Blackberries
A story from my childhood
There are so many thoughts and ideas running through my head right now as I sit to write. Writing in order to release some of the fear and little bit of panic that is stirring inside me. Seeking some sort of solace from the chatter that is constantly running in my mind. As is my analytical mind I find myself returning to the instinctive essence that was the foundation of my childhood.
I remember when I was just past my fifth birthday and was out picking blackberries with my mom and siblings. The ripest and fullest berries were smack-dab in the middle of a pasture where everyone knew that Old man Craig had the biggest and meanest bull this side of the sun. Momma always said that was why those particular berries were some of sweetest and biggest ones around.. because they had a guardian angel. Now given my southern baptist upbringing, such as it was, I had a notion that there were good angels and not-so-good ones. Hell fire, Loki got voted off the island and he was sent to burn in HELL for a long long time, for slaying people, and getting carried away with it, in the name of his master the Lord God Almighty.
Anywho, I digress,.. One day as we were busy gathering I wandered off to the edge of the pasture distracted by some plump berries calling my name over by the electric fence. As most five year olds I walked with a great deal of certainty, especially when I was distracted. I approached, with great caution because I had been bitten by the electric fence before. I was mesmerized by the nectar I could see and smell oozing from the ripest berries I’d ever seen. Suddenly I was brought back to the moment of those watching me walk unwittingly out in the open and catching the attention of the bull standing not too far away. Yonv Usti, Ke Nah!!!!!! “Baby Cub, come here!!” Was all I heard my mother say before I heard the oncoming hoof beats of a territorial bull in the midst of mating season protecting his harem of heifers. When I realized in my mind what was happening I suddenly had a vision of my Grandfather Epps and I sitting on our rock in the stream near his house on the mountainside. He always called me Yonv Usti, Baby Cub, he would say in English, “If you ever get chased by a four legged remember they can’t turn well and you are faster than a deer and quick like a chicken”, “Don’t run in a straight line and duck and dodge like when running through the woods while chasing the wind and running with the Tsu Ne Sti (Little People). In an instant I was alive with the strength of a hundred bolts of lightning. I ran and ran like a deer and zig-zagged like a chicken with no particular direction to go and just trying them all out at once. And just like those beautiful berries I sought out, the safest place my five year old could find and I ran headlong into the bramble and briars of the berry patch where my family was standing safely cause bulls wont go into the thicket for fear of snakes.
As I stood there breathing hard and not knowing how to feel my mother hugged me like I was the most precious thing on earth. She held me by the shoulders with a sternness and looked at me with tear filled eyes and speechless as she searched for the words that would calm us both. “You were so brave Baby Cub” She released a stifled laugh of irony.. “You were faster than a deer and agile like a chicken and that bull didn’t stand a chance of catching you. You will be a great stickball player and fearless in trying times”. “Remember to trust the voice of the wind, Yona.”. It’s the reason you are standing safely before me. There will be many fields of berries and there will always be bulls in your life. Today was a lesson in being aware of your surroundings.
