Sunday, June 24, 2012

OOP

Once upon a time it had been a vibrant forest.  Even the rot then had brought new life.  Now a lone pilgrim upsets the ash with snowshoe-wide feet and cautious step.  It quivers and shudders around the sojourner's legs in silent agitation as if each plodding tread were upon a hive of yellowjackets rather than upon the lifeless corpse of a thousand trees...

and the charcoal corpses of buildings made with the corpses of trees.  One could almost forget oaks and hickories weren't the only residents once upon that time.  This used to be home to the organic and the manufactured, music and noise, poetry and prose, the sacred and the profane.  The sharp eye safe behind goggled glass however picks out the alien artifacts of straight lines which nature abhors and mankind adores.  Scorched metal, broken glass, blackened cement, the swaddled pilgrim stops and examines them all.  Some are picked up and wiped with a gloved hand.  Only to be discarded in favor of the next.   Clearly the Pilgrim seeks something in this murky land.  Searching, scanning, looking...

looking for a sign.

Once, this land thrived.  Some time ago, it fell silent.  The pilgrim has come, looking for a clue as to why.  At last the eager gaze falls on a corner poking free of the ash, three letters visible even in the murky light, "OOP".  At last!  All the Seeker's will is bent upon the bent metal sign yet the Wise one  thrusts forward exactly the way an archeologist would.  With all the speed of a bomb disposal expert discovering a landmine, the gentle glove brushes at the accumulated ash and dust, glorying in the shards of glass and nuggets of rusted steel testifying to what lies beneath the paddle sized moccasins.  More letters are exposed, a "C", an agonizing blank space, then an "N", the hand quickens, "E, K, C" appear.  Holding back eagerness no longer, the pilgrim pulls the sign from the earth and lifts it above the cloud of anxious ash.  It reads...

The Fricken Coop

Greetings traveller.
If you're reading this
 you might be wondering where i've gone.
Fear not, i am not dead nor lost nor quitted...
i am off chasing a Rabbit Trail.
For now, i will keep the Coop up and open just in case
i wish to write or post something that's too long for Facebook
or too personal for the Rabbit Trails.
Fare well, God speed, and i hope to see you on the Trail.
Pappy Fricken