Post by Oath Breaker on Sept 29, 2016 10:11:25 GMT -5
Montezuma. This is the exit that saw Tommy making his turn around. He was on his way to Arizona to meet with the tribal elders when a phone call changed all that. Now, he needed to head back east and north again to US Hiway 30. A quarter tank of gas wasn’t going to get him there, so a quick stop at the truck stop, a refill and a couple bottles of water, and he was heading back the way he came.
This wasn’t just about helping another person. Serujah was one of his part time trainers at the Hammon Family Mansion. Despite her infatuations, she could be lethal in the wrestling ring, and was especially proficient in her knowledge and skill on taking out smaller, faster opposition. Well, smaller than Tommy.
The turn around at the Montezuma exit had an interesting history that meshes the old native ways with the new religion of christianity. Montezuma was helpful to the Great Spirit in the creation and naming of all the life forms on earth, which relate to the christian tale of Adam. Montezuma, in his pride, constructed a temple to reach the Great Spirit from the firmament, which relates with the Tower of Babel. The great temple was bl;asted by lightning into obscurity by the Great Spirit, much like the Christian god destroyed the Tower of Babel. The flood after made long enough time for the people to get together that the languages had been confused and people could no longer communicate, much like the christian god confusing the languages so that mankind could no longer attempt to bridge his own way to heaven. Montezuma, for his treachery, was cast aside by the Great Spirit, just as Adam had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden for introducing original sin to mankind.
The ways of Montezuma had been passed down for over 700 generations before some damn French settlers came in trying to convert natives to the christian god. A long time of separation in the people, stories so much alike, only the names have changed, been confused as the languages had been. And Christianity doing what it does best, adapting the ways of other religions to make itself more appealing. The vigin birth of Horus to Isis is just one example, The Great Peacemaker Deganawida of the Huron as another.
This reminded Tommy of Johnny Rabid. The fool didn’t know the difference between Lakota and Cherokee. The invasion at Wounded Knee weakened the Lakota peoples, but gave strength to their enemies, the Cherokee. The Lakota are primarily farmers, hunters, gatherers of berry and fruit. The Cherokee are not a passive people. We take action, and relish in war.
110 on Interstate 80 till the Walcott Truck Stop, the world’s largest single truck stop, and a jaunt north to US Hiway 30. Coming in to the Hammon Family mansion on the Calamus side, since US 30 was flooded on the Wheatland side. Tommy pulled over next to the bridge, finding the boat belonging to one Wapsi Willy. Old man that knows the river, and smart enough to have left days ago.
Normally, the woods surrounding the Hammon Family Mansion make it invisible from the hiway, but not on this day. The flood waters bent low all the smaller trees, and the roof of the mansion could be seen plain as day. When the current of the Wapsipinicon gets flowing, it’s a disaster to anything in it’s wake. It’s naming is also of native legends. Wapsi a young warrior and Pinicon is the daughter of an Indian chief. Wapsi and Pinicon were engaged in an intertribal love affair. They eloped, but were found by Pinicon’s father and the other chiefs. The couple decided they would rather die than be taken back and separated. They raced to the river, clasped each other, leaped into the stream and drowned in the swirling waters. The sorrowful Indian chief later named the stream Wapsipinicon.
At the boat, Tommy climbs in, finding the gas troller ready for action. With a twist on the gas feed and a pll on the cord, the trolling motor sprang to life. The small motor was nearly useless against the strong currents of the Wapsi River, but Tommy came in near the wooded edge where the current subsided and made headway. He looked back to his Pontiac Chieftain parked up on the hiway, the small blonde head of the kitten barely visible from this distance.
The boat cut across a section of hard current to get to the second story balcony, and Tommy quickly tied it off. He hopped out of the boat, pretty sure of how to find his way around the old familiar building that housed his training just months before.
“Serujah!!”
His voice could really bellow out when he called upon it, and he got a quick response.
“Over here!!”
Tommy walked through the knee deep water to where her voice came from. He found her alright. Standing on her bed throwing pieces of a makeup kit at a small gathering of catfish at the foot of her bed. She tossed a lipstick container, making a splash just inches from a blue cat, which unceremoniously at the lipstick case and all.
“Why do they keep doing that! I’m trying to get them away!”
Tommy laughed. Not the kind of laugh at something mildly humorous, but some kinf of deep, reverberating laugh from something so profoundly funny it becomes contagious. Soon, Serujah was also laughing all the while tossing more pieces of make-up into the water.
“Feeding the fishes I see.”
“I’m trying to get rid of them!”
