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Tunnel Hill |
That night there was a light beaming into the woods-a
blue glow coming from a hill. Kilsa first saw it but
none of us believed her at first. She said in her soft
voice, “Did anyone see that?” She was hardly
acknowledged by the group. The youngest almost always
are. Why do we do what adults used to do to us as soon
as we glow older? We should know better.
It wasn’t until the fire began to die and the sounds
of owls and deer all throughout the forest began to
wane that Micki saw what Kilsa did earlier. A
whispering voice woke us up, “Did you guys hear that?”
Then, still half asleep I responded, “See what?” “That
light?” Micki said with a soft voice so as not to wake
anything in the woods. Everyone was quiet for a few
seconds.
“How can you hear light?” I said. “Yes, you can see
light, you can’t hear it Micki!” Elena said
exasperated. “Was it Blue?” Kilsa asked Micki. “Yes.”
Micki whispered. “How did you know?” He asked
surprised. “Then you saw the same thing I saw Micki.”
Kilsa responded. Elena then said, rather sarcastically
“But Micki didn’t see the light, he said he heard it.
Isn’t that right Micki?”
Micki sat on the ground, his blanket still covering
most of his body. “Well…” He hesitated. “Well, what
Micki? Did you or did you not hear the light?” I
demanded. “You know, one can see and hear something at
the same time!” Kilsa said. Everyone sat quietly for a
second, and thought of the words Kilsa said. “Okay, so
you heard something and then saw a light Micki. Where
did it come from?”
Micki pointed with one hand, the other hand holding
onto his blanket. Elena reached for her backpack and
handed me our secret night-see glasses. “Here Tromsi,
put them on and tell us what you can see.” I grabbed
the glasses. I was the only one able to see in the
dark with them. I put them on. Everything then turned
black and white. Every object was a different shade of
black and every empty space was white.
I turned my head left and right, looking into the
woods. Everything seemed drawn by hand, even our
group. “Well, what do you see? Do you see the light?”
Micki asked, his voice still no louder than a whisper.
“Quiet Micki, he needs to concentrate, he can’t do
that if you talk.” Hemme interrupted and spoke again.
“Well, Tromsi, what of it? Any sign?” I kept looking
but I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.
“Nothing, nothing at all.” Then as soon as I said
those words I heard a low buzzing sound. “Wait!” I
stood up from where we’d all been sleeping and turned
around. “I see something…” Then everyone started to
hear that same buzzing sound I was hearing. “Is that
the moon snoring again?” Kilsa said. “Hey, moon, moon!
Stop snoring, there is something out there and we
don’t know what!” Hemme whispered urgently upward.
“I don’t think it’s the moon,” Elena said. Everyone
else turned and looked upwards to see if big old moon
was snoring. “I don’t see the moon snoring Hemme,”
Micki whispered. Everyone else agreed, even Hemme. “I think it’s the light that is making the
buzzing sound” I said. “Can you see where it’s coming
from Tromsi?” Kilsa asked. “I think it’s coming from
Tunnel Hill.”
“Should we see what’s out there?” Hemme asked, his
voice a little higher than before. The unknown was a
lot farther than what we had perceived at first and
therefore we started feeling a little safer. Our
curiosity on the other hand, had piqued. “We cannot go
to Tunnel Hill without the help of Grassy Masterino”
Elena exclaimed. “Though, I don’t think he is going to
be awake this late.”
“I think we should go see him anyway. It might do some
good that he knows what is going on in the woods,”
Hemme suggested. “Well, are all of you up to it?” I
asked hoping everyone would say yes. My interest in
finding out more about the light was as great as
Hemme’s. “I guess so,” Micki said. “I am okay with it,
but I am worried about waking up Grassy. He’s cranky
if he doesn’t get the sleep he needs,” Elena added.
“What about you Kilsa?” I asked. “Yes, I think we
should go,” she responded softly.
We gathered our things and started our journey to see
Grassy Masterino. We walked fast but with caution. We
still did not know what the light was and if it could
see us. After an hour walking we finally made it to
Grassy’s home. He lived in a large cave. We entered
and began to call out his name in soft whispers.
