by Darrel Bird
tent, “Will this be ok with you?” He called back.
“That will be fine. When you get your beds made, you can eat.”
“What do you make of it?” He whispered to Linda as he unrolled his sleeping bag.
“I’m not sure; the others don’t seem to be paying us any mind.”
“What do you think Lou?”
“The angels are here, I’m not afraid here.”
When they walked back to the tent the man had an iron pot on the fire, and he gave them each a tin bowl of stew, “Sorry, my accoutrements aren’t much, and the dish washer is broke.” He laughed as he handed them the stew.
Brenda took her spoon out of her pocket, sat down with the stew, and began eating ferociously. Neither of them spoke as they went at the food.
“You can have more.” The man said, as Tom sat his bowl on the ground.
“We had better not eat more, as we haven’t had much food, I’m afraid if we stuff ourselves we will be sick.”
“Yes, I expect so. You seem to be a man with common sense.”
“You probably wouldn’t think that if you had been with us these last few weeks, but I try to keep some sense of human dignity.”
“Daddy, can I sleep now?”
“Me too.” Linda said.
“Of course, you all sleep, I will be along shortly. I want to speak with the man.”
“Oh, I forgot my manners, I’m John Blake.”
“Thank you for the food Mr. Blake.” Linda said.
After the others were in their sleeping bags, Tom turned to Blake, “If you don’t mind my asking questions, I’m trying to get my bearings.”
“My bearings have rolled down the hill, but go ahead, ask away.”
“Why are these people here?”
“Well, I’m not sure, but they seem to be waiting for something. I know that doesn’t make sense, but we all seem to be waiting for something.”
“Waiting for what?”
“Well now, that’s the strange part, no one seems to know.”
“That is strange Mr. Blake. Strange indeed.”
“Call me John, before things got bad I worked in the timber industry, and only those who weren’t my friends called me Mr.”
“Fair enough John, and you call me Tom.”
“Ok Tom, you want to know strange…animals just began wandering into camp a few weeks back. They wouldn’t run when we walked right up to them. Its as if they were giving themselves to us for food.”
Tom was silent at that. “Thought that might affect you that way.” John said. “That’s off one of the Elk you had tonight. I should have told you, but some folk had a hard time eating the meat at first. I’ve lived here in the Northwest my whole life, and at first I thought the animals might be sick, but I know a healthy Elk or Deer when I see one. I’ll tell you, I am almighty careful to turn thanks before I eat that meat though.”
“We forgot to turn thanks before we ate tonight.”
“The Lord knows you were starving Tom, we all were when we got here. The fire is going out, and its dark, why don’t we turn in, and we can talk more tomorrow.”
“Goodnight John.”
“Goodnight Tom.”
Tom felt his way to Linda. He snuggled down beside her in the zipped together sleeping bags, her warm body felt good in the gathering chill of nights in the Northwest.
“What did you talk about?” Linda whispered.
“Not much.” He whispered back.
“I love you Tom.”
“Love you…” His eyes were already closed as his worn out body soaked in her heat.
His eyes came open to the sound of a bird chirping in a small bush not five feet away. The forest seemed to be alive with them.
Now that’s another strange thing, I have never heard birds sing in the Oregon or Washington forests. Never. Its always so quiet in these woods you can hear a drop of water hit the ground.
He looked for Linda, and then spotted the three of them talking with a family two tents down from John’s tent.
“I see you finally woke up.” John remarked as he walked over from his tent.
“I slept awfully late; I usually wake up at first light.”
“Come on over and I will feed you a good breakfast, its stew again, but I dare not waste the food.”
Tom put his boots on and walked over to where John sat. He handed him another bowl of the stew. “I want to talk with you some more after you have eaten, if that’s ok.”
Tom bowed his head and turned thanks over the stew. “Did you actually tell me that about the animals last night? Or was it a dream?”
“It wasn’t a dream Tom, it’s as real as I am.”
“At this point I’m not even sure you are real.”
John chuckled, “I do know what you mean. I wanted to acquaint you with the way things are here. At least give my own version; then you can talk to others, and make up your own mind.”
“Go ahead. It may even help me to get my head on straight.”
“Well, you see, people are people wherever or whoever, and some of the people are getting restless. We are holding a meeting this morning, and I want you to be there. It seems when people get well fed they become restless. They are not building or planting. It was the same with Moses bunch, and it’s the same with this bunch. There’s not much we can do about it, it is just the way of things. I wanted you to be aware of this before the meeting takes place.”
“I appreciate you telling me; yes the restlessness brings me back down to earth a little, aside from the animals coming into camp to offer themselves to be killed for meat. I’m still working on that one.”
John chuckled again. He had a very pleasant laugh, and it made Tom smile. They heard someone beating on the bottom of a pan about a hundred yards away.
“Well, that’s it Tom, we’ll see what they have to say.”
People began moving from the tents toward the middle of the field. One man carried a small table with him. “What is the purpose of the table John?”
“I don’t know, makes them feel better I reckon.”
The man sat the table in the center of the field more or less, and the people began gathering around it. Some of the people spoke to Tom, and shook his hand in welcome.
The man who stood at the table was a scruffy looking man who looked to be about forty years old.
“Meeting come to order!” He tapped a tin cup on the table.
“Why are we having a meeting Joe?” A man asked.
“Well…” Joes paused for effect.
“Since John brought us here, we ain’t done nothin’ but eat, and we need to be doing something constructive for the future.”
Tom glanced over at John, and he saw his pleasant face beginning to turn a little red.
“Joe, you know good and well you were here before I even came here. I didn’t bring any of you here and you know it. If you want to hold a meeting, then hold it, but don’t start picking on folks for your short comings.”
“Well…” Joe stuttered. This time his pause was not for affect, it was out of downright embarrassment because he had been caught in his games. He had told an outright lie.
“Well, we come here anyhow, and what are we doing about it?” His whiney voice rising.
“Do you know why we’re here Joe?” Another man asked. Joe was setting himself up to be a leader, but he didn’t know a plausible himself.
“We won’t be here long.” A quiet voice came from the crowd. Tom saw it was Lou.
“Why do you say that?” Someone asked, as heads turned toward her.
“The angel told me.”
Angel! Voices said around the group. “That’s crazy Lou, I saw her down in Salem! What’s she doing here? I seen her kill a soldier!” Another man said.
“She killed someone?” A voice spoke beside Tom.
Tom stepped out in front, “She is with us, she is a little addled, but aren’t we all? She knows things, and I caution you to leave her alone!”
John stepped out
beside Tom. “When the children of Israel left Egypt, they began to get restless. When the Lord fed them manna, they began to demand meat. The Lord has sent meat, and you begin to want some bodies hide. Joe here wants to be a leader, but no one has chosen him, least of all the Lord. Folks, now I’m telling you, you had better be awful careful, and step lightly here. We are here because the Lord brought us here for his own purposes, not that I know exactly what they are. Like I said, I don’t rightly know why we are here, but I am beginning to suspect it’s as a witness to something big.”
“You tellum’ John, I’m going back to my tent, and play checkers.” The man began walking back toward the tents. Several of the people laughed and did the same. The meeting was over. Joe was red faced and angry as he carried the table back toward his tent. By the time he got to his tent there were only children playing in the field.
Shortly after they arrived back at John’s tent, one of the men came and handed Tom two folded tents, “These are yours, you family is welcome here.” He turned sharply and walked back the way he had come.
“See Tom, the Lord seems to be furnishing everything we need.” John looked at him.
“I didn’t even get a chance to thank him.”
“Don’t worry about it, the man didn’t want thanks.”
“Look at those