In my dream, I told Kimo and Alta to stay put. If that crying was the cat calling out, then I figured it better he have only one of us in his sights.
As I crept toward the noise, all I could think about was how energetic I’d become in this climb up the hill. I found it hard to believe that I’d become strong enough to become the de facto leader of our small group.
The closer I came to the crying, the more energy I seemed to pull from the air around me. My qi level rose slowly, like a gas tank filling.
Finally, I arrived at the spot where I thought the noise was coming from. It was odd, though, because there was nothing in sight that could be making the sound.
It seemed to be right next to me.
And then I realized what it was. Someone was in the tree above me. Looking up, I could see what looked like a pair of legs protruding from branches high above.
Before attempting to communicate with whoever was up there, I made a 360-degree scan of my surroundings. All clear.
“Pssst!” I called out as quietly as I could
The crying stopped, but that was it.
“Pssst!” I tried again, a little louder.
A face appeared between the legs.
Despite the distance between us, I could tell it was a child.
“Who are you?” it asked.
“Not so loud,” I whispered as loudly as I dared. “Why are you up there?”
“What?”
I didn’t want to speak at a higher volume. The only option was to climb the tree. Tree climbing. I’d not done it since I was a kid. The closer I came to the legs and face, the clearer I could see he was a little boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old. Good thing the gas tank was filling.
When I’d come within about 10 feet of him, I could see he was frightened.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m a friend.”
My sincerity must have shone through because his face relaxed.
“Are you Gabe?” he asked.
Once again I was racked with guilt for not wanting to tell of Gabe’s demise. But I couldn’t bring myself to be forthcoming about his fate.
“No,” I said. “But were you told, I’m guessing, that he was the only person who could get you down out of this tree?”
“Yeah,” the little boy said. “How’d you know?”
‘Trust me” I said, “I’ve heard this from two other people. My name is Lanning. What’s yours?”
“I’m Steve-O. It’s really Steve, but since I was a little kid, everyone just adds that O.”
“Oh, I see,” I said. “So Steve-O, who told you about Gabe coming to help you?”
“The man,” he said. “The man selling ice cream in the truck.”
“You talked to a man in an ice cream truck?”
“Well, yeah, kind-a. He was selling ice cream, but the window was way high up so I couldn’t really see him. Just kind of hear him. His voice like.”
“Uh-huh. So what did he say would happen if you tried to get down by yourself?”
“He said some big cat would find me and eat me up. And then just like a weird movie, he blew me up here with one big puff of his stinky tobacco breath.”
It was the same old story. And now I was going to add my next bit to make that story new.
“Come on, Steve-O,” I said. “I’ll get you down.”
His face took on that look of fear again.
“Oh no, Lanning, I can’t. I don’t wanna get eaten up by that cat.”
“Trust me, Steve-O, I’ll get you down safe and sound, and we’ll climb up the hill together.”
I wanted to ask him why he was down here, but I wondered if he was old enough to know.
And then, as if he were psychic, Steve-O said, “If my mommy and daddy were living, they’d never let that man put me up in this tree.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your mom and dad,” I said. And immediately I wished I hadn’t because he began to cry again.
“Come on, Steve-O, I’ll get you down.
You’ll be safe with me.”
He collected himself and we climbed down. I helped him jump from the bottom branch and whispered for him to get low to the ground. As quickly and quietly as we could, we made our way back to the others.
Introductions were made and we proceeded on our journey to the top.
“This is quite a group we’re growing here,” whispered Kimo.
I nodded. “Yes,” I said, “and we’re all going to help heal each other.”
“Rog-ah dog-ah that,” said Alta. “I feeling mo’ bettah already.”
The sun was growing stronger overhead.
I looked back at Steve-O and was heartened to see that he was smiling.
Lanning Lee 