PiderWitch Blog

What Lovely Roses You Have

How long was he going to stare out the window like that?  Sadie wondered.  He had asked about Nathan.  She hadn’t thought about Nathan in years.  It was all a closed or cold case file, she thought.  And isn’t he ever going to speak?  

Suddenly, he turned and faced her sideways.  “What lovely roses you have?  My wife would be so envious.  Whatever do you use to fertilize them to get them to grow so full and lush?”

She stared at him, bewildered.  “Huh?”  she asked.  “I’m sorry.  I thought we were talking about Nathan.”

“Ah yes.”  The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notebook.  “I just wanted to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.”  She said softly.  “But, I think I told them everything before.  Has something new come up?  Have you found Nathan?”

“Oh, no no no, nothing like that.  I just wanted to go over what you remember about the last time you saw him.  Can you go over the details again?”

She told him what she had told the detectives the last time.  The man nodded as she laid out the details, his gaze frequently turning to the window again.  What was his fascination with her roses?  Finally, she finished and he flipped the notebook shut, then slipped it back into his pocket.

“I think I have it all” he said.  “Thank you again for your time and patience.”

“But, of course.”  She replied  “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No.  I should be on my way.”  He stated flatly and turned towards the door.  As he opened the door, he paused and looked again at the garden, then turned back at her.  “The roses, Sadie.  Please tell me what you do to grow such beautiful roses.”  

She stood there a moment, confused at the man, then she smiled brightly.  “But, of course.” She responded.  “Its just a simple blood and bone meal mixture my mother gave me the recipe for.”

“Any chance you could be persuaded to share that?”

“Alas, no.  Its been a tightly held secret in my family for generations.  We have actually won numerous awards for our roses.  But, I am sure you could find something similar if you did a search.”

“Of course, I understand.  That’s too bad though.  My wife will be so disappointed. Thank you again for your time.”  And with that, he walked down the path to his car and drove away.

Sadie walked out and strode over to her roses, her hand gently petting one of the luxurious blooms.  She leaned over and took a deep whiff of its intoxicating scent, then a smile formed on her lips.  Mother always said the only thing husbands were good for were fertilizing the roses.

“Good night, Nathan.”  Sadie called behind her as she walked back into the house.  “Sleep well.” 

Copyright 07/28/21 Sephi PiderWitch

The Teddy Bear War

It started as a minor altercation. A reporter came to their country to do a story on some event that was taking place. What event, you ask? Well, the event doesn’t matter, but since you asked, it was a celebration on the outskirts of their main city. He was, at this event, invited to a formal function at the palace the next night. To bring his camera and his notebook so he could go back to his own country and tell them of the magnificence of this country he had visited. To comment on how well he was treated and the greatness of the people who lived there. And that was the beginning of when things went wrong.

They were a foolish people who believed that a reporter from another country would do as their reporters did and report what they were approved to. They were foolish in that they trusted he would speak only to the proper people, photograph only the best and most beautiful they had. They believed in this, they trusted in this knowledge, and so they trusted him. It was a mistake they were not likely to repeat.

He returned to his country and began to write a series of reports on what he had seen there. The bustling fair and market of the celebration, the people in their colorful clothing, richly died cottons and silks. The heavy scents of the food aisles full of exotic herbs mingled in simmering pots thick with meats and hearty vegetables. Bright banners and streamers flew from every post on every stall. Even the ground itself was suffused with the smells of the carnivale, the droppings and leavings of all the goers mixing and coalescing with the dirt and sweat and dog feces.

On the surface, it all looked like a pleasure fair of a happy people. It took a discerning eye to see past the bright facade and peer into the shadows behind. And that is the mark the reporter was known for. He found the shadow side and slipped into it and reached out a hand of friendship to it. Gladly was it greeted and he was welcomed by the fires and stories shared. He found the same such outstretched hands in the staff at the castle and passed many hours unnoticed by his hosts as missing, so busy they were with their royal festivities.

