A large black raven sitting in the top of a cedar tree scolded the child as she headed into the thick forest.
***
Julie carefully closed and latched the back door as she carried a basket of freshly laundered bedding to the clotheslines. Julie sat the laundry basket on the picnic table and began hanging the laundry on the line. Sampson, wanting outside, pawed the door handle until it popped open. Once he bounded out through the door, he headed around the house. He had seen a squirrel in the front yard from the living room picture window and chased it across the street and into the neighboring forest.
When Julie finished hanging the clothes on the line, she carried her basket back towards the house. Sampson had returned and dashed up behind her, playfully trying to knock the basket from her hands. She rubbed the dog’s head and played with him for a moment; then remembered that she had not let him outside. She felt a sudden adrenaline rush, picked up the laundry basket and quickly walked around the house towards the back door. It was then that she realized the door was open. Julie was certain she had securely latched the door. She felt a wave of panic flow through her body. The dog must have forced the latch open and let himself outside.
Julie dropped her basket and headed into the house to locate her daughter. She had left Becky playing in the living room and hoped to find her there. As she frantically searched the house for the child, she soon realized that her daughter was not inside the house. Julie could not believe that Becky would have left the house on her own; she had paddled the child twice for doing so.
Julie tried to get Sampson to search for the child, but her efforts were futile. The dog was young and simply wanted to play. He had no desire to search for the child who often tried to ride on his back, often times pulling his fur. After an hour of searching, she finally decided she needed help. She dialed 911 and spoke to the operator who answered her call.
Within thirty minutes, two police cars arrived at Julie’s home. The officers quickly began searching for some sign where the child might have walked or entered the forest. After an hour of searching the house and property, the officers called a neighboring city for a K9 dog to track the child. The dog and trainer were doing a dog training class and the drive to Julie’s home would take two hours. The sky had darkened and a rainy mist began to fall. The officers worried that the dog might not be able to find the child’s tracks if the rain continued.
The officers decided to wait for the dog and handler to arrive. If they tracked up the forest with their scents, it would only make it harder for the dog to locate the child; instead, they each stood at a corner of the property and took turns calling Becky’s name, hoping that the child would walk towards the sound of their voices.
When the K9 unit arrived, the weather had turned for the worse. It was now raining and the wind had begun to blow. There simply was no way that the dog was going to track the child in this weather. The officers decided that they had no choice but to wait until sunrise to begin another search for Becky. The officers had called for more help. They intended to search the forest in the dark if they could come up with lights and rain suits. By the time six people entered the forest, it was almost midnight.
The search teams returned to the house around four in the morning. None of them could believe that a three-year-old child could get more than a couple miles from the house, yet they were unable to find any sign of the child in the dark wet forest. The officers had searched the driveway and around the house when they first arrived, just in case someone had driven up to the house or walked up to the house from the forest, but they found no sign of any tire tracks or footprints that did not belong to either Julie or the officers.
As the sun rose and the clouds began to dissipate, the officers decided to attempt to search the forest again. Julie provided a small Scooby-Doo blanket that Becky slept with each night for the dog to sniff. The officer then put the blanket in a plastic bag and put it under his raincoat. As they entered the forest on the side of the house closest to the screen door where Becky would have left the house, a raven swooped down over the dog’s head and then landed in a nearby tree. The raven squawked at the men and dog as if it wanted their attention.
***
When Becky had first entered the forest, she spotted a white butterfly and began to chase it. The butterfly soon tired of the child and flew off into the trees. Becky seemed unconcerned about being in the forest alone until she saw the first flash of lightning and heard the thunder roll across the forest. She decided to return back home, but did not know which way to go. She ran in the direction she thought she needed to go, but soon found herself deeper into the forest with no sign of her mother’s white house. She was tired, cold and her clothes were soaking wet. She had no shoes on her feet and her toes were cold. She sat down on the wet ground and took off her socks.
She decided to go back in the direction she had come from, but soon found herself ankle deep in water. She saw some trees that were green and decided they looked like the trees near her mother’s house. She ran towards them, but soon found herself lost in a thick cedar forest. The child was very cold and tired. She crawled under the low hung branches of a cedar tree and found a place that was dry. The thick layer of pine needles and the low hanging branches created a place that offered the child some comfort. The pine needles were warm and she soon snuggled down into the warmth they offered. Within minutes, she fell asleep.
***
As the search team spread out and began the tedious job of searching the hundreds of acres that surrounded the house, they used two-way radios to keep in contact with each other, and to prevent anyone else from becoming lost in the dense forest. They had enough people that they were able to spread out about fifty feet from each other as they walked. They intended to walk a large circle around Becky’s home, hoping she had not traveled more than a few hundred yards from the house. If their first circle of the home did not produce the child, they would begin a second circle with a wider radius.
