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Thursday, November 30, 2017

Paul Bunyan & Me in Yosemite (Chapter Five) Elmer!

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.