| |
Pierre's Thanksgiving
While Mad Jack is gone, he asked me and
Eagle
Watcher to take care of things around the
island. We
have been taking turns answering his phone
when we
feel like it and we also check his e-mails
and answer
some of them.
About the only people that see Mad Jack
often are
Eagle Watcher and me, Pierre. We live near
his place
and sometimes stay at his home when he goes
on trips.
At times he even lets us stay here when he
is at home.
Recently he went on a trip to New York to
spend some
money to be patriotic. I think he feels a
little
guilty about not fighting in Viet Nam so he
wants to
do something for the country now. Anyway, he
said I
could stay at his house full time until he
gets back.
After that it is a day to day thing.
Allow me to tell you a little about what is
happening on this island. A few weeks ago I
started
to prepare for a huge Thanksgiving party.
After
taking the Zavoral's to the road at Young's
Bay after
they spent a weekend at their cabin on Flag
Island, I
filled up my boat with food from the Angle.
Rather
than get foods from different countries or
states, it
seemed best to just get things that are
grown in the
area. It is also cheaper. Rick McKeever
allowed me to
raid his food shelf which he calls the "Back
40".
Different family members and family had been
adding to
the food pile for weeks. It contained my
friends'
favorite foods. They have simple taste. Some
might
call them meat and potato types, but that is
not
really true. I have never seen them eat
spuds.
Since Rick had more food then he would need,
I
filled up by boat with the best he had to
offer. There
were some excellent cuts in the meat
department. I
almost felt like a garbage man, but no one
complained.
They just let me do my own thing. That is
the Angle
Way. Maybe they thought if I would be
inviting so many
to my place for Thanksgiving, there would be
less
uninvited guest dropping into their place.
Many of
the people on the Angle entertain paying
guest all
summer at their resorts. In the fall they
need a
little time just for themselves and their
families.
It was almost dark when I got back to the
island;
the boat stayed loaded. It was Sunday and I
had
already worked too much for the day. Monday
is
usually my day off so the boat stayed
loaded. It was
a cool dry day so nothing spoiled. Since I
don't
usually eat the Thanksgiving meal myself, I
was not
too worried if it did happen to spoil a
little. That
is an old Angle guiding trick - never eat
with the
guests.
Tuesday was a day of toil. Not only did I
unload
the food from the boat, I started preparing
the feast
in a huge, outdoor, slow cooking, solar
cooker. In a
way it was almost like sending out
invitations since
the aroma of my traditional meal filled the
air. My
hope was the wind would blow from each
direction
before Thanksgiving so no written notices
would have
to be sent.
To be honest, I have never send any written
notices for the meal for several reasons.
Some of my
friends can not read. Some, like me, never
check
their mail. I don't want to waste time
writing.
Postage keeps going up. My letter might pick
up some
anthrax. Putting something in writing, puts
a lot of
pressure on a guy. Maybe I might not want to
be here
on Thanksgiving Day or maybe there is a good
football
game on television. Things always seem to
work out
best if everyone just goes with the flow.
The best
things just happen. That is something Mad
Jack taught
me when he was my teacher in Little Falls.
As the days went by, friends passed by
slowly as
if they were checking things out, but no one
stopped
to visit. Within a week there was an
odoriferous,tannic tang hanging in the air.
The head
cheese was starting to kick in. Fortunately,
the wind
also started to blow strongly from the
northeast - a
direction away from the house. Things were
starting
to fall into place.
When Thanksgiving Day finally arrived, it
was a
peaceful day just like all people dream
about. Since
I had planned ahead, I did not have to get
up early to
put the turkey in the oven. (Besides there
was no
turkey at the food shelf.) All I had to do
was relax
and wait for the guest to show up. I have
fought
traffic enough on holidays so that is why I
usually
have the meal at my place or Mad Jack's
place. To
pass the time,I put together a tray full of
cheese and
Triscuits and put them on the shelf next to
the tub.
