just never go back, Uncle Bob.”
            The concept struck Bob like a thunderclap. He stared at Ramona in amazement. “Yeah, I could just never go back!”
            “Easy,” said Ralph.
            “Put that thing back, Ralphie! It scares me,” said Uncle Bob. “I just won’t go back!”
            “Perfect!” said Ramona.
            Ralph shook the portal, so that it collapsed into some shiny coils, then he put it back up on the shelf in the cave.
            “We’ll help you make a house around here somewhere Bob, or whatever you like!” said Ralph. “Maybe we can find another cave, man!”
            “I would like that! Oh boy! Yes!” said Bob.
            “This is going to be great!” said Ralph. “We’ll be neighbors!”
            Even Twigg was excited. Cherry didn’t pay too much attention. The cats approved silently, when they got back from hunting.
            Maeve was still there, but hadn’t been talking, just listening.
            “Sounds good to me,” she said.
            And so it was.