Mirror Lake
Back at camp, it was Lucas and John’s
turn to clean up lunch as they prepared to meet Paul Bunyan. Paul Jr. watched
Lucas with his father, wishing someday he could spend time out in the open with
his own father.
Lucy and Tali were both gone helping
Ranger Pam rescue an injured mule on the trail to Merced Lake.
The cold water had given Lucas a chill
that would not go away, and he began shivering as the shade from the trees
moved over and covered him.
John noticed his teeth chattering.
“Stand over in the sunlight and you warm
up pretty quick,” John instructed.
Lucas quickly moved back into the
sunlight and raised his arms into the air trying to catch the heat like an
antenna.
After a minute the warm light from the
sun began to reach his bones. He finally stopped shivering.
“You're right dad, I’m feeling warm,”
Lucas said.
Paul Jr. led the way as hundreds of
people were hiking to Mirror Lake. Lucas
began to feel worried about how many people might see Paul Bunyan.
“Do you think these people will see your
dad?” Lucas asked Paul Jr.
Paul Jr. chuckled.
“My dad can sneak up on a tiger,” Paul
Jr. explained. “He’s an expert at hiding, both day and night.”
Lucas felt relieved and was happy as
soon as John Henry picked him up to put him on his shoulders.
“Your tiny legs are going to make us
miss our ride,” John explained.
They could hike much faster and make it
to a hidden trail right past Mirror Lake, right inside the shadow of Half Dome.
The trail abruptly ended leading right
into a granite wall.
Lucas looked up as far as he could see
to the cliff of the mountain.
“We don’t have to climb now do we?” he
asked.
“Not from here,” Paul Jr. explained.
“Come sit next to this tree so you can see how we finish our journey.”
Lucas looked around anxiously for any
sign of a giant man who is almost two hundred feet tall.
As soon as they sat down on a large
granite rock, the ground began to move.
“What is happening?” Lucas called out.
“Why is the ground moving?”
Paul Jr. could not help his laughing.
“It’s just fine,” he explained.
John took Lucas by the hand to keep him
from running away.
“He is here,” John said with a smile.
Lucas squeezed John's hand as hard as he
could, pulling himself closer into John’s chest to cover his eyes.
The ground below abruptly began to lift
straight up into the air like an elevator.
“Are we moving, or am I just feeling
dizzy?” asked Lucas.
Paul Jr. was enjoying every second.
“We are inside my dad’s hand,” he
replied.
Lucas quickly looked around for some
proof, unaware that they were now over one hundred feet up in the air.
“This is amazing!” he said, looking
around at the world getting smaller.
He felt a tickle in his tummy as they
continued to rise into the air.
Paul Bunyan’s giant fingers curled up
around them, keeping them from falling.
Each finger was almost as big as John Henry.
Lucas looked up to see Paul Bunyan’s
smiling face. His teeth were hidden in the shadow of his thick beard,
surprisingly clean for someone who could not use any regular toothbrush.
His eyes were giant too, with eyelashes
that looked like whiskers of a giant cat.
“You are doing great,” John said. “How
are you feeling?”
Lucas did not even hear the question. He
was still studying the largest human he had ever seen.
“This doesn’t seem real,” Lucas
whispered.
Unexpectedly a giant rumble caused Lucas
to sit quickly on his father’s lap. The rumble sounded like thunder was forming
inside Paul Bunyan’s chest.
“This must be our living LUCA,” boomed
the Great Paul Bunyan in his deep booming voice. “I love him already.”
Lucas noticed that Paul Bunyan’s breath
smelled like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
“What is a living LUCA?” he asked with a
shaky voice.
Lucas was bracing for more rumbling out
of Paul’s giant chest again.
This time Paul spoke with a lighter
voice, avoiding any rumble.
“LUCA is the last universal common
ancestor,” Paul Bunyan explained.
“Don’t give him any more reason to stay
up at night,” John Henry insisted.
“We can teach you about that later,”
Paul Bunyan explained.
Lifting his giant hand, Paul Bunyan
turned them around to get a better look at all of them.
“Hey son!” he said once he noticed Paul
Jr. was sitting next to them. “Happy to see you again today.”
