out of the shadows (26)

Henry? Yeah?

let’s stop at the redwoods

for a couple of minutes.

Sure. Something up?

I don’t know, they’re just trees,

but it feels like they have souls.

Does that sound crazy?

No. I think they do,

they’re older than Jesus and the saints.

A black cavity from a lightning fire centuries before

cleaves the base of a redwood giant.

The bark has grown back

from the edges of the scar

like the lips of a womb.

Ruthie says, lets go in there.

They have to turn sideways

to enter the hollow.

It’s cool inside, the scent

of charred wood still lingering

five hundred years after the fire.

Spider webs net the dark

above their heads.

he murmurs, It’s so…

She puts a finger on his lips

hush baby, I know. just hold me.

Embedded in the heart

of the sequoia like nested

Russian dolls, she whispers

a prayer to the mother.

Back out through the cleft, as if

reborn into the sharp angled

rays of the sun, half blinded,

they see a figure in the shadows.

The silhouette raises a hand, and says

I thought that I might find you here.

Hello, Mr Green. Why did you think that?

You need what this place can give you.

If you know how to ask. Did you?

Ruthie nods. Yes. I didn’t know what

or why or how. Until we were inside her.

And then I knew.

Mr Green smiles, She? Did she answer you?

I think so, it wasn’t words, but I felt her.

And I thanked her for that.

He looks over to Henry.

You’ve been here before.

Yes. I wanted to bring Ruthie here.

You chose well. More than you

might realize. -So it seems-

Where are you going now?

Back to Bakersfield.

The same way you came up?

Yeah, is there another way?

There is a small mountain road.

takes you back north of Bakersfield.

If you don’t want to be seen.

Why do you think that we wouldn’t

want to be seen? How do you know

what we think or who we are?

No mystery, I see two young people,

a very unlikely couple. One that would

not be regarded well in Bakersfield. Am I right? 

Well, yes. Is that really all?

No. Of course not. -What else?

You already know the answer to that. -I do?

Look at Ruthie. What do you see? 

-Oh. Yes, I see what you mean.

-She sees the same in you.

This is the problem. Not yours.

Bakersfield. America. These times.

How do we deal with that?

Bakersfield. America. These times?

Is there someplace we can go? A time machine?

Yes. Now you understand.

I do? A time machine to some future world?

Exactly.

Well thanks, that’s real good advice.

You’re welcome. -Well. Unless you

have such a device, or some ruby slippers

I think we should go now,

where is this secret road? 

I’ll show you, you can give me a lift.

It’s along the way to my place.