All of this came out in his pages. Not the stories of the bright celebration, the glorious royal family, the richness of the castle and the opulence of the ball. Or rather, those things did shine forth in his words, but in exposing the cost to the people. He told of the dismal conditions so many lived, the oppression, the lack of simple basic needs. He told of the jokes the royal family made of the peasants in their kingdom, how they had added a new tax this last month to fund their ball. He told it all and laid them bare.

To say that they were not pleased is an understatement. They sent official demands that the words be retracted, an apology offered. It fell on deaf ears. The country of the reporter and the neighboring countries joined in a condemnation of the country, demanding they give a voice to their people, allow them a part in the workings of the country. The angry exchange lasted for months till it was threatened by the oppressive country more drastic measures would be taken.

Who it was that came up with the idea in the reporter’s country, no one is sure or can no longer remember. That it was a work of brilliance, none can deny. That it made the world sit up and take notice the news can attest.

Through the dead of night a few small planes flew, just under the radar, seeking out the capital and the surrounding townships to release their loads. Tiny parachutes dotted the skyline, floating gently to the ground in the pre-dawn air. Each carrying a single load, a small teddy bear each holding its own unique message for peace, democracy, hope. More than a thousand of them littered the landscape when the people emerged from their homes. More than a thousand that were met with cries of joy from the children and snatched up by all to take back to their homes with them. What a sight it was if you were fortunate enough to be awake to see it. Even in the night dark skies, you could see the tiny white parachutes dancing in the wind currents of the air as they made their way earthward.

The military tried to order the return of the bears, but they only were offered up a small fraction of those that came. They tried threatening with new laws making it a crime to be caught with one of the bears and that seemed to have little impact.

The royal family was furious that their air space had been so easily breached and a few of the highest officers lost their command from it. Then came the talks to figure out what to do about the situation. They couldn’t retaliate with violence. That could incur the wrath of the rest of the nations and they were ill equipped for a full war. In the end, they decided to retaliate with the same. And the next day, their own planes flew over their enemies capital and townships and dropped its own load of teddy bears with their own messages.

All was quiet for a few days and it seemed the news was quiet on the subject. Then another morning dawned with another littering of bears across the land. And soon after, another volley in the other direction, all plush arms holding a message for their neighbor across the border.

The toy factories began working overtime to keep up with the demand by the two governments. When they ran out of the bears, they began shipping their other stores, their bunnies, kittens, puppies, wild animals and fantasy creatures, the dragons, the fairies, the griffons.

The news headlines around the world were in a frenzy over the strange war going on. Each day’s headline marked as the animal or creature of the day. The day of the bunnies, the day of the dragons.

It went on for months and months. By the end of the year, the toy makers had no animals to ship to the stores for children’s presents. All being consigned for the ongoing war effort. Christmas dawned with tears in children’s eyes at not getting their Christmas bear and again on Easter when their basket held no bunnies. No Valentine bears to give your sweetheart jewelry, no boo-boo bears to give your friend in the hospital.

What had started off as a source of amusement had now started to affect the rest of the world. Most importantly, the children. Demands were made to reconcile, negotiate and put an end to this very long war. At first they went unheeded till sanctions were laid till they agreed to meet at a bargaining table. The bears had sparked a rebellion in the one country. Concessions were made to give more voice to the people. Agreements for more mutual respect. A treaty of peace signed and witnessed. The bears were to fly no more.

Never before had a war been waged with a teddy bear. It is hard to tell if any ever will be again. It will go down in history as the war that dropped bombs of joy. Peace was achieved and lives made better. And throughout it all, not a single life was lost. Well, except for the drunk that fell asleep on the beach and choked to death on plush when a bear landed on his face. But, no one speaks of that incident.

SephiPiderWitch
08/04/12

Five Dollars

“Five dollars!” Jesse looked around him to see if anyone was looking, glancing carefully at the dirty bill lying on the street half covered by the mud and grime of the gutter. He dropped the folder of papers under the books in his arms to fall close to it and prayed that they didn’t land in the water. “Oh please, just don’t land in the water!” he whispered to himself.  He looked around one more time to see if he had attracted anyone’s attention. No, what few were near were busy with other things. Quickly he reached down and gathered up his Peechee, slipped his hand under the bottom of the folder and grabbed the bill, pulling it back to rest against the back of the folder and straightened back up. An older woman had paused near him as he looked up. “Oh just crap!” he thought. He could feel the sweat beginning to form on his brow, his mouth was getting dry and there were squirrels running circles in his stomach. “Oh, just crap!”

