The Duck & The Crow - Part 2

Part Two - The Bear

12.

The cave was a bit overwhelming as the Duck and the Crow began to walk through it.  It was pretty dark as well, but a light in the distance gave them just enough sight to proceed without having to squint or question what was around the corner.  The terrain was a bit rocky - huge holes in the wall gave the impression that others before had used them as shelves.  There was an eerie feeling as the four of them proceeded.

Crow - (whispering)  Do you see anything?

Duck - No.  Let’s keep going.

Crow - Okay.

The Duck began to head out in front of the Crow because the path was narrowing.  Both of them could not walk through at the same time, so the Duck was the obvious choice to go first - at least that’s what the Crow thought.

Duck - Holy cow!

Crow - A cow?

Duck - No, something worse!

Crow - What could be worse than a foul smelling, methane emitting cow?

Duck - A huge, hibernating Bear!

Crow - Oh, I see.

Duck - What should we do?

13.

I will say, that at this point in time, on this sun-shiny day, there was a little confusion bouncing around in the heads of all those concerned here.  The Duck was dumbfounded; the Crow confounded; and Ernie and Al were altogether lost in this crazy scene - Oh, yeah, I also must say that the Bear - well, the Bear was just sleeping away his dreams with a belly full of berries and a roaring snore.  None of them knew what to do.  Al began to turn around and head back out of the cave.  Ernie grabbed him by the arm.  The Duck shrank back a step or two.  The Crow just stood there.  The echo from the corner startled all of them.

Bear - You can’t go “Good-bye” before you say “Hello.”  That’s bad manners. Plus, to get there, wherever there may be, you have to go through here.

Duck - (confused)  Here?

Bear - Yes, here.

Crow - (even more confused)  What here?

Bear - This here.

Duck - Here now?

Bear - Yes, now.

Crow - Here tomorrow?

Bear - Yes, tomorrow.

Duck - Here yesterday?

Bear - Yes, and even yesterday.

Crow - How can all of those different periods of time be constituted as here’s?

Bear - They just are.

Duck - Yes, Crow, they just are.

Crow - What?  This hibernating slop child rattles on about some here’s and now’s and you are in cahoots in a second?

Duck - Not in cahoots, just understanding where he is coming from.

Crow - What in tar heavens are you gabbing about now?

Duck - Yes, now.  It is all now.

Bear - Yes, Mr. Duck, it all is now.

Crow - WHAT!  Someone please help me!

Bear - You can only help yourself, Crow.  Look beyond me, at the wall.  What do you see?

Crow - A wall.  Some dirt on the wall and a few scratches and such.

Bear - I see a small hole, in the middle of the wall.  Do you see it?

Crow - Nope.

Bear - Look harder.

Crow - There is nothing there you crazy Bear!

Bear - Close your eyes for a second.  Take a deep breath, throw out all your preconceived notions about the world you live in and grew up in, and open your eyes again as you exhale.  Then tell me what you see.

Crow - What is with all of this inhaling and exhaling, closing and opening the eyes and such?  I do believe you are all crazy!

The Crow, against his own will, took the Bear’s humble advice - closed his eyes, inhaled, dropped all preconceived notions about everything and everyone, and exhaled as he opened his eyes.  Lo and behold - what did his black little eyes capture upon opening?  A small hole in the wall.  A small hole in the middle of the wall!  The Bear let out a large roar as his belly bounced up and down from his laugh. The Crow looked perplexed, the Duck still confused, and Al and Ernie hid in the distance.  The Bear began to speak again:

Bear - To get anywhere, you have to first realize that you are everywhere.  To BE or not to BE; it’s not to Do or not to DO.  It’s all backwards out there in materiality and such - physical existence is surely much more simpler than running around like a chicken with its head chopped off trying to find things to occupy your time.

Crow - Materiality and such?  What in the world is going on?  Duck, please help me!