When the search team arrived back at their starting point, they all took a few minutes to get a drink and some food before making another search. The sun was up and the air was starting to warm a little. As they moved out to a new starting point, the raven that the officers had seen last night began to scold them. Then the bird would fly a short distance out ahead before returning to scold the men again. The officers ignored the bird, assuming it was trying to protect a nest.
The men may have ignored the raven, but the K9 did not. Soon, the dog was ignoring its handler. It began making forays out in the direction the bird had flown and would then return to coax his handler to follow. It took the handler ten minutes or more before he understood the significance of the raven and his dog’s actions. It seemed that the bird and dog might know the location of the missing child.
***
Becky had only slept for a few minutes when a sound woke her. She spoke to the noise, thinking her mother might have come to take her home to warm her and tuck her into her bed for the night. Becky spoke to her mother, but got no answer. The sound got closer and Becky felt scared. She started to cry softly, hoping her mother would come soon. She saw movement near her and wondered if her dog had come to take her home, instead she saw one of the deer that often came to eat the food her mother put out beside the fence. As the deer got closer, Becky realized that the mother deer had her two babies with her.
The mother deer moved to within a few feet of Becky and began sniffing the air. Becky spoke to the deer, but the sound frightened the animal. When the deer again moved back under the tree, she laid down in the pine needles beside Becky. The two fawns soon moved in close and snuggled up close to their mother. Becky crawled a little closer and then lay down between the two fawns. The animals were warm, so warm that soon Becky forgot that she was lost and cold. As her body warmed, she fell asleep. The mother deer laid her head over Becky’s cold legs and used her nose to move pine needles over the child’s body.
***
The raven had returne
d to the dog six or seven times. The crew had tightened up the distance between each other, not wanting to miss the child if she was under a log or some brush. The dog was working hard to follow a scent, but the rain had ruined most of it. The only creature that seemed to know where the child was located was the bird. The search team hoped that the bird was actually taking them to the child and not off on a wild goose chase.
The team moved steadily through the forest, following the bird and dog for another hour. They found the bird sitting in the top of a cedar tree, apparently waiting for them. The dog had moved up close to a group of cedar trees and stood wagging its tail. The handler realized that the dog had found something, and it probably was the child. He took a deep breath, trying to release the fear he felt in his heart, knowing there was a good chance the child had died from exposure during the night.
As the handler took a step closer to the dog, three deer broke cover from under a pine tree and scampered off into the thick forest. The dog moved slowly forward at the command of the handler. As the dog got close to one tree, the dog sat down and began wagging its tail so hard the handler wondered what the dog had found. Just then, a mostly naked child came giggling out of from under the tree on a dead run for the dog. The handler spoke to the dog, issuing calming commands to insure that the dog would not bark or growl at the child. The dog laid down on his belly as the child ran up and wrapped her arms around its neck.
The search team moved up slowly to where the dog and child were. The officer spoke to the dog and then stepped up beside it. He kneeled down and spoke to the child. The officer knew that the dog would now protect the child from anyone or anything that might harm it. He did not reach out to the child, not knowing how the dog would respond. He waited for the child to come to him. The officer asked Becky if she wanted to go home. She stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He realized that her diaper was soaking wet. He removed the diaper and checked to be certain she was not soiled or injured, and then wrapped her in the Scooby-Doo blanket her mother had given him. As he wrapped the child up and picked her up in his arms, she began to shiver. He opened his jacket and moved the child and blanket inside his warm coat, snuggling her up close to his body to warm her. Then he spoke to the dog and began praising it, allowing the animal time to relax. As the child giggled, the officer rubbed the dog’s head and continued the words of praise.
As he held the child and talked to her, he realized that she was perfectly okay. Two of the other search team members checked around under the trees and decided that the child had spent the night with the three deer that had scampered off when they first arrived. As they all stood around talking, a female officer gave Becky a drink of water from her canteen and then offered her some banana. The child was famished and very thirsty, but otherwise, she was perfectly all right. One of the officers called Becky’s home and spoke to her mother. The child could hear her mother crying over the phone and said, “Mommy, home.”
The officer turned and began the long walk back towards Becky’s home. He only walked a few hundred yards when he realized that the child in his arms had fallen asleep. He walked slowly and let her relax in his arms. The officer considered the adventure the child had endured and realized that she would have quite the story to tell her mother when they arrived home. The officer smiled to himself as he considered what this tiny child’s mother would do once she realized that her daughter was all right. A good spanking would probably follow her warm bath and lunch.
It took almost an hour to walk back to the house. The team discussed how the child had managed to walk so far in so short a time. The female officer said, “If you were a tiny female child, lost in the forest with lightning and thunder all around you, I bet you could also cover a lot of ground very quickly.” The officers all got a good laugh over her words, but they realized how very different this scene could have been. Carrying a live healthy child home to her mother was much better than carrying a child that had not survived the ordeal.
As they arrived at Becky’s home, she woke as her mother pulled her from the officer’s coat and began loving her. Becky did have a tale to tell her mother. The child began talking and moving her arms around as she told her mother about her night in the forest.
