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The flu and freezing outdoor
temperature were making life miserable for Jenny. No amount of clothing,
walking about the very large old ranch house, standing right next to the
large heater or anything else could ease the suffering for her. To make
the discomfort worse was the continual insulting howling of the ever
blowing prairie wind. Once it would moan, again it would whistle, and
another time it would swish as if it was being exhaled from the breath of
some sleeping giant.
When evening arrived and her
husband of only a couple of years broke through the front door it was with
the wind slamming the door almost out of his hand.
"Sheesh!" "Can
you believe the way it is carrying on out there?" He was apparently
undisturbed with the boisterous entity.
When he covered the over large
spaces of the house in a few strides, Jenny was relieved to have him
there. "I think I'm running a fever," She told him as his leaned
over to kiss her forehead.
"I'm chilled to the
bone." "I can't remember when I've been so cold." "
That howling wind is driving me crazy, too."
"Hey Girl!"
"You are sick!" "You are getting in bed!"
"I've tried that!"
"I just can't stand the sound of the wind, and it is as cold under
the covers as it is in the room."
"Come on, I'll fix
that!"
Jenny had no belief of
anything different from what she had known all day, but she was too tired
of the how she had been feeling to resist. As she snuggled under the
quilts, he was pulling out of closets all over the house, she began to
feel a little warmer. Finally, he was digging things from his old Marine
duffle bag until he retrieved a large plastic looking poncho. He then took
this and spread it over the quilts, and anchored it down with one more
quilt. In just moments Jenny began to feel the warmth of her own body heat
trapped under the pile of quilts. The wind she wasn't going to complain
about although there seemed to be an extra large blast from their
unwelcome guest. The well-built house would not move and this only seemed
to anger the thing so that it complained even more loudly.
From the closet he was lifting
his prized possession, that of a portable turn table. His collection of
classical music was rare and fine and from that he was selecting
Montovani's work. If the wind was ever to rave above the music Jenny never
knew. Within minutes she slept. When the morning light streamed through
the lovely tall windows of the bedroom in her youth, she was almost
instantly well.
"I thought you didn't
know anything about living in ranching country?" Jenny light
heartedly chided her husband.
"You weren't in ranching
country last night. You were wearing the cape of the Goddess
Konohanasakuyachime."
"What?" Jenny was
totally unaware of what he spoke. "Goddess Who?" She laughed.
"Konohanasakuyachime."
"That poncho is one I used on the top of Mt. Fuji when the Marines
were there on Bivouac." "Let me tell you it was cold."
"We had to sleep on the bare ground." "I took a shovel and
dug out a place for my hips and a place for my shoulders and this is where
I slept." "With the poncho and my blankets, I was quite
comfortable."
"Mt. Fuji is the sacred
mountain of the Japanese where Goddess Konohanasakuyachime lives. Whether
she was there or not, I'll never know unless it was her sleeping beside
me, keeping me warm," He grinned with a mischievous look in his eye.
"Hm-m-m, the
arrogance!" She quietly looked away and grinned too.
"Well, I'll never know if
there were spirits there but I'm here to tell you it is a volcano, for
sure." "There were places where one could see the bubbling
gases." "The height is 12,388.45 feet, more than two miles
high." "There were a couple of the older guys who had heart
attacks going up."
"The air is thin."
"The best part of it was
coming down. There are volcanic rock, and ash that slip, as you step on
it. I slid down." "Some of the others thought I was crazy,
because I was slipping and sliding down the side of the mountain."
"It didn't bother me that they thought I was out of my mind."
"I was standing at the bottom to greet them when they got down."
"Well, for what it is
worth," I must give the Goddess Konohanasakuyachime a thank you, for
her allowing me to use her cape last night." "I slept very well
with no wicked torment from the wind either." "Surely, someone
cared for me, although, I rather believe it was you." She smiled to
her husband. In her heart she knew it was none other.
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