Bear - Materiality.  Figure and forms.  Be’ers and Do’ers.  The Do’ers win.  The Be’ers be.  Except now, it’s getting a little too crazy to Be within this Do’ers world. It’s a cycle or a circle - a little of both I’d say.  No end, just one lop-sided path in favor of the Do’ers subsisting right now.

Duck - Being and doing.  Winning and losing.

Bear - The other way around, dear sir.  Being and doing.  Losing and winning. To end the circle you are in, you two need to find a way to turn the cycle around on itself.  Think of the Do’ers and the beings who created that particular type of system.  Who needs to really comprehend this shit?  Think of them . . .

With that crass remark from such a humble Bear, the thunder struck in Ginotia Main again.  Like clockwork, Ernie and Al were left on an empty street corner as the Duck and the Crow began to fly away.  Everyone ran for cover, as usual.

14.

Something else was stirring in Ginotia Main at this time.  A young mistress was walking down the street from the grocery store in hopes of fooling her mate once again.  As she rounded the corner at Vinci Drive and Leo Lane, the ground fell out from beneath her and swallowed her up along with that imparticular block of space in town.  It just so happens, that the other three houses that fell to their wooden graves were occupied by a couple of other cheaters, or adulterers (both male and female), and they were simply being repaid for their crimes.

Al and Ernie noticed changes in the town as of late.  Actually, ever since they met the Duck and the Crow, weird things in Ginotia Main - such as people being repaid for the stupid and in-humane things they had done; and those souls who needed help to cross over got their push to the other side.  In some strange way, as our two main characters began to look around at the world for the first time with new eyes, instead of being caught up in a world where things needed to be done, they began to see more than they could handle.  In fact, since that day, I must tell you dear reader, Ernie and Al began to see how everything everyone does is inter-related in some way, shape or form.  And they began to see that people do get their just desserts.

15.

It was a few weeks until Al and Ernie were able to meet at the corner of Vinci and Leo.  Construction crews took just as long in Ginotia Main, USA as they did everywhere else in the world.  Ernie and Al, come to think of it, did not know if the Duck and the Crow would even be back on their street corner after this huge fiasco.  Maybe just the Duck would show.  Maybe just the Crow.  Hell, maybe neither one would show and this would all be one heck of a crazy delusion.  Al and Ernie decided to take the chance anyway and went to see what ensued.  They headed towards the completed intersection.

3:00 P.M. - Saturday - Two weeks after the weird Earth-hole.  Two weeks after the Bear.  One and a half years before the disappearance.  Ernie and Al had not yet arrived, but the Duck and the Crow were there in uniformed fashion.

Crow - Hello, Duck, fine day.  Shame the sidewalk got all screwed up.

Duck - It’s okay.  I know you were trying to prove a point so we wouldn’t have to continue on.  The Bear got to ya again, huh?

Crow- (ruffling his feathers)  Not at all.  Just a bunch of gibberish, as it was the last time.  Do you think those two even understood it?

Duck - Don’t know.  I think the sidewalk, the houses and the people did get to them though.  Probably threw them off track.

Crow - Shame.  Everyone should have learned.  They all got what they deserved.

Duck - Yeah, but you put us two weeks behind, and this circle of coming and going is wearing on my nerves.

Crow - Mine as well.  I said I was sorry.  Here they come.  Do you really think all of this will work?

Duck - I hope something works, and soon . . .

Al and Ernie approached the Duck and the Crow.

Crow - Hello there, good men.  Close your eyes and take a long, deep breath. We do not have time for lollygagging today.

Ernie and Al closed their eyes and took a deep breath.

Crow - Open you eyes.

Al and Ernie did as they were told.  Once again, they were in Ginotia Main no longer.

The Duck laughed.  So did the Crow.  It was as if they had forgotten this scene the last time around.  The Crow pranced forward.  The Duck followed waddling.  Ernie and Al walked with caution.  As the rounded the bend of some old oak, sequoia, and willow trees, they saw a strange sight indeed.  The weird sequence of trees went unnoticed.  Al looked at Ernie.  Ernie looked at Al.  Then they both looked back to see a little, green Elf and his companion, Armadillo.