The Lone Cabin

The Wisdom of Abner Day Series - I

Abner Day was named after the ebbing of the tides. He lived on a farm near the mountains ...  ran a still in the back country and has been known to visit with his best friend from time to time. His wisdom is based on a life extraordinaire in which he figures he died and was re-born. But knowing Abner … it may have been simply a bad hangover. However Abner claims to a curious relation with the world … that he views as almost human to him.

 

They used to say in the mountains … that only by giving to some one else … are we able to receive. It might have begun … as something the womenfolk did … and became a bit of the old wives tale … but it started to gain capital … and soon the kids growing up were inculcated with … identifying themselves with someone else … like an ally and friend. It grew and a community developed from the experience. People named it … the social city.

 

It broke the mold on attitudes … and the longstanding lonesome dove experience … and gave way to the Dharma ( *1) … or the social concerns of man. It introduced customs such as marriage … wedding anniversaries … tipping the waiter … and work. It was a gripe with … the men in general … but the women insisted … it was follow the social city rules … or else! So Abner broke free … and walked all the way to Alaska … to found a new life.

 

In Alaska … Abner found his freedom … and would talk to the birds … the animals … and trees. And some of them would talk back. He built a log cabin … and learnt how to cook … sew … and make his own cup of coffee. His greatest difficulty was with housework … and in the first two years … he did none. The cabin … was filled with cobwebs … and the wooden floor was discolored with grime. Dust lay like brown carpets on the furniture. Abner made a hat … and wore it in the house … just in case.

 

In the second year … he had to rebuilt all the furniture … he had made … because he had broken them out of rage. It was the varmints (*2) … he had told himself. The snows muffled all the sounds … became deadly quiet … and the thunders on the stormy nights … were his only speaking companions. As the years passed … he stopped talking to the birds … shot the bull moose that was hanging about … and took an axe to the cedar near the house.

 

But he recovered by the third year … and noticed the way … all life returned in the spring. He would stop at the sprouts on the trees … the grasses … and marvel at the berries … holding a bunch in his hands … and be bewildered … at the tears that was forming in his eyes. He wasn't the crying type … and had this peculiar habit of shedding tears … only when profoundly … relieved or happy.

 

He had brought two things with him … from his mountain home … a earring belonging to his ex-wife … and the book ' Silas Marner.' And on the occasions when he was bereft of all thought … he would hold the earring in one hand … and sit with the book … near the fireplace. They were the only two things … that didn't perish in the great fire … that consumed his feelings. And with that … he figured … he'll find a way to rehabilitate himself.

 

In another year … he felt the loneliness … slowly give way … to a relation. This was a relation to his environment … the sky … earth … wind … and water. It produced an effect on his skin tissues … and he found himself … walking in the nude … around the cabin. It was a curious sense of sexuality … something he had not shared with anyone before. Soon he was taking a regular  wash again … from time to time … and was exhilarated by the experience.

 

He strove to re-activate his mind … and get it to work. He'll spend time at the stream nearby … that was his only fulfillment for activity … as the persistent flow of water … assured him of the continuity of life … despite the rapids. Slowly the words returned … and he took his time to play with the sounds … pronouncing loudly … the word mister as … ' miss star ' … and repeating that … loud … over and again.

 

But he was a long way from writing anything. He did some gardening … in the forest around the cabin … removing shrubs … chopping down stunted trees over-crowding others … and replanting an area for fruit trees. It was weary work … but he built an exercise area … for pull up bars … and weights … and practiced juggling with small rocks for dexterity. He continued to be concerned for his health … knowing that persistent rage … swells the prostate and adrenal glands … and causes kidney problems.

 

And then suddenly one day … he simply got off the bed … and started cleaning the cabin. He removed the cobwebs … brushed out the stains on the floors … and dusted the furniture … stove … and the windows. He simply couldn't stop. He collected the gravel at the river … and carried them in a sack … and laid them in front of the verandah. It gave the house a total lift … and he stood back … to view his work … and was pleased.

 

' Its an opportunity to be humble … not a privilege ' … he said … pronouncing the words deliberately … and running over in his mind … his experiences … over the last two years. A wind picked up … and the shrieking of birds reached his ears. He turned back to look at them in the trees … and with twinkling eyes … yelled playfully … ' now … what do you want!' Then he smiled at himself … and went into the cabin. He was getting an idea … for making bird stew with herbs.

 

 

 

 

Abner's Collection of Useful Words :

(*1) Dharma … ( pron' dar … ma )/ ( Indic ) from the English … drama  / … what goes around comes around, do unto others as you would have others do unto you (old meaning /God's law ) ( Popular in old Damascus )

 

(*2) Varmint … ( pron' var … mint ) ( Texas slang … from the English … vermin/ … a misunderstood experience, lit. trans. … vomit that smells like mint … myth … the nymphs that produce thought in man. science … viral bacteria in the human body … that regulates immunization, heart and mind.