Eric--Part Twenty-Six

Splog # 120

Twenty-Six

   Eric wondered if the man was a little bit mad. But that seemed rather an unkind thought and so he took another look and tried to make some sense of what the man was doing. He was singing and juggling in the middle of a forest while walking around a knapsack. Acrually, it seemed that he was skipping around a knapsack. Well, not continually skipping. He'd do a skip and then stop for a moment and take a couple of steps forward and then a step backward. So, to put it bluntly, the gentleman was dancing around the knapsack. And now the rabbit had joined him. It had hopped down from its perch and was trailing behind, narrowly missing the occasional injury when in too close proximity to the moving feet.

   "I'm surprised the frog and the deer don't join in to make it a foursome."

   Eric hadn't quite finished this thought when the deer daintily stepped to where the man was making his circle and began pacing a larger one around him and the rabbit. Eric would have laughed if he could have laughed when the frog hopped off the stone wall and slowly covered the short distance to join his fellows. Reaching the site of festivities, it began to laboriously circle the knapsack in the opposite direction from the other three, occasionally with a feeble hop but mostly by dragging its bulk over the grass. Eric stared incredulously at the participants in this odd scene. The man was moving to a rhythm but the other three were merely circling in a random manner and the impression created was of a study in ordered chaos.

"An apple, an orange, a pear and a peach.

Discover the boy ere he's out of our reach.

An apple, an orange, a peach and a pear.

If he's not over here then he's got to be there."

   As the man resumed his rhyming, Eric found himself intrigued by the new verses. Could he possibly be looking for him? When he'd first arrived, he'd spoken of a young man. And he'd said Eric's knapsack was a clue. And he'd kept looking at him, though he never acknowledged him.

"An apple, an orange, a pear and a peach.

There's so much to learn and so much to teach.

An apple, an orange, a peach and a pear.

A blonde and a redhead and one with black hair

And the one who is different and should be right there!"

   His head came around and once again he looked directly into Eric's eyes. Eric's memory suddenly showed him very clearly a wide tree with a branch sticking straight out in front of him and on it were four pieces of fruit.

   The man continued to stare at him and then, seemingly from nowhere, there was a clap of thunder. The clearing started becoming darker and the three animals stopped moving and froze in place.

"An orange, a pear, a peach and an apple.

My mind with this puzzle is ready to grapple.

An orange, a peach, a pear and an apple.

And now in the rain this conundrum unwrap'll."

   It began to rain lightly and the man, still chanting, started slowly moving towards Eric.

"An apple, an orange, a pear and a peach.

I'm thinking it started alone on a beach.

An apple, an orange, a peach and a pear.

The stars high above filled all space with a glare.

An orange, a pear, a peach and an apple.

Drops out of the sky like they came from a tap fell.

An apple, a pear, a peach and an orange.

A moment and then Bev and Nol find a Cor change."

   By this time, the man was at the wall and, simply stepping over it,  he placed his feet in the water and sat down.