Elmer!
As the sun was setting behind the tall
granite cliffs surrounding the Yosemite Valley, Lucy snuggled up in a warm
blanket while lying on the hammock.
She had her pink flashlight in one hand
and was writing songs with the other.
Lucas helped John build a campfire to make
s’mores.
Campers in all the other campsites were
returning from their different activities around Yosemite. Some were beginning
to build fires of their own, while others were playing guitars and singing.
Every camp was doing something different, as some people played games or
started cooking dinner.
Lucas could smell the different foods
and campfire smoke from every direction.
The sights, the smells, and sounds were like nothing Lucas had ever felt
before.
John Henry took out his large hammer and
carefully split some wood for the fire.
“Why don’t you use an axe?” asked Lucas.
John smiled and quickly put the axe away
in his truck.
“That old hammer is my oldest and most
trustworthy tool. I just pull it out once and a while to remind myself of the
battles we’ve fought together long ago,” he replied.
Lucas would love to hear his dad tell
stories about some of these battles, but went back to putting marshmallows on a
stick for toasting. Tali did not agree
with some of the stories he told.
“I could live like this forever,” he
told his dad joyfully.
John laughed while picking up a
stick.
“Hand me one of those marshmallows, would
ya?” he asked.
Lucas tossed a marshmallow to John and
watched him carefully poke the stick in one end.
“It sure is a great feeling to be out in
such a beautiful place, with the best views on earth,” John explained.
The campfire was now getting big sending
smoke right into Lucas’s face.
“I better move my seat,” he said. “I
promised Mom I would never smoke.”
John laughed when he noticed how serious
Lucas was.
“That was a great promise,” he
replied. This world has enough pollution
already for us to go feeding even more into our lungs.”
Lucas started to cough as the smoke from
the fire began to follow him once more.
“What’s wrong with our fire?” he asked.
“It’s following me.”
As soon as Lucas moved his seat to the
other side of the fire pit, the flames began to send smoke right to where he
was.
“I think the fire is in love with you!”
John said, lowering his marshmallow into the heat.
“I am starting to smell like smoke,”
Lucas replied. “Mom might think I was smoking.”
As soon as Lucas put his own marshmallow
on a stick, the smoke went away.
“Why didn’t I think of that before?”
Lucas asked himself.
John just sat back and enjoyed the
company of his little boy.
Tali was gone, helping Ranger Pam with a
presentation in the Lower Pines camp theater.
Before any warning, an alarming cry
echoed from the other side of the campground.
“EL-MER!” the voice called out.
Lucas sat up quickly in his chair.
Immediately another voice from the other
side of the camp called out the same thing, only much louder.
“ELL-MERRR!!”
Now Lucy was the one to sit up in the
hammock, putting down her Jr. Ranger book.
She waited to see what all the racket was for.
“For Pete’s sake!” she thought. “I
wonder if someone is lost?”
Once again, more shouting returned,
coming from everywhere. Even across the river.
Lucas started to feel so excited about
the shouting, he stood up and started skipping around the campfire circle.
“Hey John,” he called.
John was just putting the toasted
marshmallow inside a graham cracker with some chocolate.
“Yes,” he replied.
Lucas stopped skipping and began staring
at the chocolate melting over the cracker.
“Why
is everyone yelling for someone named Elmer?” he asked without taking his eyes
off John’s s’more.
“Calling out for Elmer has been a
tradition for campers here in Yosemite, ever since the 1960’s,” John explained.
“Everyone who camps here shouts for Elmer when the sun is setting!”
“Can I call for him?” asked Lucas.
“Of course,” John replied. “This trip
would not be complete without shouting Elmer.”
Lucas took one last look at John’s s’more,
almost drooling. Then he let out all the air he had in his lungs.
“ELLLL-MERRR!”
Lucy came running over as fast as she
could, almost tripping over the box of firewood.
“What is your problem Lucas?” she
whispered.
Lucas shouted again before Lucy knew
what hit her.
“ELLL-MERRR!”
John was laughing so hard, he almost
fell to the ground as he watched Lucy take off running for the tent.
“It’s okay!” he tried calling out, but
it was too hard to laugh and breathe at the same time.
It was too late. Lucy was already in the tent and inside her
sleeping bag before Lucas could yell it again.
“This is great!” Lucas said, lowering
his s’more cooker into the fire.
“Do you think we are going to see any
bears?” he asked.
John put the entire s’more into his
mouth, closing his eyes in delight as the taste hit his tongue.
“There is nothing better than a s’more
by the campfire,” he said as soon as he finished chewing.
“What about the bears?” Lucas reminded
him.
John wiped a little chocolate off his
face before answering.
“You only see bears in camp if you leave
out food or anything with a scent,” he explained. “I have seen a bear unzip a backpack just to
eat a tiny tube of lip balm.”
