The Elder’s Angel

The grizzled old man stood back looking at the finished thatched roof of the little house he had just finished building. There was no pride in his heart and he wished he could have made it look much better. It had one room about ten by ten feet square inside and had taken him a long time to complete.

The exterior walls were of solid stone he had carried in one at a time, some over quite some distance here in these mountains. The same was true of the floor inside the stones were different and much flatter joined together for a smooth walking surface. The back wall was solid with no openings. The two side walls both had window openings with arched tops which had large sheets of mica inset in them and then trimmed with more native stones. The front wall had one large door opening vaulted at the top but without a door at all, he wanted nothing to be barred from entering. The logs for the roof he had hewn out by hand from the surrounding trees and then used an ancient method of a thick heavy thatched roof over it.

Inside there were no furnishings at all although the last two feet before the back wall was raised about nine inches above the rest of the floor and there was a shelf built into and a part of the back wall about six inches wide and about six feet long at four feet above the floor. The ceiling was the underside of the rafters and thatched roof only and the entire ceiling was as steep vaulted as the roof.

The other interesting thing was that the rocks of the back wall were different and had multitudes of fossils in them and even in the mortar he used from mixing locals materials he had inset even more smaller fossils all over the wall.

Above the door on the outside of these foot thick walls he had chiseled some words as a dedication of the house. It read “for my master from he who loves his angel”.

As he stood here he reflected on all that had happened over the last two years while he worked on its construction. The wolf had been the first to be curious and revisit the clearing until finally staying here except when hunting for food. Then had come the buck very pensive at seeing his predator so near but appeared to feel there was no danger here and the owl that had taken up residence in the tall pine to the east side of this clearing.

The old elder had worked and even rested most times without a hat and bare-chested with his long wavy silver hair falling freely around his face and over his shoulders on what whether he was doing. He remembered the wolf cringing at the sound when he chiseled the words in the rock over the door before he installed it in the wall. He also chuckled to himself at the many birds and squirrels who had been even more interested in the thatched roof as he fashioned it too the log rafters.

The bear had been a complete surprise here in these mountains however and then his constant returning until he stayed with a wolf already there even more confounding to the elder man. He did not equate that his pension for humming tunes or outright singing at times might have anything to do with any of this. Nor did he ponder it much as he often spoke to his feral children here. He sometimes got a glimpse of one or the others tilted heads though when he often sat to rest and opened his bible to read and then pray. The more truthful thing though was none of these creatures felt any fear or danger from this rather ancient human.

Once there had been a lynx stumble upon the clearing and had sat haunched a long time watching the strange gathering in the clearing, with an old human walking amongst such a varied accumulation of both predators and prey perfectly at peace in each other’s company.

The elder though had not planned on the building taking so long to complete as he stood there this day and he knew within himself that time must be running short. During the past year especially he had only left the clearing when it was absolutely necessary to replenish his supplies of food to sustain life. Water he obtained from the stream nearby. Most times he slept in the open with the nights stars as his canopy and by now that was when the wolf and bear slept closest to where he lay on the ground. He had not counted on the fact that in this stage of his long life everything took longer, hurt more and it took longer to overcome even the smallest of aches and pains.

Later that day he started the only decoration he was going to hang on the back interior wall of the house. It took him a week to finish it. It was a large cedar cross which once he had finished and then hung on the stone wall he hammered three antique square nails into, one at each end of the cross bar and one at the bottom of the upright. The he fashioned a large circlet of briar thorn in the shape of a crown around the upright where it joined with the cross bar. To front door side of each of the two windows he placed two small wooden boxes on protruding stones he had preplanned there, in each was a different spice that he had brought with him for just that purpose.

Finally being barely able to move at all he dug a trench about three feet wide and seven feet long about three feet into the ground to one side of the building. Then he went about chiseling words into a large flat rock again. A few days later when he was done he placed this into the ground at on e end of the trench. With the words readable if you were standing away and looking at the standing rock with the trench behind it, they said “journey now over I am finally home” a few inches above the ground though was a symbol that was not words at all.

