Chapter 1- Dave and the Summoning

November 6, 187

Dave was an ass. Dave was an old ass. His hair, what was left of it, was not just greying but going white. It grew from places he rightly had no need or want of hair and where it had been traditionally, it no longer much wanted to grow at all. As for moving about well let’s just say that Dave was not as sprightly as he had been in the spring of his youth. You could say that it was fall, not just for Dave in a very personal way, but also in general. It was November after all. Dave felt every change in the weather. When he’d broken bones in the past he had felt being put down wasn’t such a bad idea. Of course, he’d been fixed up and gone on living his life such as it was. Now he knew when the weather was about to change. He could tell you exactly how many times he had broken a bone. He could tell you where every single break was.

Not only that, he was an ass with baggage. Usually it was someone else’s baggage but, he had his own as well. You don’t live as long as Dave had without picking up some unresolved question or problem just nagging away at you. He also had relatively low self-esteem and so was pretty easily led. He’d follow along with pretty much what ever plans were set before him even if they weren’t really plans at all, but simply spur of the moment whims. There were of course times when he tried to be assertive and let his partner Jonathin, that’s me, know that he had different views on situations. There were times when he dug in his heels, set his mind and brayed like a donkey if I tried to change his mind. My name is Jonathin Croft. Dave is my partner on the trail.

Oft times all that braying was very much like pissing in the wind. Very relieving of certain pressures at the time but in the long run just a might messy and all the blow back tended to stick to him. So usually he went along with the herd, part of the team.

Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t that Dave was always the team player. No, Dave was even more fond of being out on his own. Just he and I exploring the world taking paths that weren’t really there. Following where they led. Thinking outside the confines of the conventional. Taking all he had learned in his life and applying it to new problems in new ways. I applauded his affability.

I knew all this and still I led Dave into the canyon. The canyon didn’t have a name, just a steep mountain and some weirdly arched pieces of rock. One connected to the mountain, and another obviously had at one time, but not any now. Down the valley on the north side of another large piece of rock that rose from the valley floor there was a third arch still connected. It looked like maybe this whole canyon had at one time been home to a wide carving river, but no longer. Now there was just the wide stream that seemed just right curving along in front of the mountains.

When the valley got its fallen arches was anyone’s guess, but the remains had long since been swept away by something. It may have been the river back when it was in full flood filling the bottom of the canyon. Long ago it had dried up leaving behind rich top soil and silt that would make wonderful growing land all along the much reduced banks of the river that was there now. 

Dave could sense the potential in the air. As he had gotten older and his site grew dimmer, he had had to rely on other senses to make up for that lack of visual clarity and now he heard and smelled far better than ever before. He smelled the grasses and the trees of the forest that were just a great green haze in front of him up the slopes of the main peak. I couldn’t actually talk to him you understand, but I got the feeling he knew far more about this valley than I did.

I stared up at the peak and wondered why no one had bothered mentioning this site before. Could it be that anyone who had strayed into this canyon had just not seen it or staked a claim? The veins were not that well hidden. They were like the veins beneath Dave’s own skin becoming more visible with each passing year. Maybe Dave’s skin was eroding just as the rock covering these veins was slowly washing away in the wind and rain that he just knew would sweep through this valley pretty darn often. There were times when I worried about Dave and how old he really was. Not the outside appearance mind you. How old did he feel inside?

It was obvious to Dave that there was going to be something valuable in that rock. Perhaps it was the trees. People couldn’t see the forest for the trees or in this case couldn’t see the silver for the forest. That forest was damn impressive in size. Not just in the number of trees or how much ground they covered, but in the size of the individual trees themselves. The undergrowth, once you got into the trees, would be thick and lush. This was also part of a temperate rainforest and so there would always be lots of muskeg and peat. Dave could sense that there would be all sorts of interesting life in that forest. It was just a question of whether it was worth the effort to find it or not. Dave was sure some of that life was watching them even now.

Dave was a lazy ass. He’d rather not work. If he could find a way to provide all the necessities of life without doing a lick of work he be happy.  He’d rather pursue a life of leisure. There was a steep trail up one of the arches. Obviously, the local Indian tribe had been going up to the peak for some time. 

I started to lead Dave up the slope. Dave chose this moment to be assertive and just let me know exactly what he thought of following a steep trail up a mountainside into the rich dark undergrowth that could be full of who knows what. It all seemed just a little too much like work for Dave to be really happy about it. I was wondering what was going through Dave’s mind.

If you would like to buy J.C.’s book this link will take you to his book. This is not an affiliate link. It is available both as paperback and ebook.