The Stone of Blood

by Tony Nalley

  But ‘sometimes you just have to do, what you have to do.’ My dad had told me.

  So I put on my dirty jeans for crawlin’ and climbin’ in, once I’d heard noises from downstairs that told me that everybody was wakin’ up. And I fashioned together a quick knapsack of tools, extra batteries for my flashlight, and my knife and string. I mean, you just never knew when some good old string or some rope was gonna come in handy!

  I told my mom and dad ‘Good Mornin’ and all and that I was goin’ outside and out to the barn and then I told em’ that I might go into Mr. Roberts’s woods for a while. I told em’ so that they wouldn’t be worried about me or nothin’. And then I set right out! I guessed they’d forgotten about the wolves I’d told em’ about the other day. Or maybe they had chalked that up to a kid’s imagination too! Either way, I wouldn’t hold it against em’. But I wasn’t gonna bring it up to em’ again either!

  My dad was goin’ out to his garage to do some tinkerin’ on some things with our neighbor Mitch, and I think Anna was still in her room asleep. So I headed out the back yard towards the barn. Nobody saw me leavin’ or nothin’, except for Candy.

  My dog Candy wanted to come with me of course. Cause as it seemed to me, animals just had a sixth sense about stuff. And I can’t say that I minded that none, her comin’ with me that is. But she couldn’t go with me into the cave cause there was so much climbin’ to do, and she’d be barkin’ and stuff at times when we’d need to be quiet. So I figured that it would be best all around if she just stayed here and didn’t go with me! She wasn’t gonna like it, but I let her come to the barn with me anyways. That way she could sniff around and things and make sure the barn was at least safe enough for me to go in to.

  I was ten feet away from the barn the moment my legs began to tremble and I began to feel nauseous. I realized that if I was already feelin’ that way before I’d even made it into the tunnel, then it was gonna get really bad once I’d climbed down into it! I guess like my grandpa, I wasn’t gonna say I was scared, but I also knew when I’d rather be someplace else!”

  I decided that instead of crawlin’ through the tunnel and walkin’ all the way through the darkness to the other side beneath the quarry, I’d just take the shortcut through Mr. Roberts’s woods instead. That way I could take advantage of the daylight, come at this thing from a whole different angle and save the energy in my batteries for later, just in case I needed em’. That’s what I told myself anyways. Cause you know, I wasn’t no ‘chicken’!

  I knelt down and said goodbye to Candy and then I made her go back on up to the house. I climbed over the fence slowly, so as not to rip my pants on the barbed wire or fall through a rusty part of the fence wires. And I set out straight up through the Mr. Roberts’s woods.

  It was different when you were walkin’ through the woods all by yourself. I guess maybe cause you didn’t have someone there to talk to ya and you always had to keep a good look out for anythin’ that might come along and jump out at ya!

  It was still kinda early yet and the ground was slightly damp from the last night’s dew as I walked up the hill by way of Mr. Roberts’s pond. The grass was taller here before I entered the tree line and it lay over as I walked through it; seeds of the grass sticking to my britches.

  The sunlight had a harder time gettin’ through the woods here. It wasn’t dark, but it wasn’t entirely bright either. I walked beneath the tall trees lookin’ up through their leaves to the blue skies above em’ and I kicked up their fallen leaves as I passed.

  I found the dried dirty area just this side of the fence that led out to the open grassy fields the other side of the woods, and I picked up several pieces of petrified wood. I also put a few in my pocket so that I could look at em’ later.

  I remembered what it looked like in the cavern beneath these rocks as I reached down and picked up a larger piece of the rock in the shape of the state of Kentucky. But it was too big for me to carry so I just left it there under a half dry rotted log, so it would be easier to find it again if I ever decided to make a trip back through here to pick it up. A few cows were grazin’ in the meadow just over the fence and another was takin’ a sip of water from the pond.

  I placed my knapsack on the ground and slid it to the other side beneath the wires in the fence and I climbed over and stepped out into the field. I watched where I was steppin’ too, since many cows had grazed here. And I walked around the large oval shaped pond to the woods that lay on the other side of it.

  Those woods were a part of the quarry. It was a part of the county’s land, not a part of Mr. Roberts’s. I didn’t know who owned it exactly. But I was told that it belonged to the county, so I guess that meant it belonged to me too.

  There was an old tree with part of a wired fence line nailed to it that was set as the boundary line for the woods. And I crossed over that fence easily and continued my journey up the hill and back into the deeper sections of the wood.

  At the top of a small hill I passed an abandoned camp site where an old log cabin club house had once sat. It had been built by local teenagers from down the road. Of course, if you didn’t know this had once been the site of a log cabin, you wouldn’t have been able to tell. Cause it was mainly rubbish now with logs strewn here and there, all piled up in a crevasse down below and to the south.

  I had been there once before when I was smaller, back before it had been demolished and torn down. It had once looked like a giant Lincoln Log set to me, that you could play in, in ‘real life’!

  Those boys had all grown up though now and moved away. And those logs were now just a distant reminder of the good times that they had once had.