“Grassy…” I said as did Elena and Hemme and everyone
else. “Grassy…” We continued until finally we heard
Grassy’s voice. “Who is it!”
He was not happy. “He sounds grumpy,” Micki said. “I
told you he’d be grumpy,” Elena responded. Then Grassy
asked again, “Answer me, who is it!?!” There were a
few rumbling noises then a soft light illuminated the
other end of the cave we were in. From afar we could
see Grassy’s shadow approaching and then finally,
Grassy. “Oh, it’s you! What are all you doing here?”
“Grassy…” I said, “We’ve come to you because we saw a
light just past Tunnel Hill. We thought you should
know about it since you are the keeper of these
woods.” Grassy walked about the cave with a candle,
lighting up other candles around the cave,
illuminating almost the entire cave. When he was done
he walked over to his kitchen area and sat on a chair.
We followed him waiting for a response.
“Ahhh, yes, a glowing light from old Tunnel Hill, eh?”
Grassy said as he rubbed his face with one hand. “Yes
Grassy.” Grassy took a deep breath before he spoke
again. “Kilsa, was it blue?” he asked looking at no
one else but Kilsa. Kilsa in turn was somewhat
surprised but as she looked into Grassy’s eyes she
realized the light was not strange to him. “Yes,
Grassy, it was blue.” Kilsa answered. “Grassy, how do
you know this? Have you seen this light before?” Elena
asked.
“Why yes, of course I have.” Grassy responded as he
looked toward the stove. “Ha! I still have some tea left I
bet.” he said as he stood up and picked a cup nearby
with tea still warm in it. Meanwhile we stood in front
of him rather puzzled and anxious to know if Grassy
would tell us what the light was. “That light is not
really light. Well, there is light there, but it
comes from something else.”
“What?” Micki asked. “That, my boy, is knowledge.”
Grassy responded. “Knowledge?” Hemme asked. “Yes and
knowledge is looking around tonight apparently. You
did well to come to me and not to try to walk toward
it.” he said relieved. “What do you mean Grassy?” I
asked still puzzled. “Well, knowledge can be a tricky
thing. We all should know a great deal of things but
the world is a constant random throw of the dice.”
“In fact” he added, “it can be so random that it can
cause heartbreak. You see, for all the wisdom
knowledge holds, it holds little discernment.” He
paused. “Discernment?” I asked. “Yes Tromsi. Sometimes
in life we find out about things that are better left
to be known at some other time and place. Knowledge
makes no distinction, it just hands out wisdom.
However, if one’s not ready this wisdom can cause
confusion instead of insight.”
“Kilsa, you were the first to see it, were you not?”
Grassy asked. “Yes, I did.” She answered not surprised
anymore. “A ha! You see, knowledge longs to be found,
and by all rights it should be sought and found, but
only when we finally yearn for it and wish to seek it.
Knowledge doesn’t know better. It just seeks its
easiest target-the young at heart whether ready or
not. Kilsa, you are the youngest among everyone else,
and that’s why you were the first to see it.”
“So what do we do then, Grassy?” Elena asked. “Well,
for starters Elena, you avoid the light. In fact, why
don’t all of you stay here with me tonight? Yes, there
is plenty of room here. Stay and ask me anything that
you’d like to know instead. Not related to the light
of course. For I should warn you, knowledge is
addictive. And when you are exposed to wisdom without
being capable of understanding such wisdom it can be
troublesome.”
“What happens?” Micki asked. “Well son…” Grassy
paused, “At first, you become arrogant, then confusion
sets in because what you find out that what you think
is right isn’t the really the truth. It is in fact
perception. And when you find this out, heartbreak
sets in because by then you’ve made decisions that you
end up regretting. There is enough heartbreak in this
world that will come to you eventually. You don’t need
to be going to Tunnel Hill to look for it.”
So we stayed with Grassy that night. He offered us tea
and we all gathered around and asked him questions. We
could still hear the low buzzing sound from time to
time but after a while we forgot about it. In the
morning we stepped out of the cave and heard no
buzzing. Only birds made any sound, well, birds and
the wind rustling through the forest. Still, I knew
one day, if Grassy was right, we’d run into the light
again and there’d be no avoiding it.
copyright 2005
Francisco
Dominguez |