As the team entered the kitchen and stripped off their wet clothes, the family that had come to support Julie began serving the team hot vegetable soup, biscuits and hot coffee and tea. As everyone listened to the nonstop talking of a very excited three-year-old child, Becky’s grandfather installed a new door lock on the back door. He also installed a latch up high, then one on the outside of the door. With the two new latches, Julie could insure the dog would not force the door open and let the child outside, ever again.
As the search team packed up and headed out the back door, Julie hugged each of them and thanked them. When the last of the team had driven out of the driveway, Julie carried her tiny tired child to the tub and listened to her story all over again as she washed the mud from between her tiny toes and from under her toenails. As she washed Becky’s hair, she found two strands of dear hair matted into her child’s hair. She laid the hair on the edge of the sink and then said, “Thank you my friends for protecting my child.”
As she returned her attention to the child splashing in the tub of warm water, a large black raven landed on the windowsill and pecked three times on the glass. Julie looked up at the bird and said, “I thank you also, my friend. Without you, Becky might have died in the forest. I don’t know how you knew how to find my child, but again, thank you.” The bird squawked and flew off towards the forest.
Chapter 4 – Monique – Rebellion in the Seines
Natalie and Ginger prepared a small box in the spare bedroom for Monique to deliver her kittens. Monique realized early into the pregnancy that she was only carrying one or two kittens. Her first pregnancy had produced two kittens, Ahti and Fatin. The girls prepared some warm goats’ milk for Monique. She needed something to settle her nauseous stomach and the milk should help. Within a few minutes after drinking the milk, she was feeling better.
As the four felines and two human females tried to remain calm, Blacky discussed what he had learned from the raven earlier today. Everyone knew that the construction crews would need to clear a wide swatch across the mountain for the new highway, but the raven explained that the men were beginning to cut a path over a quarter of a mile wide; a path that would extend for thirty miles across the mountain. Everyone realized that such damage to the mountain would destroy an ecosystem that had existed for millions of years. Not only would the damage influence mammals and plants, but it would also influence the environment and the climate in and around the mountain. The actions of humans over destroying this mountain incensed Blacky. He and Monique had lived for thousands of years in the Seine Mountains and he was now determined to protect the place he called home.
The new expressway was to end at a small town to the east, but now the state was condemning properties, boarding them up, and tearing many of them down. Large corporations were buying up the properties from the state. As things stood now, the corporations and state planned to raze the small town of Bristol to the ground and replace it with gaming casinos, a ski lodge and dozens of hotels. The large city to the west would soon suffer much the same fate. The corporations had already bought up large tracts of land and destroyed a large portion of the mountain for their planned five-story hotel and gaming facilities.
Within the hour, Monique delivered a tiny black male kitten. Once she was certain she was only carrying one kitten, she settled down to take a nap while her baby nursed. Blacky lay down beside his family and watched the tiny kitten as it slept snuggled up close to its mother. The two twins, Fatin and Ahti, came in to visit their new brother. Fatin asked Monique what she had named their brother and Monique said, “Actually, Blacky named the kitten. Your brother’s name is, Blackjack.”
***
The construction crew had now cleared almost a mile long strip that was at least five lanes
wide. The large excavators seemed unhappy. They snorted and squeaked as they pushed down the huge ancient forest trees. The crews behind them then loaded the huge logs onto trucks, probably headed towards the lumber companies at a huge profit.
Blacky, now infuriated over the destruction to the forest, had vowed to end the carnage. When the girls woke in the morning, Blacky had already left the cabin. He had obviously left during the night. Natalie spoke to Monique and asked if Blacky would return shortly. Monique looked at the girls and said, “Blacky is off to talk to the ancient spirits that live within these mountains. He intends to request their assistance in stopping the construction crews from destroying the Seines.”
Later in the afternoon, Blacky returned to the cabin. He was very quiet and had little to say about anything. After a short time, Blacky lay down beside Monique and had a long conversation with her. He finally stood up and spoke to Fatin and Ahti. After they all had something to eat, the three of them headed outside without speaking to Ginger and Natalie.
Monique and her new kitten, Blackjack, came into the kitchen. Natalie and Ginger loved on the baby until it fell asleep in Ginger’s lap. Ginger put the kitten in a small cardboard box with a towel inside and placed the box on the warm fireplace hearth. Ginger giggled as she watched the tiny male kitten wake itself with a loud snore, and then tuck its nose down between its paws.
As the girls cooked supper, Monique took on a human form. She sat down at the kitchen table with Natalie and Ginger and discussed Blacky’s plans to stop the road construction. The girls could tell that Monique was very sore after her delivery, but she did not complain. Ginger made Monique a cup of hot tea and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. Monique giggled and said, “I will let Blacky knock me up more often if I can get this much attention.” Natalie, put her hand over her mouth, acting as if she was mortified over Monique’s words, but all at the table knew Natalie was not really so offended.
Ronnie Coleinger: A Winter Collection Page 6