  I made my way through the woods, up and down hills and through small valleys covered by leaves and bushes and tangled weeds. At one point I was completely lost, but as I found myself at the top of a distant hill I once again regained my bearin’s and sense of direction.

  I crossed over fallen trees and climbed hills with rocks and tall grasses and made my way up to the very tallest of all the surrounding hills! And as I peered out through the tangled brush at the top of that small mountain, I moved forward, steppin’ out into the daylight upon the rocky cliff that overlooked the far left hand side and largest crater of the rock quarry! I had made it! I was both elated and petrified!

  For there before me in the depths of the quarried crater were armed soldiers! Soldiers in grayish tan uniforms marchin’ back and forth throughout the roads and at the bottom floor of the crater! Some of them drove around in jeeps while still others set parked in trucks!

  I immediately ducked back down and hid myself within the camouflage of the forest and I peered out cautiously through the leaves and branches!

  These were military! They were marchin’ in formation and takin’ orders from commanders in the field. I surveyed the perimeter and I saw that there were also men standin’ on point, carryin’ weapons and keepin’ close watch on the maneuvers. From where I sat, I could see it all! I was on the highest point that overlooked the whole area!

  And just then! Just as I peered out over the terrain, a soldier walked past me! He was so close to me that I could’ve reached out and touched him! But he didn’t see me! He had walked past me and then returned and stood with his back to me, lookin’ out in the direction of the armed forces; obstructin’ my view of the comin’s and goin’s on.

  My only thought at that moment was that if I moved I would be shot! So I didn’t move! I couldn’t let him see me! Cause soldiers were trained to ‘shoot on sight’!

  So I sat there, squatted down not more than two feet away from where the soldier stood for what seemed to me …to be an eternity! And though I could feel my heart beatin’ and my legs crampin’ up, as I was practically holdin’ my breath, I dared not move! Not even to wipe the bead of sweat that trickled down my forehead and then dripped off of the tip end of my nose.

  Once the soldier had moved a little further down, I attempted to retreat and stand up but found that the muscles in
my legs had been set in one position for so long that it was impossible for me to rise! And when I tried …I lost my footing and I fell backwards down the hill! I struck my head and right shoulder against the hardened bark of a hard and unyielding tree!

  I was in pain! And it hurt!

  But I was more elated at that time that I hadn’t been seen by anybody …and more especially that I hadn’t been shot! So I lay there for a few minutes just feelin’ the coolness of the shady ground and rubbin’ my hands in the cool dirt.

  It was then that I felt somethin’ stickin’ up from outta the ground. It felt like an unusually round rock at first, but as I sat up and looked at it closer I could see that it wasn’t a rock at all! It was gold in color, weatherworn and metallic!

  I dug at the object with both hands then, even usin’ the blade of my knife to free it from the ground! I wiped off the mud from the object and discovered that I had found a pocket watch! A solid gold pocket watch! It must have been layin’ there for a very long time!

  I opened it slowly as its hinges were matted shut from the caked in mud and debris, findin’ its face in somewhat old but otherwise perfect condition! Its mechanics were no longer workin’; at least not that I could tell at the time.

  Within the inside cover, it held an inscription.

  ‘In loving memory of Audrei.’

  And one more name engraved at the bottom in bold script letters: ‘Nathanael’.

  “Inside of me there is a raging battle, a battle where two fierce wolves are fighting!” the grandfather said. “One wolf is Evil. He brings with him death, anger, fear and greed. The other wolf is Good. He brings with him life, peace, faith and joy. The blood of these wolves’ rages within my veins! And their battle rages within my people! Their battle also rages within you … my grandson. These wolves will always be fighting!”

  “But Grandfather?” The boy asked. “Which wolf will win?”

  The wise old Indian Chief looked down upon his grandson and said, “The one you feed.”

  - A TALE OF THE CHEROKEE

  Twenty One

  Once Upon a Time

  She placed her hand to my mouth as I sat beneath the shade of the tree where I had fallen, admiring my newly found treasure! And she whispered quietly in my ear just as the light flickered through the bushes up ahead of us by way of the shadow of the military officer who had returned once again and passed this way.

  “Shhh!” She whispered with her finger to her lips. “Be quiet. Come. Follow me.” And then she motioned me to follow her while as she removed her hand from my mouth.

  She could tell that I was hesitant, as I was completely surprised to see her! So she raised her voice from that of a whisper while usin’ overly exaggerated facial expressions! And then she grabbed me by the hand. “Now Toby! Come on!” she said.

  So I got up and followed.

  I knew this girl; she lived down the road from me. Her name was as beautiful soundin’ as she was pretty, but I knew she kinda liked bein’ called ‘Cricket’ so that’s what I called her. We’d never actually spoken alot, cause she was a girl and all, but we had ridden the school bus together and I’d seen her ridin’ her horse through the grassy fields out by my house.

  I didn’t know why my heart was racin’; but when she took my hand and led me through the woods I could swear I was gonna pass out or somethin’, cause I got real warm inside!

