Excerpt
Buffalo Stampede
You dont want to get too close to the herd. The mothers are still very protective of their calves.
Yes, I wouldnt want to have a run-in with those horns, they look to be exceedingly sharp.
Just a glancing bump from one of those giants could send you rolling for several days. Its best we stay a safe distance removed. As long as we stayed at our distance they didnt seem to be bothered by us. We sat on the grass and observed. These were the first buffalo I had ever seen. It was said they sometimes came into the Seneca hunting grounds, but it was here the Great Plains herds began. From here to the west they covered the prairie by the multitude. It was a pleasant afternoon, sunny and warm. But that was to change. A breeze came up from the west, carrying the scent of the herd to us. It was strong and musky. With the breeze came dashing dark clouds. I mentioned this was different from the spring shower we had encountered the day before, more ominous. Meicha agreed.
Let us move away. Behind us was a pair of cottonwood trees in a boulder-strewn copse.
We might find some shelter there. Suddenly the western sky was split by a flash of lightning.
The blast of thunder followed close on. This was repeated immediately. The herd uttered a loud groan of panic and began to run. Unfortunately they began to run directly at us. We also began to run. Meicha hit a rock and fell, her ankle damaged. I ran back to her, picked her up and continued the retreat to the cottonwood copse. We reached it just as did the first lines of stampeding buffalo. I managed to place Meicha down behind the two trees. My protruding rear was not out of the line of approach and I took a glancing blow from one of the early arrivals. It knocked me entirely through the shelter of the trees where another early arrival belted me back from whence Id come. Once steady I threw my mortified body over Meicha. The panicked herd continued its flight. The boulders and twin cottonwoods formed a barrier to the rushing herd and saved us from being crushed under their hooves. The trees did not fare so well. Each wave of beasts slammed against them releasing hoards of catkins. So great were the vibrations caused by the stampeding herd that the catkins were shaken from their stems and the seeds fell about us as snow. I turned to Meicha and said,
It is snowing. How unusual.
And now are we to freeze to death as well as be stomped upon? This beauteous creature also showed courage and humor in the face of real danger.
I thought, Beauty, courage, humor: noblest of women. Surely one of the Great Spirits favorites, certainly mine.
***
Springtime
Meicha was a fast healer. Within days she was able to exchange her crutches for a cane and was anxious to go about exploring again.
This time let us go to the east. There is a beautiful waterfall not far way. Ani decided to join us. So also did Eris. The four of us set out see the country to the east. It was a bright clear morning, no sign of clouds, no signs of buffalos. Ani and Eris sauntered ahead, humming a traveling tune. I could see a song was in the making. Meicha and I hung back because her pace was still slowed.
The beauty of spring was everywhere. The early trees were colored by their buds, the birches were arrayed in yellow. Where they dominated a hillside it shone with a golden hue. Poplars, willows and cottonwoods sprayed forth their catkins. Caught on the wind these dispersed to all directions. Maples and oaks were slower to reawaken from their winter slumber. Their buds were just forming. Soon these tiny buds would expand into marvelous fronds. Under foot flowers emerged from nests of leaves. The trillium burst forth from its couch. Jack-in-the-Pulpit stood straight as at attention. Violets formed a carpet of shimmering blue purple. One tried to avoid stepping on them. Song birds darted about happily, alighting on branches to sing their refrains. Robins busied themselves on the leaf-strewn floor seeking worms and grubs. Red-Winged blackbirds signaled their territorial boundaries. Woodpeckers scrambled up and down trunks, hammering away with their chisel beaks. Chickadees in squadron strength bobbed from tree to tree, chirping their song. Chickadees like the company of people. Whenever we are near they like to congregate about and serenade us. Often they land on our heads or shoulders and sing into our ears. I have known them to tug at our hair, possibly to use it as nesting material.
We stopped to rest a while. Meichas ankle was still in distress. We sat on an old log which was covered with a velvet coat of moss. Tiny colonies of lichens of red decorated the moss blanket. Our escort of chickadees noted our pause and remained with us, darting from branch to branch above our heads. A curious pair of chipmunks joined us on the log. After a short examination they proceeded to chase each other up and down the log, including on and over our legs. Meicha noted,
It is mating season. Creatures everywhere are preparing to bring new life into the world.
What a wondrous season. All Nature is in harmony with the Great Spirits plan. We sat next to a brook whose bubbling sound was like a song.
It was in just such a brook that I found your opal. It sparkled and captured my gaze as if calling me.
***
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