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Paddle Your Own Canoe
Chapter 3


A  weed like wisp of a woman she was and all at once she stood there before them, thoroughly Native American.  The chiselled features of her facial zygomatic bones attested to this.  Her hair she had chopped so short at her mother's death was again long and twisted at the back of her neck. The McDonald blood was only a print upon her genes, which she might feel and probably did not understand.

Her  long dress  was softly gathered.  There was a muted blue background and small white roses in the design of it. All along the bottom was a four-inch strip of lace and it had  sharp points in the bordered design. It was as if  her long forgotten Scottish great grandfather's blood had to emerge in some way and this was in her dress.

“Aren't  we strange people?”  She was smiling broadly. “We come up here to the cemetery.”  “We cry over our graves together.”  “We exchange gifts, like Christmas.”  “We visit and laugh and talk,  just after we have cried.”

As if to seal her words a mockingbird zoomed across the space in a most bold and intrusive way. The tree where the bird had her nest was small and had to be totally of the strongest variety of elm in order to have survived the dry clay soil and occasional fires to sweep across the very old cemetery marked with the date 1890 on the front gate.

The phone was ringing as Dee pushed through the front door. “Hey girl!” She answered and  heard the voice of a friend.  She admired the woman so much.  “I'm thrilled to hear from you.”

“Well, I'm comin' out.”  Her friend laughed in her hearty way.

“Come on out!”  “I'm so thrilled you have remembered me.”

“Misty!”  “Guess what!”  “We are having company.”  Dee spoke to her daughter in the wheel chair.

“Oh wow!”  Misty and the whole family loved the ways of the beautiful woman they knew was a fine friend to them all.

Her friend  stepped from her car and her leggy tall build always gave her a striking appearance.  Her long red hair that was as curly as any girl on a Scottish calendar made Dee wonder if there was a reason she was to visit with two women in the same day who had such strong Scottish blood. As much as the other woman earlier had been Native American this woman was American but with such a strong Scottish look it was impossible not to see it.

The women walked about the grounds digging a start of this or that plant.  “I can't believe you are getting involved with plants.”  Dee commented to her.

“It is my new passion!”  “For some reason I just have started a real love for working in my yard.”  “I've found it to be so relaxing and enjoyable.”

“Isn't it?”  “Oh yes, I can do nothing but agree.” Dee told her. “I've worked around in this old  red  clay  for a life time and I never tire of it.”

The journal the woman carried with her was full of notes, pictures and sketches of what she was doing with her yard. Sketches of beds she had set  with found cut stone looked quite impressive.

“These are violets.”  “They have a beautiful small lavender  bloom.” “Martha Stewart uses them to decorate  cakes after she has frosted them in the most beautiful way.”  “The leaves are very good in salads and are high in Vitamin C.”  “If   you put them in a shady spot with very rich soil the leaves become lush and very large like these here.”

After the women had walked and thinned plants for a time they both were ready to relax under the shade of the grape arbor.  Water splashed over the rocks of the fountain  and somehow the sound of it  always gave a pleasant relaxing moment to the guests who joined Dee and her daughter. While they sipped iced raspberry tea the two women and Misty,  enjoyed the peaceful afternoon.

As usual with the two the conversation turned to the history of Scotland.  “Have you had time to read of your ancestors in Scotland?” Dee asked her friend.

“You know, I'm sorry to say, I have not.”

“My! My!”  “You really should.”  “You will be so pleasantly surprised.”

“Well, to be honest with you I have been reading much about the tribes, their beliefs and such.”  “In fact I'm putting a collection of things together  I've learned.”  “I'll show you one of these days.”

“I would love to see it.”  Dee was truly interested.

“You  would have to see it.”  “It has much too much  to just tell you about.”

“You had a grand family in Scotland.”  “Many, many wonderful things they did.”  “I do hope you will read about them”

“Hmm.”  “Well!”  “Really?”  “I just must do that.”

The two women spoke of the Highlands of Scotland. They talked of the televison show called The Highlander and how it  portrayed  the immortals. Of course, the subject of angels,  good and bad,  came up.

As the cool breezes of the late afternoon began to tell evening was approaching they had to break away from the very nice time they all three enjoyed.

“Don't be a stranger!”  “Come again and soon.”  Dee was sincere. The woman was so incredibly intelligent and it was almost as if  Dee  was seeing her friend's ancestor's intelligence alive and walking with her in the way of their strong genes she carried.


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