Cordie The Woodland Charmer

The first time she heard the voices she thought she had accidently gotten into PawPaw’s home brew at suppertime on accident. She had gone for a walk after they ate some of MawMaw’s fried chicken and mashed potatoes, something she was famous for around these parts. Corduroy, or Cordie as everyone called her, was helping them gather some wood up, but they could tell she wanted to go exploring. So, MawMaw told her to take a walk down the path behind the cabin for a bit. She was walking along the edge of the path looking at the spring flowers starting to appear through the kudzu and thicket. Cordie, was trying to recall the name of the new girl in school when she first heard a sound she thought was a sneeze. She stopped and worried for a moment it might be a fox with rabies following her, she got really worried all the sudden then she heard it again. It wasn’t a sneeze it was a “hello there”, she looked around for her friend Peggy to appear, or maybe one of Wooden boy’s, maybe Jack, he was always the nicest one out of the bunch. But no it wasn’t either one of them, and the sound seemed to come from the ground. Cordie sat down on her knee’s and pulled her hair back from her face and looked directly at the grasshopper sitting up on his back legs. The grasshopper was looking directly at her it appeared, and almost smiling. She leaned a little further down and that’s when the grasshopper waved his little front leg and said “hey yeah you, hey there”. Cordie, jumped up and tripped over an old beech tree limb, that is when she landed directly beside the rabbit. She was so thankful to see a rabbit instead of the fox, but then something weird happen. The rabbit stopped chewing on the grass and said to Cordie, “he girl you ok, that looked like it hurt a little”. She laid there for a moment, just certain she had drank some moonshine instead of sweet tea at supper, otherwise what would explain a rabbit talking to her? Cordie got up and ran back to where her Grandparents were pilling the wood up the front porch. As Cordie ran past them into the cabin, Andrew her PawPaw said to her, “whew-e girl what got your pants on fire”. She didn’t stop to answer.She ran into the kitchen and grab her sister Annabelle and pulled her through the kitchen, and into the root cellar. Annabelle was peelings apples and still had just half the core in her hand. She jerked her hand away and yelled, “Cordie you almost made me cut my hand, this better not be some stupid story again, that turns out not to be true”. Cordie straighten her dress and looked directly at her sister and started to tell her the story of the grasshopper and rabbit but changed her mind. She didn’t want everyone to think she was crazy and send her away like the did her Momma. So instead, she came up with a story very quickly. She rambled about seeing the Stanley boys out in the woods by a new still and told her to stay out of woods, nothing but trouble would be out there way for awhile. Annabelle laughed and said, “well of course Cordie these woods are full of nothin’ but stills and stupid men”. She hated to lie, but deep in her heart she knew this was meant for her only, and nobody, not even Annabelle would understand. So, she deiced to keep her lips sealed and her ears open.

The next day was Sunday so that mean church, which was about three miles down the road from their cabin. It was a nice pretty day so the walk with Annabelle, her PawPaw, her MawMaw, Dellie, and their uncle Raymond, Cordie kept lagging behind looking into the woods, hoping to hear another “hey there”, but she only heard the normal birds chirping. Preacher Ben talked about the Holy Spirit talking to you, and when you heard him you should obey him. She couldn’t help but wonder if somehow that was what had happen in the woods yesterday afternoon? Was he speaking to her, was she drunk, or was that rabbit really having a conversation with her? It was all so confusing, and it totally consumed her thoughts though the service, on the walk home, and all during picnic after church. When they finally got home Cordie told everyone she was going for a walk, “just down the path down yonder toward the creek”, she yelled to Raymond on the porch as she was running down the path. Cordie was almost out of breath when she reached the spot where she first saw the grasshopper and she stopped. She looked for the talking ‘hopper but didn’t see him, she turned and looked for the talking rabbit, but didn’t see it. She slowed her pace as she walked a little further down the path, that is when she heard, “hello there”, she turned around to see squirrel just a few feet from her sitting on a tree limb, almost smiling. This time Cordie, didn’t run, she was scared but she didn’t run. She took a step closer to the squirrel and said , “well hello to you too”. The squirrel spoke again and said “what is your name, I just love your dress, how does it feel to sleep in a house, what did you eat for lunch…”, about that time a deer walked up and spoke to the squirrel. “geez squirrel give the girl space, let her talk”. Cordie blinked then she rubbed her eyes then she blinked again. She took a deep breathe and spoke, “so you guys can talk, can you hear me, do you understand me”? The squirrel jumped from one limb to the other to get closer, once it reached the limb even with Cordie the squirrel spoke again, “yes we can and we love it, it’s been so long since we had someone who understood us”. Just as the squirrel was talking Cordie heard something coming up behind her, she turned to see a raccoon walking up the path. Her fear was beginning to fade some, but she was still so confused. Were these animals really talking to her, was this real or a dream. Maybe she had fallen into the well and had drown and she was an angel, that would explain why she could talk to animals now. But no if she were an angel there would be no pain, and that bee sting she got two days ago was still itching, so she knew she had to be alive. So, this was real, these animals were really talking to her.