“Are you okay son?” the lady asked, her hand reaching out toward him. “Did you fall? Are you hurt? Can I help you find your mother?”

“I, uhm, I, uhm, no, I’m uh fine.” He swallowed hard. Oh God! Please keep me from stuttering! She’ll take me home and dad will find out and I’ll get a whooping! “Really, ma’am, I’m fine. I just dropped my folder. See?” He held up his books in front of him, holding tight to the bill pressed against the back.

“All right then. It’s getting late. You should get yourself home before you worry your parents.” The lady smiled as she instructed him.

“Yes ma’am!” Jesse grabbed the books tight to his chest and stepped onto the sidewalk and scrambled down the street. As soon as he was sure “she” was no longer looking, he stuffed the bill deep into his pocket and mushed it down tight so it wouldn’t work its way out. Paper has a way of doing that, he had learned that one with enough forged notes and a few homework assignments. He wasn’t taking any chances with this one wiggling its way out of his pocket! No siree! Then he patted the front of his pants just for assurances. One can never be too careful.

“Five whole dollars!” He had never had that much money at one time in his whole life! That was almost a thousand dollars! His mind began racing over the things he could buy himself with that much money. Candy and toys and a slingshot and maybe one of those whirley-giggy things or a new top! The thoughts began whirling in his head, dancing visions of all the treasures he had thought of that would be his soon, just bouncing up and down with the sound of a merry-go-round in the background. His feet began to skip along the sidewalk and he found himself humming a little tune as he rounded the corner, then WHAP! His books went flying, and with them, other books joined in.

“Emily!” he cried out. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going?”

The young girl who was about his age stared back at him, crossed her arms tightly to her chest, then blew a huff out of her nose. “I WAS watching where I was going, you brainless stoop! You crashed into me! And now look at the mess. You pick my books up right now and you just better hope none of them are damaged or your momma will be payin’ for them.”

“Don’t you go near my momma tellin’ her nuthin!” Jesse yelled, his voice cracking with the fear and anger in it. “You go tellin’ anything to my mum about anything and I’ll tell your daddy that you showed Johnny your panties for a quarter. Then we’ll see who gets the bigger whoopin’!” Jesse reached down and started to gather up his books, making sure to avoid touching Emily’s to the point of grabbing on with just his thumb and forefinger and sliding it out from underneath it. Cripes! How he hated her! Of all the people he had to crash with, why did it have to be “her”?? And how can one have the luck of finding a five dollar bill only to have so many disastrous things happen after? He thought about the possibility that maybe he hadn’t done the right thing sticking that bill in his pocket and not saying anything to anyone. But, he just wasn’t about to admit that he didn’t deserve that money and no one was going to take it away from him, no way, no how. He brushed the smudges off his books and stood back up . . . . and was no more than 4 inches from the face of Emily!

“Ewww! I can smell your breath! Get back!” Jesse hissed at her.

“Not till you pick up my books!” Emily shouted at him. “You ran into me, you knocked them out of my hands, you pick them up! If you don’t, I swear, I swear . . . . . ” Emily paused for a moment to think about what she could come up with. Suddenly her eyes brightened and a smile spread across her face. “I swear I will kiss you and tell everyone at school that you kissed me!” she exclaimed, a look of complete triumph on her face.

Mortification spread across Jesse’s features. Oh crap! He thought he was going to puke. Quickly he reached down and gathered up the rest of the books and shoved them at Emily. “Here! Now go home.” And he stomped off past her and down the street.

“Where are you going? This isn’t the way to your house. Can I come with you?” Emily’s voice chirped behind him.

“None of your business! Go away! Leave me alone!” Jesse yelled back at her. “Don’t you have some dolls to pull the heads off of? Or some insects to pull the wings off of?”