Tommy folded his arms and gave a very statuesque appearance. Seru stopped throwing lipstick and looked to Tommy, now unsure of herself and feeling somehow insecure.
“Makeup, including lipstick and the blush and the base and all that crap, is made out of fish scales. The more you throw into the water, the more food you throw to attract them.”
“Fish scales!”
‘Yep. So you ready to get out of here?”
“YES!”
Tommy could feel the mansion slowly flex under his feet. The structure was weakening and he didn’t know how much time they had. This wasn’t the first flood for the Hammon Family Mansion, but there was no guarantee it would survive. There was still time for a last joke at Serujah’s expense, so Tommy slowly reached down into the water, his hand cupped upward.
“What are you doing?”
Tommy doesn’t respond, and within moments he slowly lifts his hand, with a two pound channel cat n his grasp. The fish croaked and groaned in protest, and Seru backed away from Tommy.
“You keep that little heathen away from me! That icky, slimy, disgusting thing can stay right there!”
The catfish gave a loud, bullfrog sounding croak as tommy used his index finger to gently rub its forehead between the eyes.
“Ain’t he cute? Can I keep him?”
“NO! Now put it back!”
“Me thinks she doesn’t like you.”
“Put it away!”
Tommy released the catfish in time to feel the mansion flex under his feet again. A much stronger flex that made the whole structure groan in protest.
“I’m ready to leave now.”
“Good idea.”
Tommy tossed Seru over his shoulder and marched his way back toward the balcony.
“My hero. My knight in shining armor.”
“Talk to Necurat about that.”
“Well what fun is being rescued when I’m being rescued by you!”
“You get to live? Good nuff right?”
The two made it to the balcony and the boat. They managed to make it all the way to Hiway 30 and tied off the boat right where Wapsi Willy left it when it happened. The mansion twisted in the current, and chunks of it started peeling off, looking like match sticks floating in a glass. A large section of roof came next and got hung up on the bridge, the current battering the wooden structure into oblivion and pieces and chunks found their way under the bridge and on down river.
Tommy and Seru get into the car, making it to the other side of the bridge just in time to see the rest of the mansion crumble apart and rush toward the bridge they just crossed. There was a tremendous crunch of breaking wood as the old bridge shifted in the collision. They sat and watched for the next hour as the place she called home for the last decade, and the place he received his most intense training sessions was destroyed by the river.
“Guess I kinda ruined your training for WAR, huh?”
Tommy only shrugged. Sometimes helping another person, saving a life, is more important.
This wasn’t just about helping another person. Serujah was one of his part time trainers at the Hammon Family Mansion. Despite her infatuations, she could be lethal in the wrestling ring, and was especially proficient in her knowledge and skill on taking out smaller, faster opposition. Well, smaller than Tommy.
The turn around at the Montezuma exit had an interesting history that meshes the old native ways with the new religion of christianity. Montezuma was helpful to the Great Spirit in the creation and naming of all the life forms on earth, which relate to the christian tale of Adam. Montezuma, in his pride, constructed a temple to reach the Great Spirit from the firmament, which relates with the Tower of Babel. The great temple was bl;asted by lightning into obscurity by the Great Spirit, much like the Christian god destroyed the Tower of Babel. The flood after made long enough time for the people to get together that the languages had been confused and people could no longer communicate, much like the christian god confusing the languages so that mankind could no longer attempt to bridge his own way to heaven. Montezuma, for his treachery, was cast aside by the Great Spirit, just as Adam had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden for introducing original sin to mankind.
The ways of Montezuma had been passed down for over 700 generations before some damn French settlers came in trying to convert natives to the christian god. A long time of separation in the people, stories so much alike, only the names have changed, been confused as the languages had been. And Christianity doing what it does best, adapting the ways of other religions to make itself more appealing. The vigin birth of Horus to Isis is just one example, The Great Peacemaker Deganawida of the Huron as another.
This reminded Tommy of Johnny Rabid. The fool didn’t know the difference between Lakota and Cherokee. The invasion at Wounded Knee weakened the Lakota peoples, but gave strength to their enemies, the Cherokee. The Lakota are primarily farmers, hunters, gatherers of berry and fruit. The Cherokee are not a passive people. We take action, and relish in war.
110 on Interstate 80 till the Walcott Truck Stop, the world’s largest single truck stop, and a jaunt north to US Hiway 30. Coming in to the Hammon Family mansion on the Calamus side, since US 30 was flooded on the Wheatland side. Tommy pulled over next to the bridge, finding the boat belonging to one Wapsi Willy. Old man that knows the river, and smart enough to have left days ago.