Next I rolled the tv into the bathroom so I
could
watch the parade from New York. Mad Jack
said he
would wave to me. I also wanted to catch the
football
game to see if the Lions could finally pull
out a
game.
Since it is not a good idea to just sit in a
hot
tub all day without drinking anything, I
filled the
water closet on the toilet with a six pack
of Canada
Dry, Le Champagne des Ginger Ales. That way
I could
keep the drinks cold by just flushing every
half hour.
All I had to do was look out the window once
in a
while in case anyone showed up.
No one came. The Lions lost. To clean up I
just
pulled the plug and cleaned the ring around
the tub.
What a unique Thanksgiving Day it had been.
The only
thing traditional about the day was the fact
that the
Lions lost. I gave thanks that I had stayed
unscathed
for the day. There had been no family
arguments, no
traffic jams or accidents, no hang over, and
no weight
to try to work off. All I had to do was wave
to Mad
Jack a few times when I thought I saw him on
a float
in the New York parade. What more could a
guy ask for!
The next morning the Thanksgiving party
started.
My friends are not the types to watch a
calendar.
Most every day is an unofficial thanksgiving
day for
them, but the day after the official
Thanksgiving is a
special day for them. With all the places
they could
go to for leftovers, they honored me with
their
presence. My backyard looked like a O'Hare
Airport.
Personal aircraft filled the sky. All were a
uniform
jet black, but each had a style of flying
all their
own. Some glided to the table and others
hung in the
wind like kites before dropping to their
plate with a
down flap of wing. A few of the guest
perched on the
dead pine at the top of the ridge and waited
for an
opening at the deer heads, backbones and rib
cages
that had held their attention since I had
unloaded
them from my boat weeks earlier. It was a
feast
perfect for Raven Haven. Ravens filled the
sky, the
pine, and the ground around the deer bones
and flesh.
A white domed eagle hovered above the party
waiting
for the black members of his family to first
eat their
share. Eagle Watcher said he saw other
eagles in trees
or in the sky around the island. They joined
the meal
after the ravens had eaten several helpings.
At the peak of the week long party there
were
around 60 ravens and six eagles on the
island. It
must have been like a spring break in
Cancun. There
were fights over food and pecking order.
Some of the
ravens puffed up their feathers like they
were walking
down Muscle Beach and then chased the
smaller ravens
to the side. There was also some very fancy
flying
with ravens holding on to a branch with
their beaks
and just sailing like they were parasailing
without
the motor boat in the very strong winds. One
raven
even did a 360 flip in the air about 100
feet off the
ground.
A few times I saw ravens pull an eagle's
tail
and then steal the meat the eagle was eating
when the
eagle chased the wrong raven who just
happened to be
standing behind the eagle.
Other ravens just fluffed their feathers in
the
snow like a chicken does in the dirt in the
summer.
They looked pretty relaxed and happy that
winter had
finally arrived.
Although I had spread the deer parts in four
different parts of the island, the ravens
and eagles
tended to eat at just place at a time. One
feeding
station would have around 20 ravens and a
couple of
eagles at the spot and the rest of the birds
would be
flying around or sitting in trees waiting to
take
their turn. At that same time there would be
no birds
at another feeding station. An hour later, a
different feeding station would be packed
with birds.
If Eagle Watcher or I opened a door of Mad
Jack's
house, the party was over for a while. We
watched all
the action through the windows.
Eagle Watcher videotaped the party to share
with others who have never experienced a
Raven
Thanksgiving. Mad Jack will want to see it
when he
returns.
By spring there will be no trace of the
Thanksgiving celebration. Foxes and a wolf
or two
will eat the bones that the ravens and
eagles left
around the ridge table.
How did you spend Thanksgiving? Hopefully
you
did not eat any fowl.
.
Pierre LaQuierre
(Spelling help from Eagle Watcher)
|