Mole Stew

Mother Nature sent her applause in the form of raindrops as leaves floated to earth on a quiet October morning. Olivia, a former athlete/engineer turned sprawling bookish housewife, and Fergus, a large-nostriled ginger hound, watched attentively from the back porch as The Dean of Deciduosity blessed the brightly colored graduates. “Farewell, Class of 2020. Oscar will make mulch out of you and then you can become flowers, or tomatoes, or …weeds.” Olivia sighed. Mornings filled with hope and possibilities!  Fergus’ nostils vibrated and he lifted his photogenic face then fixed amber beams on Olivia and her coffee cup. “Not for Fergus.” The dog tossed her ‘the side eye’ –his personal brand of canine dirty look and dropped onto his bed. “HARUMPH.” He was an emotional creature and appeared slighted when not offered human amenities. Oscar and Olivia mused that Fergus was just biding his time before he proposed to Olivia himself and pushed Oscar out of the picture. Fergus could do things that were oddly human. He could walk on his hind legs and loved to dance. He would wrap his front paws around people and squeeze like a hug. If Olivia lay on the floor to rest or do yoga, Fergus would spoon her and take his paw gently to her back almost like a backrub. At one of his routine checkups, the Dr. announced, “Fergus is a very pleasant dog.” And this was true in public. He was often like a high-achieving child who brings the “A Game” all day long but at home would lapse into moodiness. Oscar had those tendencies, too, but not often.

Olivia Renard was finally settling into their modest two-acre home in Beyond, IN. The locals pronounced the name of the town, “BAYon” and were quick to point out if they reckoned someone was “not from around here.” Fergus and his Mother, Mabel, were beginning to shed less. Olivia was becoming more grateful for so many things lately. She loved her warm, smart, snuggly, dogs on this morning, but she her loved her warm, smart, snuggly, Oscar, even more. 

Olivia reflected for a moment on how much she and Oscar had experienced together. It had been almost ten years since she first laid eyes on him. Olivia still learned new things about Oscar.  Just last week she shared with him that she enjoyed cleaning out the lint filter in the dryer…what a satisfying feeling it gave her to peel the fleecy strip and roll it into a ball. Oscar replied that he enjoyed this, too. Their eyes had locked, and she felt warm all over. Every morning, the first thing Oscar did was to squeeze her tight and tell her he loved her and before drifting off to sleep, he said the same. She was not nearly as consistent. It was not her nature. But Oscar rarely fussed about her “crazy bits.” She tried not to take advantage of him because of this. He seemed to be able to sniff the wind and know well in advance when trouble or bad weather was coming and when there was no cause for alarm. 

Oscar was a tremendous cyclist and despite crashes, injuries, and some worn parts, he continued to be strong and consistent now into his seventies. Olivia had fond memories of helping him shave his wooly legs for practical bike racing reasons and had even nicknamed him “Fuzzy” because his density of body hair! When it came to racing, Oscar was always well-respected by the Pack. He could tell the weak from the strong immediately and always knew exactly where to be. 

When the time came to find a house, it did not take Oscar and Olivia long to decide on Smiley Creek. Oscar could smell a bargain and pounced quickly on this property. Olivia had been wooed by the song of a tufted titmouse and trusted that Oscar would not make a bad decision on their “love den.” Every now and then, however, she wondered if perhaps she should have done more research about the place.

Beyond was a historic rural community near the Oceola River. It had played a role in the Underground Railroad and was the location of several Native American Mounds. Olivia found this intriguing and yet wondered why there was not more interest paid to these facts. Just out of curiosity, she began to work her way back through the evolution of the town. She combed the internet and visited the libraries. Olivia had developed an interest in ancient herbal remedies. She visited the local nature preserves and found herself drawn to explore the fascinating geological features of the area. Oscar worked in the yard.

Oscar also worked on the house. By the time they had lived there three years, he had almost single-handedly replaced both bathrooms, porches, the driveway, and the barn. He installed beautiful golden hardwood flooring (to match the dogs, of course!) and rebricked the chimney. Yes, the property was a bargain, but it might have been more accurately described as “a fixer upper.”  The couple took all of this in stride and Olivia was grateful for Oscar’s handyman skills. They agreed on most things, most of the time except for one. Moles.

Oscar and all the neighbor men hated moles. They made many varied attempts to remove them. One bred and released black rat snakes into their holes. Another flatrolled the molehills with his tractor. Oscar planted sonic devices in hopes of sending them packing. Several others resorted to traps and poisons. Olivia loved them. One warm spring day as she lay in her hammock, she heard a rustling beneath her and spotted a small gray creature. She reached out and patted the tiny beast. Olivia marveled at its softness and pink nose and hands. In her eyes, it was beautiful and added to the wonders of their new home. Surely, these creatures provided an ecological benefit and deserved to dwell among them. To Oscar, the molehills were destroying his lawn and his mower blades. Also, Oscar’s hips were living on borrowed time and every overly large vibration he endured on the tractor was excruciatingly painful and took him one step closer to total hip replacement surgery…an option he abhorred. The moles needed to go. Maybe it was time to accept his brother’s offer. Afterall, it would only be for a day and Olivia did not need to know. 

