The road not taken

Lady and Pluto lay opposite each other one hot summer night. The breeze lay idle over the land and sea, lethargic, listless, too tired to move. It had surrendered, hiding in the shade, deep inside the belly of the hills, after hours, since dawn, exposed to the hot baking sun. Lady as always sat upright, listening and forever on guard with all her senses on constant alert. She did this every waking hour, and remained half alert even when sleeping, or dozing for an hour. Her life was one endless vigil of alertness, it was her duty; more than this it was her function in life. Her entire life was dedicated to sensing any minute changes in the wind, a faint smell wafting on the breeze, a sound from the silence of the valley. Or an animal suddenly yelping, a cry, as a result of their first consciousness in this realm. And then there was the random yet busy, chaotic sounds of Ba and their machines. The invasion of Ba and the machines on the natural habitat, it was a sound which was the opposite, a contrast to wild nature, it was a suffocating sound of the pervasive occupation of the wild. The sound came first, and later the smell. The smell was toxic, the smell strangled the wild, and obliterated the essence of the wild, only for the wild to become a faint memory of the past.

Pluto and Lady lay with the instinctive subconsciousness of orphans, neither born of the wild, nor the closeted comfort of domestication, and the benefits of living with Ba.

Pluto lay half asleep, and let Lady do the listening, guarding for both. Pluto swiveled his feline head with one graceful movement, the movement was unique, timeless, and a gifted legacy of the Feles species. Pluto slowly but surely moved his head and those snake yellow jewels of his eyes in the direction of the sitting statue of the alert dog. It was the start of the conversation with the good-hearted Lady, as Pluto recited in a melancholy tone.

“The road not taken - two roads diverged in the wood, and I took the one less traveled by.”

Pluto didn’t expect a response from Lady, but after a lengthy pause Pluto continued. Pluto was thinking out loud, grasping memories of the past, at Capricorn.

“Wicked always said that. It was his ending sentence, to all sentences, a full stop sentence after giving some good advice to the listeners, mostly other Ba. Every word he uttered was good advice, wise advice. Wicked was a good Ba, friend to all living creatures. All souls.”

“I miss Wicked. He saved my life so many times. Neptune says he’s still around. His real name is Zuriel on the other side. Well, that’s what Neptune tells me, and Neptune should know, I guess.

“Wicked was the guardian angel for us all. Not just to me, but to all the people that came to seek his counsel, and there were so many!”

“They all came to Wicked, with the same question – What shall I do Wicked? What decision shall I make? They all asked.”

“The Ba; with their worried and haunted faces, and that smell the Ba emit, when I come unannounced out of the bushes at night.”

“Wicked would always be humming this song, and then he would sit down on his special stool at the Capricorn. Outside, at those quiet moments during the night, under the clear dark sparkling sky, singing the lyrics of the song. It was always the chorus that I remember. Wicked repeated it so many times.”

“He would sing it, in this funny voice, not the normal voice that Wicked used.”

O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,

But me and my true love will never meet again,

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

“Do you know what it means Lady?”

“I didn’t understand a lot of Wicked’s words, but I always knew they were important.”

There was a long silent pause. A pause so different to that which occurs between Ba. The pause in the animal world can last forever, where both animals are listening, and smelling the air at the same time. In their world, there are countless dangers. Thoughts, words, and utterances are used as expressions with a primitive and profound reason, the nuances of speech, and the development of vocal cords are advancements, and accomplishments that only Ba has commanded. In the animal world a pause, and use of all the other senses is more important to the basic instinct of survival. It is essential, and more profound, intense and yet fathomless, more advanced, despite the illusion of the current world order of Ba.

After this lengthy pause, Lady with a deep throaty voice said.

“Wicked also saved my life. Saved my life from those killers, those venomous creatures the Lupus Vulpes, when I was a small pup.” Said Lady.

“Jason and Jude were my cousins. Did you know that?”

“Wicked talked to the Ba of this place. Arranged for me to be the guard dog. I have lived here ever since.”

“I don’t know what this name Scotland means, but the road to Kubbeli Evler is steep, and I can see, hear and smell down the road, and I can see, hear and smell where the road ends, and where the wild steepness of the hillside starts. Where the Ba and their machines never go.”

Lady fell silent again. She never spoke in long sentences, the sentences were always short, punctuated with very few words of description.

There was another long pause between Lady and Pluto.

“He had water coming from his eyes.” Pluto suddenly said.

“Who? What?” Lady moved her head in the direction of Pluto for the first time in the conversation.

“When Wicked sang the song.”

“I didn’t understand the words, but the song created water in his eyes. He was singing, but he was doing something else in his head, like all Ba do.”

“Maybe, that’s what happens when you sing or hum a tune.”

“Wicked told me about this place. He said if you take the high road to Kubbeli Evler, you will be safe there. Lady will be your guardian, when I’m gone. Wicked said that, and it all became true.”

“I listened to Wicked when those Ba asked him for advice, making decisions in their lives. Their worried faces, all serious and full of anxiety with their decision making. Whispering to Wicked, what if I get it wrong! Wicked always answered that in the end, their destiny, their paths, the roads one takes all end up in the same place.

Wicked said it is only the journey to the destination that is different.”

“He added to ease the pain for all those that were worried about the future, and to those Ba who continued to make the wrong decisions in their lives. He would say, and I remember this so well, because he said it so often. Whatever decision one makes, one should not have regrets or worries over those past decisions. The regrets that a Ba should have traveled on another different road. Wicked said to the Ba, they were being hard on themselves to think with regret about the path they didn’t take in their lives. The road not taken. Wicked told them always – don’t live in your own created prison for the rest of your life. Live for the moment, he would chuckle, and then he would say – King for a day; is better than being no King at all!”

“You and I Lady, we ended up together at Kubbeli Evler, we traveled on different roads to get here. You took the high road, and I took the low road, but Neptune the guide says, in the very end, we all end up in the same place, the one we came from.”

****************

Note from Author:

Happy New Year to you all!

And…

Should old acquaintance be forgot

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot

and old lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear

for auld lang syne

we'll take a cup of kindness yet

for auld lang syne.

*Auld Lang Syne = New Year’s Eve.