Normally, the woods surrounding the Hammon Family Mansion make it invisible from the hiway, but not on this day. The flood waters bent low all the smaller trees, and the roof of the mansion could be seen plain as day. When the current of the Wapsipinicon gets flowing, it’s a disaster to anything in it’s wake. It’s naming is also of native legends. Wapsi a young warrior and Pinicon is the daughter of an Indian chief. Wapsi and Pinicon were engaged in an intertribal love affair. They eloped, but were found by Pinicon’s father and the other chiefs. The couple decided they would rather die than be taken back and separated. They raced to the river, clasped each other, leaped into the stream and drowned in the swirling waters. The sorrowful Indian chief later named the stream Wapsipinicon.
At the boat, Tommy climbs in, finding the gas troller ready for action. With a twist on the gas feed and a pll on the cord, the trolling motor sprang to life. The small motor was nearly useless against the strong currents of the Wapsi River, but Tommy came in near the wooded edge where the current subsided and made headway. He looked back to his Pontiac Chieftain parked up on the hiway, the small blonde head of the kitten barely visible from this distance.
The boat cut across a section of hard current to get to the second story balcony, and Tommy quickly tied it off. He hopped out of the boat, pretty sure of how to find his way around the old familiar building that housed his training just months before.
“Serujah!!”
His voice could really bellow out when he called upon it, and he got a quick response.
“Over here!!”
Tommy walked through the knee deep water to where her voice came from. He found her alright. Standing on her bed throwing pieces of a makeup kit at a small gathering of catfish at the foot of her bed. She tossed a lipstick container, making a splash just inches from a blue cat, which unceremoniously at the lipstick case and all.
“Why do they keep doing that! I’m trying to get them away!”
Tommy laughed. Not the kind of laugh at something mildly humorous, but some kinf of deep, reverberating laugh from something so profoundly funny it becomes contagious. Soon, Serujah was also laughing all the while tossing more pieces of make-up into the water.
“Feeding the fishes I see.”
“I’m trying to get rid of them!”
Tommy folded his arms and gave a very statuesque appearance. Seru stopped throwing lipstick and looked to Tommy, now unsure of herself and feeling somehow insecure.
“Makeup, including lipstick and the blush and the base and all that crap, is made out of fish scales. The more you throw into the water, the more food you throw to attract them.”
“Fish scales!”
‘Yep. So you ready to get out of here?”
“YES!”
Tommy could feel the mansion slowly flex under his feet. The structure was weakening and he didn’t know how much time they had. This wasn’t the first flood for the Hammon Family Mansion, but there was no guarantee it would survive. There was still time for a last joke at Serujah’s expense, so Tommy slowly reached down into the water, his hand cupped upward.
“What are you doing?”
Tommy doesn’t respond, and within moments he slowly lifts his hand, with a two pound channel cat n his grasp. The fish croaked and groaned in protest, and Seru backed away from Tommy.
“You keep that little heathen away from me! That icky, slimy, disgusting thing can stay right there!”
The catfish gave a loud, bullfrog sounding croak as tommy used his index finger to gently rub its forehead between the eyes.
“Ain’t he cute? Can I keep him?”
“NO! Now put it back!”
“Me thinks she doesn’t like you.”
“Put it away!”
Tommy released the catfish in time to feel the mansion flex under his feet again. A much stronger flex that made the whole structure groan in protest.
“I’m ready to leave now.”
“Good idea.”
Tommy tossed Seru over his shoulder and marched his way back toward the balcony.
“My hero. My knight in shining armor.”
“Talk to Necurat about that.”
“Well what fun is being rescued when I’m being rescued by you!”
“You get to live? Good nuff right?”
The two made it to the balcony and the boat. They managed to make it all the way to Hiway 30 and tied off the boat right where Wapsi Willy left it when it happened. The mansion twisted in the current, and chunks of it started peeling off, looking like match sticks floating in a glass. A large section of roof came next and got hung up on the bridge, the current battering the wooden structure into oblivion and pieces and chunks found their way under the bridge and on down river.
Tommy and Seru get into the car, making it to the other side of the bridge just in time to see the rest of the mansion crumble apart and rush toward the bridge they just crossed. There was a tremendous crunch of breaking wood as the old bridge shifted in the collision. They sat and watched for the next hour as the place she called home for the last decade, and the place he received his most intense training sessions was destroyed by the river.
“Guess I kinda ruined your training for WAR, huh?”
Tommy only shrugged. Sometimes helping another person, saving a life, is more important.
