Except for a couple of utility workers that had wanted to buy smokes, nobody noticed that Stumpy’s didn’t open until nearly noon. Likewise, Southside Auto is taking the rest of the day off. As for Edna’s, well, Edna was open at the crack of dawn as usual. When asked, Edna was curt, saying “Just because you had some kind of momentous personal experience doesn’t mean you don’t have to go to work the next day.” She scowled, though not with her usual edge. Even the Tao te Edna has its limits.
Despite the burn ban and the rules against fireworks, the night was full of blaring sirens from fire crews, loud pops and whistle, and the sky above the next town over scintillated and flared almost till dawn. Sheila was on the shortwave around noon that the Jones’s didn’t feel real safe and wanted to come in to town if that was OK. We explained that there were a couple of the other Off-Grid families already here. This was rather unprecedented, as these are folks that try to be as far from civilization as they can be. Yet this year, something was different.
There was a lot of discussion about what to do when Brother Louis offered up the use of the chapel to house everyone for evening. To try and make it feel more welcoming, we kept the lights low and members of the City Council even blocked the view from the road with their RVs while everybody came inside.
Let me tell you, it was an awe inspiring night.
Those of you that know our neighbors know that they are shy, kind, and that their English isn’t too good. Ok, their English is terrible. That being the case, when people desire to communicate, they will find a way. It’s just, well, a bit overwhelming to describe really, like meeting royalty and having them talk to you like an equal. It’s rather humbling, and if ya had a sense of purpose before, well, it sorta sharpens it.
There were a lot of good laughs and storytelling, especially about tourists, racoons, and badgers. There was also a frank discussion of our mutual well-beings. They see a lot of pressure to develop this area more. There has always been pressure to develop this area, but something about it just never gels. We shrug it off, but our neighbors are very concerned. Most of their extended families live in Washington and Canada, and there is pressure on the younger generation to keep oozing north, but as Ol’ Papa Jones put it, as pretty as it is, winters there are too cold and too long.
As evening closed in, they said they had a surprise, and asked for “the food lady with the shovel.” We assumed they meant Edna, so we rousted her from bed and brought her over. When she showed up, you’d have thought the Queen of England had walked in the room. All the neighbors stood up and did this very slow bow, humming something under their breath. For a moment, you’d have thought Edna was going to cry. Then she steeled up, and walked in like she WERE the Queen of England, and with mien of lord and lady, sat right next to Ol’ Mama Jones.
It was funny, there was a clear divide in the room, of those that are very much friends of the families, sitting among them, and the rest of us, who almost subconsciously gave them a respectful space. An audience, if you will.
This is when Sheila stepped up and said there was a big announcement to be made, and that “it’s good that it can be made like this.” As she was talking, the second Jones girl went and sat next to Edna and took her hand as Sheila revealed that the Jones’s were expecting a grandchild, and they wanted to name Edna the Godmother, of sorts.
Boy, the look on Edna’s face could have lit the town for a week as she tried to inhale and exhale at the same time. She held the girl’s hands and smiled, talking quietly among themselves and embraced, crying and laughing. It was a beautiful moment, but it would be wise not to go talking about it around Edna unless you want to get an earful. And whatever you do, please don’t start calling her “The Godmother.”
Well, the rest of the night was quite a party. Papa Jones was named an honorary member of The Council of Old Guys (with the joking aside that Buster would have to give up his place on the bench), and Art and Brother Louis were both thanked for carrying on some promise that old Wayne Song had made way back when, which got them both kinda weepy.
There was much singing and carrying on until dawn, and the City Council was kind enough to pay for the damages to the chapel, bless their hearts.
So, there it is in a nutshell if you weren’t there. Does this change anything about our relationship with our neighbors, I don’t know. For some of us, probably. If anything, I think it nailed down what a special community we have, as if there had been any doubt.
Update: The body of a badger was found downriver. The local newspaper is making a big deal about “local hunter bags chupacabra” or some such, so, be ready for another wave of “crytpozoologists” and make sure you have your trespassing and no hunting signs posted.
