Hey, Ralphie! Look!

 

            It was black. That’s probably why Suzy noticed it. Few things in the forest are flat black. It should have been some kind of camo, or flat dark green. But there it hung, suspended at about six feet above the ground on a nice maple trunk. Suzy pulled it down.
            Somebody would have found it anyhow. It was “hot.” It gave off a radiance that was somewhere between visible and audible, or maybe tactile. For some, these things stand out like a traffic light. Most humans would never notice one unless they tripped over it or it fell on them.
            “It’s a human thing obviously,” Suzy told Uncle Bob.
            “Where’d you get it?” said Uncle Bob. “Why bring it here, Suzy?”
            She held it before herself on two hands. Suzy wanted Uncle Bob to get a good look. It was just a bland looking rectangular black thing with some bumps and ridges and so on.
            “Bob,” she said in Saslingua, “Look at it. It’s evil. And it smells bad.”
            “Well, yeah, it makes me itch when I look at it. I wonder why they make those things,” said Uncle Bob.
            “You know what I think?” said Suzy. “I’m from far in the backwoods. I have simple ideas. Here is one of them. I think those things are soul suckers!”
            “Well, we could just smash it to pieces with a big rock. Would that make you feel safe?”
            “Maybe. But I’m not sure. There might be souls already in it, Bob!” yelped Suzy in alarm. “What if we smashed it and that…I don’t know! Would that kill somebody’s soul?” she said.
            They stood staring at each other beside the Stump House. It didn’t feel so sweet and homey there at the moment. Smoke drifted up from Suzy’s fireplace. Crows flew over making loud comments. A cool little breeze lifted just the tips of their hair, as if questioning.
            “Let’s take it to Ralph,” said Uncle Bob at last. “He’ll think of something.”
            So, to spare Suzy, Uncle Bob put the black thing under his own arm, and they headed down the well worn path to the Home Clearing to show it to Ralph. It wasn’t a long walk.
            Ralph wasn’t on his big cedar log, so they figured he must be down by the fire.
            He was. So was everyone else. Ramona was dishing up some nice pieces of roast pheasant.
            “That’s a wolf,” said Suzy, when she saw Blue Star crouched down beside Cherry’s feet.
            “She’s just a baby, Auntie Suzy,” said Cherry. “Her name is Blue Star. But we just call her Blue. She has blue eyes!”
            “I can see that now,” said Suzy. But she was nervous around wolves, even baby wolves.
            Ralph saw Suzy’s discomfort. “Blue’s OK, Suzy. I’ve seen no harm in her at all! You can even pet her if it would help. She’s nice and fuzzy!” said Ralph.
            Blue watched Suzy take a seat on one of the fireside logs with her icy light blue eyes and a wolfie smile.
            Holding out the black thing, Uncle Bob said, “Hey, Ralphie! Look!”
            “I’m looking! Where’d that come from? You know about those things, right?” said Ralph.
            “It’s a soul sucker,” said Suzy, with finality.
            “It’s more of a snooper,” said Ralph. “It makes pictures of whoever walks by it and triggers its camera. It keeps sounds too! I admit it does sound a little like a soul sucker!”
            “Oh, if it’s just another camera,” said Ramona, “Let’s just smash it. No problem!”
            “I have a better idea,” said Ralph. “It has two parts. Watch this!”
            So, Ralph took the black thing. He looked directly into its eye, giving it a real good look at himself. He turned his head from side to side. He grinned. He made a fake mad face too, then he winked. Then he said, “Look, I don’t know who you are, but I have a little bit of a message to leave you.
            “We are not bugs, snakes, or fish, or raccoons. Study them! Not us!
            “We are people. Think about it. Would you  hang cameras in some other human’s house just to study him? No, of course not.
            “So, stop it! Maybe at some convenient time when you are sitting in the forest just sensing it all, I will come by and say hello.. My choice! Peace!” said Ralph, still staring into the camera.
            “Ramona, if we find any more of those things, you can deal with them!” laughed Ralph. “Then I’ll go put the junk in the dumpster by the ranger station. Rick won’t know a thing!”
            “Bob, I want the guy who planted this thing to find it. Where should we put it?”
            “I don’t know, Ralphie. Maybe we should just give it to Ranger Rick. Then he can give it to the police or something,” said Uncle Bob.
            “No, I don’t think Rick would know who it belonged to,” said Ralph.
            “Oh, yeah, Ralphie,” said Uncle Bob.
            “It’s gotta go back to the right guy,” Ralph said earnestly.
            Cherry looked at Ralph, with an impish little grin on her face. “I know what! Put it right back where Auntie Suzy found it! That’s where he will look for it, for the pictures! Right?”
            Of course, that was perfect, and true.
            So, Ralph, Twigg, Uncle Bob, Auntie Suzy, accompanied by Bob and Berry found the tree where Suzy had noticed the black thing. Ralph tied it back up with some strips of bark. Then they all got out of there.
            On the way back to the Stump House they found two more of those things.
            “I think I’ll just roll this big old rock over,” said Ralph, “And tuck them under there. Ramona won’t mind if she doesn’t have to smash them.”
            Uncle Bob and Suzy stayed there at the Stump House.
            “If you find anymore of those darn things, let me know!” said Ralph.
            Then Ralph, his boy, and his cats walked on down the path to the Home Clearing.
            “That investigator is going to be pretty surprised,” said Twigg, laughing a little.
            “He sure is,” agreed Ralph, serenely.

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