  She was barefoot and tan, for even by the sunlight tricklin’ down through the shade of the trees I could see that she had spent a great deal of time over the summer in the warmth of the sun. I mean, not that I was lookin’ or nothin’. But how she could walk through these woods all barefooted like that and wearin’ them cutoff shorts …I just couldn’t understand. But I guessed that she was probably used to it since except for school; I don’t reckon that I’d ever seen her wearin’ nothin’ different or wearin’ any shoes.

  We trod through the woods down paths unknown to me. And she led me over wooded hills and through a small shaded valley where a cool stream made its way beneath the cover of the trees. She kicked up its waters and splashed me then and laughed as I wiped the cold water from my face. And for some reason, I didn’t even mind at all.

  Without speakin’ she guided me on, only turnin’ to smile at me in a manner to urge me forward. So I smiled back, and hastened my pace so that she wouldn’t have to pull me no more. She led me then out to an open meadow where we both stepped into the broad daylight. And I saw her as the sun shown down brightly upon her golden blonde hair.

  I’d have to admit that for a moment, and only for a moment mind you, standin’ there lookin’ at that girl, I’d pert near completely forgotten where I was or why I’d even come out in the woods in the first place!

  She let go of my hand then and took great big steps out into the tall golden grasses and spun around in circles beneath the sunlight with her arms stretched open wide.

  “Isn’t this beautiful Toby?” She asked me.

  “Yes.” I said in a halfway whisperin’ voice. “Yes it is.”

  “Come on!” She yelled as she took off runnin’ through the meadow.

  “Where are we goin’ Cricket?” I yelled as I took off runnin’ after her.

  “You called me Cricket!” she said and then giggled. “I kinda like that.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I said and smiled. “So what’s goin’ on? Where are we goin’?”

  “And hey!” I shouted so she could hear me as I slowed down to a stop. “How did you know where I was? And why’d you come and get me?”

  She stopped her runnin’ for a moment and turned back and waited for me to catch up as she played with a tall piece of golden grass.

  “You ask alot of questions and talk an awful lot for a boy!” she said all smilin’ at me. She held out her hand again, for me to take hold and then she urged me to run with her again through the meadow.

  “It’s just up here a piece further Toby!” she said. “Someone wants to see you!”

  “I don’t know anybody who lives over this way!” I said. “Who wants to see me?”

  “You’ll find out!” She exclaimed. “I promise Toby, it’s all good! I was told to come and get ya and to fetch ya back here! So that’s what I done.”

  I’d have to say that I was findin’ it harder and harder to think clearly. All that I could think of was the touch of that girl’s hand that I was holdin’… and how pretty she was!

  I wondered then if what I was feelin’ was much akin to that movie where all of them animals were gettin’ ‘twitterpated’.

  And I figured, that if this …was what that was, then I didn’t mind bein’ ‘twitterpated’ at all! All of them other girls that I’d been in love with before, well I never felt nothin’ like this! This feelin’ hurt me …it felt so good! Heck, I was glad that Colby hadn’t come with me!

  Cricket led me across the meadow and up to a little white house with a small picket fence. It was the kind of house that had it been covered with Candy Canes and Cookies like in the story of ‘Hansel and Gretel’, I honestly would not have been shocked! It was well taken care of too, with lots and lots of flowers! It was a real pretty place, the kind I knew my mama would like.

  Cricket walked me right up to the screen door, stepped up on the smooth stone steps with her bare feet and opened up the door! It screeched like all screen doors seem to do and then we both walked inside without even knockin’ or sayin’ ‘hello’ or nothin’!

  “Well …good morning there, Mr. Toby! How are you doing this fine morning?” A familiar voice rang out from within the kitchen. “My ole’ my, how quickly you’ve grown!”

  “Ms. Lillie?” I replied.

  Ms. Lillie stood there in her kitchen, in a pretty blue polka dotted dress and a white apron, smilin’ really big at me! And I watched as Cricket ran over to her and gave her a great big old hug! Then they both just stood there with their arms opened wide waitin’ for me to come over and get me a hug from em’ too! So I did!

  “Ms. Lillie.” I sa
id. “I didn’t know you lived over here! How long have you been here? And how did you know I was in the woods and…”

  “He sure does talk alot for a boy doesn’t he?” Cricket interrupted as she smiled.

  “Yes! Yes he sure does!” Answered Ms. Lillie. “But I expect it’s because there’s lots of things the boy needs to know about. Aint that right Mr. Toby?” She asked as I nodded.

  Ms. Lillie walked into her livin’ room and sat down on her big comfortable lookin’ couch. Cricket jumped up there beside her on her left hand side and Ms. Lillie patted the seat on the other side of her for me to come and sit down with her too!

  “How would you like for me to tell you a story Mr. Toby?” Ms. Lillie asked as I sat down beside her. And then she placed her arm around my shoulders like she was so very pleased to see me.

  “There’s alot that I have to tell you, and there are alot of questions that I know you need answers to.” she said as she looked around the room to her large rockin’ chair and then made motion to us to get back up. She patted Cricket on her leg and asked her to help her up.