Cordie, first walked up to the deer and stuck her hand out, the deer licked her hand and said to her, “ I know this has to be weird for you, but its totally normal, we understand you guys all the time, there are just not many of you who understand us”. Cordie said, “this has to be the weirdest thing every to happen in Whitley County Kentucky since Davie Crockett came roopin through here, moons ago”. When she said that she heard a giggle come from behind a stump. Out from behind the stump stepped out the rabbit she had seen the other day. The rabbit said, “hey Cordie, I’m so glad you came back, I was scared I had done gone and run’d you off”. Suddenly out of nowhere it seemed there was a big black bear standing beside the deer. Cordie got scared again, but it suddenly disappeared as the bear spoke to her in the sweetest voice she had ever heard. It sounded like pure love coming from the bear as it said to Cordie, “hey sweet darlin, I’m so glad to finally have a someone to talk to again, you humans are the most interesting creatures ever created”.  Cordie still trying to take it all in, suddenly had one big question on her mind, who was the last human these animals had spoken too in these woods? So she edged a little closer to big black bear and ask, “who was the last person you talked too”? The bear lowered down to be eye level with Cordie and said, “it was your Momma dear; we could talk to her since she was about your age.” In her heart she knew that was exactly what the bear was going to tell her, but it still made her gasp a little when she heard the words. As she was taking all the information in, the rabbit came up beside her and said, “we just loved your Momma, she was the sweetest thing ever, we so hated to see them make her leave”.

That is when everything made perfect sense to Cordie right at that moment. Her Momma was down at the “nut house” as the kids at school called it, but MawMaw was a bit nicer and called it, “Momma’s get away house”. She had been there for three years and they really didn’t think she would ever come back to Whitley County again. The doctors never gave any good news when MawMaw did her weekly call to them from the Horton Family Grocery Store’s phone. When she got PawPaw’s paycheck and bought the families weekly groceries, she would go in the back room and make the call to them, she never let anyone else go with her to make the call. They had taken her Momma away one day while Cordie was at school. When she got home MawMaw, Uncle Raymond and her Mom’s friend Shelby were all waiting for her and Annabelle on the porch. Everything they had owned was in the back of Raymond’s truck, and all the trash including all the liquor bottles that her Mom had drank were in the trashcan at the end of the street. She saw them as they drove away from their tiny rental house in the middle of town. Since that day she had lived with MawMaw and PawPaw and she really did love being out in the country, working the gardens with them, and she really loved all the chickens that ran wild in the front yard, but she did miss her Momma. At that moment Cordie decided she had more than her momma’s eyes, she had her special skill. But unlike her Momma she would not ever tell anyone about her conversations with animals, that would be her secret that one day she may share with her Mom.

From that day on and for years to follow Cordie did a weekly visit to her furry friends in the woods. She would tell them all the good and all the bad that went on at school and at home. During all her years in school Cordie studied hard and her Senior year she got a scholarship to study veterinary science at the University of Kentucky. On the day she left for school she took a walk down the familiar path and called all her friends over. She told them all goodbye for now, but she would be back to visit them as soon as she was done with school. At school Cordie studied hard and got her diploma and degree one year faster than everyone else. She wanted to get back home, not only to her family but also to her woodland friends.  She graduated and quickly moved back home and opened her own veterinary clinic. She loved all the dogs and goats and horses she got to see each day, but none of them understood her like the squirrel and the raccoon and the bear. As soon as she saved enough money, she built her own cabin deep in the woods. She waited and hoped her furry friends would find her. One afternoon as she was sitting on the porch shelling beans, she heard the familiar sound of the grasshopper saying, “well hello there Cordie”, that’s when Cordie knew she was truly home for good.