Several days later the heavily coughing elder made a few crawling trips dragging what few belongings he had and any resemblance of his ever been and dropping them into the trench before he climbed in himself. Before he reclined to rest he looked around said goodbye to all those creatures still there then raised his eyes to the sky and said “Bless you I think I have got it all done just in time.”

All the animals slowly inched up to the trench and looked inside. The old human no longer moved, made a sound or even breathed again. At different times one or the other of the creatures started pawing or kicking at the mounded dirt to the sides of the trench to make it fall inside over the old human. Even the lynx had come back and took part in wiping out any hint of the at one time two mounds of dirt then all took turns walking over where the trench had been. The bear even leaned against the upright stone at the end until it fell over where the trench had been. It was good the man had placed it how he did because the words he carved into it were still readable, if anyone ever came who knew what they meant.

 There after the clearing remained a place where animals felt at peace and would come and rest there for a time. The wolf never left except to hunt until his time was done. The bear returned a couple of years later after being wounded by a hunter and never left again.

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Three years later a young man hiked into the clearing and stood looking at the house as if something was wrong. Then as he walked around noticing the large slab of rock lying on the ground and then looking inside the house, a freak storm rolled across the mountain with a torrential downpour of rain.  So he rushed inside the house to escape becoming drenched, as he did he felt a strange calm come over him though and even though there was not a sound he thought he heard the words “rest you are safe here.”

After the storm finally passed over and the young man slept, he woke with the first lights of dawn breaking through the night sky. He made his way back to his car and then drove back to the city he lived in. Two days later he stopped to talk with his Grand Mother.

“Grandma, I went to that place you told me about to camp out and watch the stars but it wasn’t like you remembered. There a little chapel of some kind there now in the middle of nowhere.” He told her.

“A chapel, in the clearing? Are you sure you were in the right place.” She asked

“Yes Mam I checked all the features on the map, it was the right clearing. But there is more Grandma and I am not sure how to tell you.” He answered.

“Just tell me then.” She told her Grandson.

“Well, I got curious about the little chapel and yesterday I went to the state recorder’s office to see who owned the property. The property is owned by a trust here in the city.” He told her.

“Well that’s not very unusual. There are many trusts set up so people won’t know who actually owns lots of property everywhere.” She answered.

“Yes Grnadma I know that too, but this trust is in your name.” he said

“My name, are you sure?” she asked sounding amazed.

“Yes Mam, and there is more. That got me interested even more, so I looked the trust up and it is managed by a lawyer here in the city.  Well, I called him and told him why I was asking and he said he could only talk about the trust to two people. His client and by his clients direction the person the trust was for.” He told her.

“I want to go see the clearing. Then maybe we will go see this lawyer. Will you go with me tomorrow?” she asked him.

“Of course Grandma, I will pick you up in the morning.” He told her.

The next morning they drove the over two hours to the place where they would hike in to the clearing. Once there she was amazed at the small chapel. She had read the engraving over the door and become very quiet her grandson thought. She noticed the beautiful cedar cross and then all the fossils in the back wall. At one point her grandson thought she was looking for something in particular and noticed as she suddenly stopped and looked at only one. Then she turned around and walked outside, he thought he saw a tear in her eye.

Outside she walked to the large flat on the ground, noticing the two animal skeletons lying on either side of the slab. As she started to kneel down, both she and her grandson heard a man’s voice behind them. When they turned around they saw a national forest ranger standing just inside the clearing.

“Good morning, I saw the car and thought I would see who was visiting the chapel.” He said to them both.

“Excuse us, we thought this was private property.” She answered him.

“It is but it has become somewhat of an urban legend around here is the past few years. So I come by when I see someone is here. Guess I keep hoping to know something about the man who built it.” He said.”I see you were looking at the bones on either side of the grave.”

“Are you sure this is a grave then?” she asked.

