Beautiful day for sit'n by the stream and get'n lost in the moment. Then, Anna arrived.
Watch'd a pigeon land by the stream. Two feet away from me it jump'd into the water and drank heartily. His stink-eye on me to make sure I wasn't sizing him up for my dinner, I reckon.
I don't think pigeons pee, but if I drank as much as the bird did, my teeth would be float'n all night.
Strangely marked bird. Halfway down his back is a pure white streak that leads to all of his tail feathers be'n the same clean white. Rest of his body was charcoal gray. When he left, I noticed all of the feathers under his wings were as white as snow.
Power bird, I said to myself, as it's wings clap'd to carry it away to points unknown.
"Elder? Elder, you here?" Came a voice I knew well. It was Anna coming to ask questions and maybe score one of Kiva's blue popcicles.
"Behind my hovel. By the stream," I yell'd.
As she clear'd the corner of the hovel she was in total jabber-mode. Swear, if that girl went quiet for ten minutes the rocks would wake up.
"Elder..."
I cut her off quickly. "Call me She of Two Spirits or Wendy. I may be old, but I still have my eye on the ball, my ear to the ground, my shoulder to the grindstone, my hands in my own pockets and a tattoo of a penguin on my butt. What's bubbl'n your brain now?" I sputtered.
"Mom always said that as you got older, you got crustier by two or three percent," she giggled.
"How she be?" I asked.
"Do'n fine, as usual. Hard for her to come to visit," she said quietly.
"Yeah, I knows. Me, too. Time is a trickster. Always feel 16 inside, but the body is the harbor of real truth. We both get'n ancient," I offered.
Anna was almost to her full height. Seems like yesterday she began her journey to be what she felt be true to her. Gotta say she is do'n the transition well. Still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, too.
Plop'n her feet into the stream, Anna let out a shout at how cold the water was, even though it now be Spring in the desert. But, she didn't come to talk cold water, I reckon.
"Did you hear the news?" she babbled.
"What? That Henry is still a putz? I mumbled.
"No," replied Anna, "the President said he believed gay people should be allowed to marry each other!"
"Nope. Didn't hear a thing, except for bird farts," I said.
On her face was one of those looks that can make wallpaper peel off a wall.
"Well, as a Transgender, I'm really excited," she said firmly.
"That be nonsense. You are what you are. After final transition, just BE," I said softly.
"Easy for you, Elder. I just wish there were others like me I could talk with; compare notes. Ya know?" She said sadly.
"Two of them 'others' you talk about lived in this very village. One now lives in the city. Vice President of a large bank, she is," I offered.
"What?" She spit. "Who is the other one and why don't I know about her?"
Sol warm'd us while the silence completed itself. Finally, Anna look'd at me funny and said, "Mom says you are dying." She said it like doom itself.
" Ain't no death. Spirit trumps time. As the spirit grows, it leaves behind its toys and cloak. Charts a new path," I said quietly.
"Elder?" She said with a face full of concern, "Has your life been hard?"
I don't smile much. Miss'n a couple teeth, but I grin'd big, gaps and all. "It was, when I only concern'd myself."
Four white butterflies suddenly appeared in front of us. Danc'n in the air, try'n to mate. They rose higher than the trees, lost in ecstacy, against a clear blue desert sky.
"She of Two Spirits, do you think Kiva would mind if I got myself a blue popscicle from her stash?" Anna asked nervously.
I chuckled. "She's been crouch'd in the rocks across the stream the whole time. You feed'n the birds she's been hunt'n. She'll give you one just to get you away from the birds!"
There she goes. Like a bat outta Carlsbad! Yep. She stops and yells back, "You really have a penguin tatt'd on your butt?"
"A Gentoo. Left cheek," I yell'd back. Then off Anna went to raid the freezer.
Life is always about Blue Popscicles