Fergus watched his brother on the Cub Cadet tractor with the black leaf catcher trailing behind. BRRRR….Bump!  BRRRRRRRRRR…. Bump Bump BUMP! Then nothing. Fergus smiled. Another point for Mr. Mole. Oscar stepped carefully from the tractor seat and winced. He shook his leg and let the hip slide back into place. Sort of. 

Fergus aka John loped toward Oscar trying to hide his true feelings. “Hey.” Oscar did not reply or acknowledge the canine. Fergus barked. Oscar said, “OK, Fergus we can talk.”

Mabel aka Elizabeth, could see her boys in the distance. Those two were so close as children and then after they left for the Service; Oscar first, John two years later, things seemed to change. Oscar climbed the ranks and John’s career showed such promise until he went missing. His plane went down mysteriously over Columbia and everyone believed there were no survivors. Then John just showed up one day twenty years later on Elizabeth’s doorstep. Her husband had just passed. John said he’d suffered from amnesia but had taken up with natives in Columbia who taught him many things and eventually he remembered his American family. John appeared happy to be home. He returned to school and got a degree in chemistry, of all things! He set up a lab in the outbuilding and played at creating exotic teas and tinctures from native plants. Some were delicious. When she asked him what he planned to do with his creations he said he would sell them at the Farmers’ Market. Seemed like a lovely idea except that John never followed through. Elizabeth was hoping he would because it might open up some sort of social life for him. She had hoped the same when he had returned to school, but he just went to and from classes/labs and never mentioned friends. John walked with a bit of a limp but was still reasonably good-looking and had been very charming in his earlier years. Shame he had never married. Elizabeth asked him about this one time, and he fixed his hazel eyes and hers and winked, “Momma, you know I’d never find anyone who can compare to YOU.” Elizabeth was uncomfortable with his response and never brought it up again.

It was almost five years to the day that Elizabeth, Oscar, John, and Olivia sat in the little pizza restaurant in downtown Brown Station. “Let ME get that.” John said as he reached for the check. “Oz, you said you had some news for us?” “Well, Olivia has decided to make an honest man of me. Yup, we’re getting married.” Oscar and Olivia beamed at each other. Oscar’s eyes filled with tears. Olivia squeezed his hand tightly under the table. Then Elizabeth welled up. She was almost 85 years old and thought surely, she would never see this day. John stood quickly…so quickly in fact that his chair toppled backward with a crash. His face reddened and a quick gasp escaped his lips. Was he having a heart attack??? “John?!” Oscar leaped around the table towards his brother. John struggled to regain his composure and Oscar righted the chair. “Should we call 911?” Oscar looked to Olivia who had already produced her cell phone. “No, no, I’m fine…water down the wrong way.” John lied. He feigned a few coughs and then said,” Good news. Yes, about the wedding.” He looked to Elizabeth. “You still have me, you know, Momma.” John smiled and winked. “Look at the time, Momma, it’s time for your medicine, isn’t it?” Then John paused. “I’ve got something special to celebrate back home. Let’s get going.”  Elizabeth felt her skin crawl. Her happiness faded. Something was not right.

The drive home seemed to take forever. They chatted and said niceties but John found it hard to breathe. His throat felt tight and sweat rolled down his back although it was 55 degrees that day. “HOW COULD SHE?!” He thought his head would explode. He was sure Olivia loved him.  Oscar would take her away. All for himself! How could she marry Oscar? How could ANYONE marry Oscar? Quiet, somber, Oscar? Technical, by the book, Oscar? Ever the Colonel, the accountant? OSCAR??? And what infuriated him the most was that Oscar knew how he felt about Olivia! Well, John had never told him directly, but he HAD to know. John was always cooking for her, bringing her teas, herbs and flowers. John believed Olivia loved him, too. She didn’t have to speak it—he could tell by the way she called his name. HE should be the one to marry Olivia. NOT OSCAR. Oscar was a dirty dog. A no-good dirty DOG. And she was, too.

Olivia and Elizabeth chatted happily like girlfriends about wedding venues. Oscar enjoyed watching them. They sat with hands clasped in the backseat on the way home. Once at the house, Olivia helped Elizabeth inside and with her meds. John scurried to the Outbuilding and returned with two beautiful crystal decanters. There was an almost full moon shining through the windows in the dated kitchen. John poured small amounts from one decanter into tumblers and put them in front of Oscar and Olivia and then served his mother and himself from the other decanter. Oscar looked at him strangely. “Mother cannot have alcohol with her medicine and I wouldn’t want her to NOT drink alone.” He laughed at his own joke. “Oh, right.” Oscar nodded. Glad that John was so thoughtful. They enjoyed what seemed to be homemade blackberry wine and thanked John. “We’d better get going though. We’ll be around tomorrow to help with Trick or Treats. Maybe earlier if you need help with mowing.” Oscar and Olivia set off to their nearby apartment. They held hands as Oscar drove. It felt good to see Elizabeth and John sharing in their happiness.