“Naw, I did that earlier. I don’t have anything to do right now. So, I think I am going to follow you.” she chirped.

“Well, I don’t want you to come with me. Isn’t there anyone that actually likes you that you can go spend time with?”

“Oh sure. But, its much more fun annoying you! So, where you going? Want to go play in the crick? Its nice and warm out, we could try and catch some tadpoles or maybe even a couple of toads.” Emily sing-songed as she bounced along the walk behind him.

“No! Go away and leave me alone!”

“I know where some puppies are.” She teased.

“Puppies? What kind?” Jesse paused and looked over his shoulder.

“Mr. Wiggles’ dog had puppies a few weeks ago and he’s looking for homes for them. I haven’t seen them yet, but we could go look at them together.” she had him hooked. Yes!

“Well, maybe we could go take a quick look. But, then you have to promise you will go away and leave me alone! He shot with the sternest look he could summon.

“Of course! Just follow me, I know the way.” And off she trotted ahead of him.

Jesse’s thoughts wandered as he followed behind Emily. “I wonder if he’ll let me have one of the puppies? Ma said I could have another one. Pa didn’t really mean to run Colonel over, he had just had too much of the shine before he came home. He didn’t see him cuz his eyes were foggy from the likker.” Jesse remembered how sad he had been over that. It had been almost a year now since he lost Colonel. Maybe it was time to find another dog. And Pa had gotten better about the drinking. And he would keep this one tied up so it wouldn’t get in the way of Pa’s truck when he came home.

“Hey!” Emily’s shout brought him back to the here and now and stopped him dead in his tracks. “Get your head out of them clouds. We’re here.” she announced. “I swear. All boys are just plain daft.” She shook her head at him and stomped up a driveway just behind where he stopped. He quickly reversed his course and ran to catch up with her.

Mr. Wiggles watched them carefully as they picked up each of the puppies and played with them. “Them is purebred, just so you’se know.” He informed them. “Gots most of them sold already. Got a right fine price for them too.”

“Sold?” Jesse looked up, his face fallen to near tears.

“Well, yeah! That be what you do with purebreds. You sells them.” Mr. Wiggles looked down at him. “What? Did you think I was just giving them away?”

“How much are they?” Jesse asked, quiver in his voice as he forced the words out.

“I got me 75 dollars fer the boys and 50 fer the girls. Made a nice little profit off’n this here litter, I did.” A big smile crossed his face and his chest puffed out as he spoke. “Tell the truth, there’s only one left what ain’t been sold. No one be wanting that one cuz he’s a runt.”

“What’s a runt?” Jesse asked.

Mr. Wiggles walked over to where the momma dog was and reached down and plucked out a squalking small puppy ball. “This be what a runt is. He ain’t but a bit of the size he should be. No one wants a runt. They can be sickly and die and even if they make it, people just don’t want the runt.”

He walked over and dropped the tiny yelping pup into Jesse’s hands. Instantly the pup started pawing his way up Jesse’s belly toward his chest. Jesse looked down into the eyes of the little ball of fur and pulled him into his arms. The pup became a blur of motion as he jumped and yelped, trying to lick and nip at Jesse’s chin. Jesse pulled him closer, laughing as the little dog showered his face in kisses, then nuzzled his head under Jesse’s chin.

“Well, will you look at that! He’s rather taken with you boy! Mostly he just runs and hides behind his momma. Whataya know about that?” Mr. Wiggles bantered, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth and shaking his head.

“So, whatcha going to do with him?” Jesse asked. He was in love! He wanted this puppy so bad! But, he only had 5 dollars. He said he was selling them for way more than that.

“Well, how much you got boy?” Mr. Wiggles looked sternly down at him.

“I – I – I only gots 5 dollars” Jesse stammered.

“You got 5 dollars?” Emily screamed. “Where’d you get that much money? Did you steal it from your momma’s purse? Ooooh, you’ll get such a whooping for that!”