“Gross!” replied Lucas. “I tried a
little taste of Lucy’s cherry flavored lip gloss and almost threw up.”
“Bears love anything that smells. Even
shampoo!” he explained.
Lucas wanted to change the subject so he
could eat at least one s’more.
“Is Paul Bunyan really as tall as the
Grizzly Giant tree, or was I just seeing things?” he asked.
After Lucas had such a long day, full of
new experiences and information, John was excited to talk about his friend.
John looked over at Lucas, then he
looked up at the top of the tree right behind him.
“Paul is about as tall as the tree
behind you,” he explained.
Lucas immediately turned around to look
at the tree. It was the tallest tree
around.
“That’s really tall,” he said nervously.
“How did he get that tall?”
“He was also chosen by the Old Hara tree
long ago like you were. But he did not keep his promise to protect trees.
Instead, he found a job cutting down trees. With every tree, he chopped down he
grew another inch,” John explained.
“How did he ever stop growing?” asked
Lucas.
“It happened after he made a new promise
to the Grizzly Giant and finally kept it,” John replied.
John looked up at the trees and paused
for a few seconds.
“Paul has replaced every tree that he
ever cut down, and has become one of the greatest protectors of trees the world
has known,” John explained.
Lucas yawned right after finishing his
s’more.
“I like that story,” he said feeling a
bit sleepy.
Lucy was finally out of the tent, now
that the shouting for Elmer was over. She was hearing John and Lucas talk and
was curious about what the trees wanted with Lucas.
“Why does the Old Hara tree and the
Grizzly Giant need Lucas?” asked Lucy.
John picked up a pinecone and tapped it
upside down, over the palm of his hand.
Several flat shaped seeds fell out.
John picked up a little dirt and placed
one seed in the center.
“Here, I’ll show you!” he said, handing
the ball of dirt to Lucas.
Lucas took the dirt into his tiny hands,
cupping it tightly so the seeds would not fall out.
“What do you want me to do with it?” he
asked while peeking in-between his fingers.
“What do you think these seeds are good
for?” asked John.
“Seeds to grow a new tree,” replied
Lucas.
“Now picture in your mind, the seed that
I planted in the dirt you are holding,” John continued.
Lucas closed his eyes and saw the seed.
“I can see it,” Lucas replied.
“Now love it as much as you love the
Grizzly Giant. Let it know how much it is needed here in Yosemite. Give it everything
you got!” John said powerfully.
Lucas began to picture the seed become a
little tree out on the edge of the meadow.
He saw the sun come out and shine, giving light and life to the little
tree causing it to grow taller than any other tree in the forest.
Suddenly Lucas felt a movement inside
his hands as if a worm were inside the dirt John had given him.
“I feel it!” Lucas whispered opening his
eyes and hands to see if it was really a baby tree that was moving.
“Look, a baby tree!” he whispered again,
standing up to show them.
Right then a huge group of campers
shouted for Elmer all at the same time.
“ELL-MERR!”
Lucy immediately jumped, then plugged
her ears.
“Why do they do that?” she said
nervously.
Lucas smiled and found a large cup to
hold the dirt with the little seedling.
As soon as the plant was safely put away he took a deep breath, sitting
right next to Lucy, ready to call out for Elmer once more.
“Don’t you dare!” warned Lucy watching
him very closely.
Lucas stopped just before yelling.
Looking over at John he needed an explanation.
“Who is Elmer?” he asked.
John made sure Lucy was going to listen
to the story.
“It was told, that a young man named
Elmer was lost over sixty years ago. He lived here in Yosemite with his parents
who worked at one of the large hotels.”
Lucy plugged her ears as more and more
campers began yelling for Elmer again.
John continued the story.
“One day this little boy Elmer became
lost around camp so the family began calling out his name. As campers and hotel guests heard the
shouting and understood a boy named Elmer was lost, almost every person in the
entire valley started calling his name.
It did not take people long to find him unharmed.”
“I like that story!” Lucy said.
Lucas just wanted to shout for Elmer
once more.
“Can we shout together?” he interrupted.
“Wait, there’s more!” John said before
continuing. “Later, it is told that
Elmer worked here in Yosemite Valley selling fresh fruits and vegetables to
campers. People would shout his name just like today for him to bring over his
cart.”
Lucy relaxed a little as the echo of
people yelling Elmer continued in the distance. Now she understood the reason
behind the shouting.
She felt almost as excited as Lucas now
to call out Elmer’s name.
“Let’s yell out his name on the count of
three,” she insisted.
John did not hesitate.
“One, two, and three,” he began.
“ELL-MERR,” all three of them shouted.
Immediately another voice replied.
“WHAAAT?,” causing all here of them to
start laughing.
“Someone needs to go over and tell that
guy the story,” Lucy teased.