John watched from the window as Oscar and Olivia’s taillights faded. Tomorrow, that frumpy mini-van would belong to him.

Olivia woke with a bit of a headache. She brewed coffee, went for a short walk and then to the office. She would retire at the end of the year and looked forward to starting married life with Oscar. She was quite busy wrapping up projects and trying to leave her department well positioned for her successor. The day was proceeding acceptably until she received a call that she would have to travel to a test site and determine the cause of fuel manifold leak.   So much for a romantic Halloween weekend.  Retirement could not come soon enough! Instead of heading to Elizabeth’s, she packed a carry-on bag and headed for the airport. She hoped to be home in a few days.

Oscar got out for a spirited bike ride with friends and then over to his mother’s by late afternoon. He found her in bed looking flushed. John was not in the house. “Mother, we should take you the ER.” Oscar said firmly. “No, No, please.” “Where’s John?” Oscar inquired. “I don’t know… the barn.” Elizabeth rolled to her side with difficulty. She began to moan softly. Oscar ran to the outbuilding. He found John also flushed and holding his stomach. “John?? Johnny? Are you sick? What’s wrong with Mother?” John shook his head. Beside him was evidence that he had been vomiting. Oscar was concerned that his mother and brother had gotten stomach flu or food poisoning. Was it the restaurant?? “We should get Mother to the ER…and you, too.” John shook his head again. “I’m taking Mother to the ER.” Oscar knew his Mother should not get dehydrated at her age. He opened the door to his minivan and checked for his keys and wallet. He propped open the front door. The sun was starting to set and the moon was coming out. Oscar returned to Elizabeth’s bedside. He cradled her in arms and lifted her up. “Mother, I’m taking you to the ER.” As he approached the van, John staggered wild-eyed towards them, “STOP, NO!” Oscar turned slightly. John seemed to shrink and he then stumbled to the ground behind some hedges. There was a great churning of leaves and dust. Snarling animals engaged in battle. Dogs? Coyotes??? Out of nowhere?! Oscar folded Elizabeth into the front seat of the van and fastened her seatbelt.  He ran to help his brother….JOHN???? He was gone. Oscar ran back to where he had left Elizabeth but his mother had disappeared.

Oscar heard the door to the Outbuilding banging. He turned on the light to the front porch to find his way through the yard. A dim light in the Outbuilding was barely bright enough for him to see what appeared to be two yellow dogs crouched in the corner. 

Olivia’s trip to the test site lasted two whole weeks. She worked around the clock and averaged four hours sleep daily. During brief conversations with Oscar he mentioned something about his mother and John insisting about an extended visit to her sister in Canada. They apparently needed to leave before the airline rates increased and he was looking forward to her coming home soon, “I thought you might like us to adopt some dogs, so I did and I love you Bye.” Huh? She swore this would be her very last business trip. And it was. Olivia cried softly on the flight home. She would not miss the corporate world. Olivia cried tears of gratitude because she had someone to come home to. Finally, after fifty five years, she was loved. It was too late for children but apparently, they now had some dogs.

“Let’s go for a walk.” Oscar said to Fergus. He attached the leash to the dog’s collar and they started down the road. “Full moon coming tomorrow, Fergus.” Oscar said quietly. “You think we could get rid of all the moles before sunrise?” Fergus kept his gaze forward. “Depends on how fast we can dig. Momma might help out. What about Olivia? How you going to get her to let us out?” Oscar walked for awhile thinking of what might work. Olivia stuck pretty close to home but she did have one close friend who lived in Indianapolis. He could arrange a “girls night” somewhere maybe as a gift…and if she did not accept it, he could call it off, right? “Fergus, are you certain the spell only lasts during the full moon?” Fergus assured Oscar that he had used this potion many times, both in Columbia and since his return and it had never failed. He had also convinced Oscar that what had occurred on that fateful night after the wedding announcement had been entirely due to his mother’s indiscretion. John claimed that Elizabeth had awakened during the night and helped herself to the leftover blackberry wine that combined with her medications to induce a form of lycanthropy. John had found her unconscious and performed CPR causing him to also become lycanthropic. He produced several scholarly papers supporting his theory and noted that the condition was irreversible. Due to the rarity of the condition, if it was ever reported both John and Elizabeth would surely spend their remaining days under intense scientific study…as lab rats. Oscar was sworn to secrecy. The truth of the matter was that the decanters were switched one day when Olivia had been snooping in the Outbuilding. Did I mention she loves dogs?

Though tempted, Oscar wisely decided not to accept his brother’s offer to ingest the potion on that full moon but he did look the other way if Fergus and Mabel wanted to hunt when Olivia was not home.