“I love you too!” Paul Jr. replied,
pulling out his smartphone to play a game.
John Henry reached back and gave a few
smacks on Paul Bunyan’s giant thumb.
“It is great to see you again old
friend,” he said cheerfully.
“I miss your company ever since you came
out of hiding, John Henry. How is that great wife of yours, Talitha?” he
asked.
“She is doing better than ever,” John
explained. “Working on your case right now.”
Lucas could not get over the
overwhelming smell of peanut butter and jelly on Paul Bunyan’s breath.
“Did you have a PB & J sandwich?” he
interrupted.
Both John and Paul Bunyan began to
laugh.
“Do you know why they really call them
PB & J sandwiches?” Paul Bunyan asked Lucas.
“That’s easy, Peanut Butter and Jelly.”
he explained.
Paul Jr. was even confused at why his
father and John Henry were laughing.
Paul Bunyan finally explained.
“As one of the largest people alive, it
has always been hard to eat enough food that will fill me up,” he explained.
“Of course,” Lucas replied. “You could
probably eat a hundred PB & J sandwiches."
“That’s right!” Paul Bunyan
replied. “But back in those days, no one
ever tasted one before your father and I came along.”
“We started mixing the jam and peanut
butter, and started a business selling sandwiches to railroad workers,” Paul
Bunyan said proudly.
John noticed that Lucas was still
feeling confused.
“We named the business after the
initials of our own names. Paul Bunyan & John,” he clarified.
Lucas could not tell if they were
telling him a joke or not, but both began laughing as hard as they could.
The laughter of Paul Bunyan was much
scarier than Lucas imagined. He was
lucky Paul closed his fingers a little before anyone could fall out of his
hand.
A distant sound caught Paul Bunyan’s
attention as he noticed a pair of hikers were on the hidden trail, getting
closer to their location.
Paul Bunyan’s eyebrows lifted giving him
a slightly worried look on his face.
“If you don’t mind, we must take this
conversation to my home,” he whispered.
John helped Lucas onto Paul Bunyan’s
shoulder to allow him to use both hands as he climbed.
Paul was quick climbing to the top of
the steep granite cliff, holding on to trees and using large cracks in the
walls to make it safely to the top of the cliff.
Lucas loved the ride as his tummy
tickled with every lift.
It only took a few minutes to arrive at
the tallest peak in the distance.
Paul Jr. continued to play video games
on his smartphone, while Lucas studied the giant clothes and boots Paul Bunyan
was wearing.
He was wearing blue pants with a red and
white checkered shirt with giant buttons down the front. Each button was the size of a large pizza.
His boots looked like the boots of a normal lumberjack.
“Where do you live?” Lucas shouted over
the loud breathing Paul Bunyan made as he walked really fast.
“I have many homes in caves and hills
all over the world.” Paul Bunyan explained. "Right now, we will go to my
home right below Mt. Lyell,” he replied.
“We are almost there!” Paul Jr.
interrupted.
John handed Lucas a water bottle. “Take
a few sips to steady the effects of altitude discomfort,” he explained.
A minute later Paul carefully lowered
Lucas and John to the ground next to a small Lake with only grass and a few
small trees.
“This place is beautiful,” John said
looking around at the endless views of mountain peaks.
“This is the Lyell Glacier,” Paul Bunyan
explained. “The main source of water to the Merced River you guys were floating
in this morning.”
The cool air reminded Lucas of how cold
the river water was.
“I forgot to bring a jacket,” he said as
he started to shiver.
“It will be warm inside the cave,” Paul
Bunyan explained.
Lucas noticed he was barefoot the entire
time, as Paul took one big step into the lake washing both his hands and feet.
He carefully walked over to a shady side
of the mountain full of rocks that were bigger than he was.
With the deepest voice Lucas ever
imagined possible, Paul Bunyan spoke the password causing a giant rock-looking
door to open.
Past the door was a large set of rock
stairs for Paul, and a much longer and smaller set of metal stairs for normal
size people.
The cave made everyone, including John
Henry, feel as small as a mouse.
Paul quickly disappeared inside before
the rest of them could even make it to the first step.