He Speaks

That corner of land there?  The one that falls between those two main roads, the one road slanting into the other?  Sam’s Dry Goods used to be there, but it caught fire a few years back and the building was cleared to look like it pretty much does now, except they planted grass and put in a couple of benches.   It looks ok I guess.

Before Sam’s Dry Goods, it was just Sams, then before that Berts his dad, Bert was Sam’s dad, and then  it was just Plains Goods, when Berts grandpa Tanner had it set up.    He had to clear the land of a couple of huge boulders I liked to sit on in the middle of the day when the sun was out, and the trees that gave some good shade, and I argued against it, but commerce is commerce isn’t it?   It’s the way of things.    Things come and things go.

The roads split there because one originally went out to a town called Savior, and the other out to Hope.  Kind of funny now to think on it, isn’t it?   Both of them now long gone.    Tanner had it figured it was a good place to set up shop, so that’s what he did, so I lost my sitting place under the trees and life went on anyway.

Before Tanner come along,  there was a lot of hunting in woods that were all around here.    Good Deer and Possum, and aways before that there was other types of critters that aren’t around anymore.    I kind of miss them.

Before that most of this area was forest, with single dirt track.    You would spot someone every now and then, but sometimes years would go by without seeing anyone.   Just Bear and Coyote, Cats and Deer, Squirrels, always lots of Birds.   Easy eating for anyone who showed up.

Sometimes you would get a gathering of folks moving in and setting up a village for awhile, and it was good listening to them live their lives.  That’s when the rains were good, and the creeks ran high.   Then we would get dry spells and of course the people would soon be gone.    I’ve seen lots of different folks down this way over the years.

Then there was a time of just forest and wildlife.   Of wind and sky.   Things were fairly peaceful then, outside of the usual life and death that goes on in a forest.

Truth is, I come down this way because of the forest.      This area used to be the bottom of a great ocean.  Then when the water receded, it took a few years, but the forest sprung up, and I was walking down here one day and kind of fell in love with it, so I’ve been here ever since.

Some might say that I should have been watching out for everybody and all over the years, but I reckon I set them on the path, they can see to themselves now.    Maybe I could have done better, but you know what?   I am that I am, and always will be.     Like all things, what you see around you will pass, and the forest will return one day, and maybe I’ll haul some rocks back and sit for a spell like I used to, in the midday sun, under the trees, and just watch the birds.    I’ve always liked that.   

It suits me.