| When Jay was ten years old, his parents decided he needed to go to regular school and be around kids his own age. So they went back home to compile their findings and to allow Jay to go to school. He was easy to get along with and quiet. Made friends with ease, yet never really fit in with them. Tho all the other kids liked him, he felt out of place with them and spent most of his time alone in his room with his books.
Jay graduated top of his class and headed off to collage. He was a large, good looking lad. Tho all the coaches tried to get him on their teams, he had no interest in school sports. All the girls tried to turn his head as well. But all that primping and giggling was not interesting at all to Jay. He had his eyes on the future. In just a few short years, he had received his PhD in zoology. He had told his parents that his ancestors had come to him in a dream and told him where he was to go. Armed with all the school knowledge, and the teachings of his native parents and grandparents, he headed back to Central America. It was the end of June when he arrived in Central America. Time enough for Jay to make his way into the jungle before the rainy season started. He wanted to find his way back to the large tree with the hole in it before the rains started in mid August. Most people would be lost in the thick jungle for months. But Jay remembered how many days in a small dugout it had taken. Then just two days walk from there and he would be in the area of the tree he was looking for. Even with this knowledge, it still took Jay another week to find the correct tree. Having found the tree he was looking for, he climbed up into the large hole. He had expected it to be small for him, as he had grown since his last visit to it. But it was large and roomy. Almost as if it had been dug larger while he was gone. He settled in and made this his home. He had brought jerky and dried fruit with him. That way he didn't have to leave this new home to often. He also knew there were some fruit trees nearby, that should have ripe fruit. He made his way to the fruit once a week in the daytime. At night he did not leave his tree home, nor make any noise. He only watched what was in the trees near him. He was armed with something new. Night goggles. He could see at night with them almost as good as he could see with his own eyes in daylight. After a month of watching, and seeing nothing, he was beginning to think he would never see a ghost. Then he spotted one. Just a quick glimpse of one in a distant tree. But enough to give him hope that he was in the right place. By the time the rain started in mid August, he had already settled into life in the dense jungle. When he was a young boy he loved it here, and now that he was a man he loved it more. He knew this was the place he was supposed to be. During the rainy season the animals acted differently. His ghosts acted differently too. He saw more of them. One night he thought he could smell meat cooking. He had seen three different ghosts all going in the same direction. He decided to try to find where they had gone. Carefully he headed in the same direction they had gone. He went from one large tree branch to the next one with ease. His night goggles sure helped him with that. He had not gone to far when he could hear soft voices and smell meat cooking. He slowly crept forward. Then he could see in a small clearing several ghosts. They had a small fire burning under a canopy of large leaves. He could see they were roasting an agoutis. He had found a place in the tree that had lots of cover where he could sit and watch. For several hours he watched as these ghost like people cooked a meal and ate with relish. Some of them took meat when they went back into the jungle. When the meal was done, the fire was put out and all the signs of it were removed. How meticulous these people were. If he had not watched from his hiding place, he would not have known they had even been there. For the rest of the rainy season Jay followed some of these people many times. Each time they had a fire and cooked some meat. Each time some of the meat was taken into the trees by one or two of the men. By the first of November he decided to follow one of the men to find where they were going, before the rainy season was over. He was careful to stay back far enough to not be seen, and also to make sure he could find his way back. They had only gone a short distance when he realized there were several large holes in some of these trees as well. The man he was following went to one of the holes and Jay saw a woman take the meat and give it to several small children. He was shocked. How could woman and children be in the trees he wondered. He stayed out of sight and watched as several other men came into the area with meat for other woman and children. Finally he had to return to his home before daylight. But he knew his way and would be back the next night. |
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| music: Big Sky |
