The Day the Park Benches Arrived
And the first time Lucas saw the crying woman
A Lucas Winslow Story — Episode 6
Lucas was standing in the remnants of the stone circle at the very southwest corner of his property. The creek was only about twenty paces away to the south and the remnants of the barbed-wire fence that marked the western edge of the property was also about twenty paces away from the circle.
Turning slowly with his eyes to the ground, Lucas decided that he needed to restore the circle, putting in new rocks to replace the rocks that had been taken from the circle. He knew that ancient peoples of the area left many stone circles marking places as power spots or vortexes or portals. Those people were very attuned to planetary energies.
Continuing to slowly turn around in a clockwise direction, Lucas closed his eyes. And that is when the image of a sweat-lodge appeared in his mind.
That is it! He opened his eyes. The ancient ones left a stone circle as a message that said, Hey, if you want to build a sweat-lodge this is the best power spot for it. Yes, he would restore the circle and build a sweat-lodge inside that circle.
Lucas finally stopped turning when he was facing west. He felt a pulling from something in that direction. Again he closed his eyes and he saw a crying woman. She had a blanket wrapped around her and she was wearing moccasins. Her weeping was silent but tears gushed down her dark face.
And that is when he heard his name being called out.
“Hey Lucas dude!”
Turning, Lucas saw Steve walking down the sloped pasture toward him.
“Whatchya doin’?”
“Hello Steve. I was… I was just checking out this little vortex here.” Lucas stepped out of the circle.
“So that’s what that is? You know, there are more of these stone circles along the creek in that little canyon-ette to the west.”
“There are? Oh yeah, you said you were a hiker. Have you been down there?”
“Yeah, but not in like fifteen years. Certainly not since I moved back here last year. Back in high school this guy Raymond who was in several of my classes told me that there is a curse down there somewhere and no one should ever go down there. Raymond was an Indian but I don’t remember what kind. Anyway, soon as he said that I simply had to gone down there to check it out.”
Steve continued, “I sure never found no curse, though. But it’s an awesome place to hike. Really awesome land. Hey, I even found a petroglyph down there.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, usually when I see a painted rock there are always more in the vicinity but I could only ever find that one. It’s down by the spring.”
“There’s a spring?”
“Yeah, it’s on the north side of the creek and it feeds into the creek. I think it’s about a mile in. Hey, if you wanna go for a hike down there I’ll be happy to come along and show you the stuff I found. It’s pretty rocky terrain and not an easy hike but it’s a mind-blowingly awesome place man.”
“Yes. Yeah, I’d like that. Definitely. I can’t today or tomorrow, though,” Lucas pulled out his cell phone to check the time, “Yikes, there is a truck delivering park benches that will be here in about twenty minutes. I better get back to the house.”
The two men began walking towards the house.
“Park benches?”
“Yeah, I’m a bit of a park bench freak. I ordered ten of them. I’m not sure that will be enough. They are top of the line park benches, built to last forever. The ancient ones left us stone circles and six thousand years from now someone is going to wonder what freak from the past left all the park benches.” Lucas laughed.
“Park benches?”
“Yeah, they are going to be all over the property. Each one will have its own view and be positioned to take advantage of energy flow. No matter where on the property you’ll be there will be a park bench nearby if you’re in the mood to sit down, relax and commune with nature.”
“I slept on a park bench once. It was NOT fun.”
“Yeah, well these park benches will be for sitting, meditating or maybe having lunch or something. Maybe I’ll introduce you to something called park bench mojo.”
“Right. So I guess you’re gonna need some help moving all those benches.”
“Actually, I’m not sure where I am going to put all of them yet. But if you want to hang a little bit you can help me move one of them down to the orchard. And if you’re free tomorrow I’ve got a little work I can throw at you. You got wire cutters and a hammer claw?”
“Sure.”
Lucas stopped walking and turned to point towards the west, “That barbed-wire fence on the western edge of the property; the juniper posts can stay in the ground but I want all the barbed-wire gone. Do you think you could do that?”
“When I was ten years old I helped my grandpa erect barbed-wire fences at his ranch over near Chama. I figure if I can build them I can take them down, too.”
“That would be wonderful. There is a crew coming tomorrow to install solar panels on the house so I need to stay here at the ranch. Maybe in addition to the fence work you can help me move more park benches.”
“Sure, I’m free all day tomorrow. Hey dude, if you’re gonna call this place a ranch you’ve got to name it. You know, like ‘Rancho Encantada’ or ‘Rancho Lucas’ or something.”
“Oh, I never thought of that. Perhaps when I’m sitting on a park bench meditating a name will come to me.”
Lucas then heard the sound of a truck backing into his parking area.
The park benches arrived! The park benches arrived!
“Holy crap, this is one heavy park bench,” said Steve as he helped Lucas carry the bench into the orchard.”
“Right here. Let’s turn it around to face towards the house then set it down. This is the very center of the orchard. And yes, they are heavier than I thought they would be. I think they were designed to withstand thermonuclear war or something.”
The two men stood for a moment catching their breath then Lucas motioned towards the bench, “Have a seat.”
The two men sat down on the metal park bench.
“Hey, this is actually pretty comfy.”
“Yes, they are ergonomically designed for maximum comfort. Oh yeah, I could sit on one of these all afternoon long. I’m glad I went for top quality. These things weren’t cheap but they will be SO worth it.”
Lucas continued, “So here we are at the very center of the orchard surrounded by trees and we’ve got a view straight ahead of the house up the hill a bit. You can really feel the trees sitting here.”
“Uh, okay.”
“That row of trees and that one and that one — the ones that are blooming right now — are all peach trees. Down that way are apricot trees and cherry trees and some pecan trees. That way are the apple and pear trees and plum trees.”
“You’re gonna be eating a lot of fruit this summer.”
“Indeed I will. I might need you to help me with all that eating.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
“Hey, don’t call me boss. Call me Lucas or dude or anything but boss.”
“Oh, okay dude.”
“Steve, did you know that peach trees are very sacred trees?”
“Sacred?”
“Absolutely. The Hopi and the Navajo both considered peach trees holy. In Japan in some Zen monasteries there is a little garden at the center of the monastery and in the very center of the garden in a large pot on a pedestal is a bonzai peach tree. That little peach tree is the spiritual center of the monastery and it is prayed over and it is even used as an oracle. The health of that peach tree reflects the mental, physical and spiritual health of the monastery and all the monks. If the tree got sick everyone knew something was wrong. Monks will sit in meditation in a circle around the tree sending it as much love as they could.”
“No shit. When I was in high school my mom had a peach tree growing out of the side of her trailer. It was not much more than six feet tall but every summer we had peaches.”
Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. Complete Writings of White Feather
Previous Lucas Winslow Stories: Episode One: The Silent Teacher Episode Two: A Place To Live and Die Episode Three: The First Time Steve Showed Up Episode Four: The Lay of the Land Episode Five: Lunch at the Rattlesnake Diner
And read the next episode here: Episode Seven: The Day the Solar Panels Arrived