“I didn’t steal it from no one!” Jesse shouted, the pup jumped and began frantically licking his face again to calm him down. “I found it. It’s finders keepers! It was just laying in the middle of the street.”

“Well, that be the way it be. Finders is keepers.” Mr. Wiggles agreed. “Now, you sure you telling me the truth bout you finding that money? You wouldn’t be lying, now would you boy?”

Jesse shook his head violently back and forth. “No sir. Lying will get you sent to hell. Momma and preacher both done told me that. I’m not lying, I found it. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what. Ain’t no one gonna take that pup off my hands. But, if you’re willing to change me that five for him, you got yerself a dog. He’s cost me more than that in care and feed and such, but I figger I can take a bit of a loss to give him a good home. Was worried I might have to put him down for a while. You sure your momma gonna let you keep him?”

“Yes!” Jesse yelped and jumped up to reach in his pocket for the 5 dollar bill. “She been telling me for a while I could have me another dog. And I promise, I’ll take real good care of him. Ain’t nothing going to happen to him! No siree. You won’t regret this mister! Thank you.” And he held the crumpled bill out for Mr. Wiggles to take.

“Well, alrighty then. You just make sure you do give that little guy a good home. He’s a right cute little feller. Whatcha gonna call him?”

Jesse looked down at the little bundle in his arms and thought and thought, the dark mottled fur tickling his chin, causing him to press his face deep into its depths. Suddenly, he looked up, a big grin on his face. “I think Shadow! I think that would be a right fitting name!” He looked down at the pup and was met with another volley of puppy kisses. He laughed and looked at Mr. Wiggles. “I think he likes it too.”

“I think that’s a right fine name!” Mr. Wiggles laughed. “Okay, you kids get along now. I gots me a lot of work I still have to get done. And you take care of that pup. You hear?”

“Oh, yes sir.” Jesse exclaimed as he headed back down the road, Emily following right behind.

“You know? He probably woulda given you that dog just to get rid of him.” Emily said when they got back to the main road.

“Maybe, but I haven’t had anything but rotten luck since I picked up that 5 dollars. Not till I got this here pup. He was worth every penny of it. And I’m glad to be rid of it.” Jesse replied. “Well, here’s my house. You know? You aren’t too awful bad”

“Well, thanks, I guess.” Emily replied.

“Just sorta kinda.” and Jessee walked down the drive to his house.

“Boys are just daft.” Emily muttered, shaking her head before continuing down the road to her house.

SephiPiderWitch

copyright 03/17/2012

Still Standing – Oil Painting

So, I am calling this one finished. I think I rather liked the way it turned out. And my little hummer adds character to it. Now I just need to get it framed.

Still need to do some detail work on it. It needs to dry some first though. A hummer decided to perch on one of the branches. I wasn’t going to include it, but it kept chirping at me till I told it I would put it in the picture. Then it sat quietly and posed.

I went outside to paint today. I chose my favorite tree. She’s more dead than alive, but that is what her beauty is. She keeps hanging in there, year after year. Shoots out a handful of branches that leaf up. But, I think I love her old gnarled branches the best. The birds do too. Though they seemed to be engaged elsewhere today. I will do some more work on it maybe tomorrow. The neighbors decided to start a noisy lawn mower and chop wood and kill my zen. Maybe I’ll take my slingshot with me tomorrow to take out their noise.

And here is the tree with the little hummer in the top. Isn’t he cute?

Whisper Mountains

A bit more added to this. Its starting to take shape.

More changes. I think I like what the color changes and enlarging the right corner is doing to the overall atmosphere of the painting.

Got some more work done on this one. Decided on the coyote for the animal in it. I still need to do more with the light and shadow on it, but I think its coming along nicely for something that began as a play with colors.

Spent a few hours experimenting with colors and techniques. Combination of brush and pallet knives to create the scene. Its not any particular mountain range, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t rise up from some forgotten memory. I think its more a product of my overactive imagination. I am not finished with it yet, but it needs to simmer for a while till I know what else needs to be done with it. For now, I am calling it “Whisper Mountains”. Don’t know why. Just a name that came in my head when I looked at it.