“As sure as I can presume, if you read the inscription on the stone. Would you like me to help you clean it off so you can read it?” he asked.

“Yes thank you, I would very much like to reads it.” She answered.

All three then knelt and brushed away leaves and dirt so that the inscription was visible. As she read it she felt she knew who’s grave this was even though there was no name.

“There is one more thing chiseled in the stone down here at the corner but it’s just a symbol of some kind. Here I will let you see it too.” He told her as he brushed away the lower corner to be visible as well.

Now tears started to form at the corner of her eyes.

“This seems to mean something to you Mam. Can you tell me who this is?” the ranger asked as her grandson started to help her to get up.

“Are you okay Grandma, do you know who this is?” he also asked.

“Yes I know for sure now, he had that symbol tattooed on his upper left bicep. I saw it once a very long time ago.” She said.

“Then it is him Grandma, the man you watched the stars with here so many years ago.” Her grandson said.

“Yes it is him I think. We lay right there on a blanket where the chapel is now and looked at the stars, we laughed, talked and enjoyed the evening that one night. But I do not understand the bones at the sides of his grave, or who would have buried him here?” she said.

“I can answer some of that but can only guess at part of it. The bones on the left side are of a mature bear, which is odd in that there have been no bears in this part of the country for many years. The others are of an old wolf.” He said before her grandson interrupted.

“Who would kill animals like those and then leave them here?” he asked.

“They were not killed at all, they died here and that alone is very unusual. See here the wolf is in a fetal position meaning he was relaxed and sleeping when he died, kind of like dogs who have been known to lay beside their masters grave until they themselves passed away. The bear now is different in I found a bullet among his bones but I think he was shot far from here and came here to die as well.” The ranger told them and continued. “I know a lot about animals and this is the only thing that could have happened by the way they are even though they died at different times, I just don’t understand why.”

“So who do you think buried him then?” She asked.

“No one, as strange as that sounds. This stone was once standing up I can tell by how it is , when the grave was dug it was sunk in the ground here at this end of the grave. Someone or more likely something pushed it over the top of the grave. Now it was so long ago that there are no tracks but I did probe a little at the edges and found that the dirt under the stone is not compacted solid. So it either fell in over the body or was loosely pushed in, then maybe because of that the stone was pushed or pulled over to protect the grave and what it contained.” He said

“Oh my, to die and have no one to mourn you, that was not right.” She said tears in her eyes again.

“I am sorry Mam, but that is not what I mean. You see I think he was mourned by the animals here and maybe even more.” He said.

“More?” she asked.

“Yes Mam. You see I have found the bones of other animals all close here in the clearing. Also like I said this place has had some other things happen here in the last few years. A few hikers have taken refuge here from storms all of them have said they felt something safe here. Then one young man several months ago was going to take the bear’s skull as a souvenir but said he heard an angry bear the minute he tried to pick it up and ran off just as fast as he could. Then there was a little lost girl some time back I found her here sitting in the chapel playing happy and safe. When she saw me she turned around and looked inside and said goodbye and thank you. When I asked her who she was talking to she said “the old grandpa man said I would be coming for her” but there was no one there. She had been lost from her family while camping about 5 miles from here for a day and a half.”

”Then you never met this man who built this chapel.” She said.

“No Mam it was here when I transferred here about four years ago. I knew it was owned by a trust that the forest service sold the forty acres to. May I ask are you the lady the trust is named for, it sounds like you are the angel the inscription of the door is to” He said.

“I think I am and I am sure who it is in the grave as well.” She said.

“Do you mind me asking who he was Mam?” the ranger asked her.

“He was the sweetest man I ever knew. He loved me so much that he went away because I was afraid he would hurt my relationship with God.” she said.

Soon after that the ranger walked with the two of them back to their car as all of them left.

The next day she and her grandson were ushered into the attorney’s office who managed the trust. After she had shown him her driver’s license he handed it back and then looked across at her.

“Are you thirsty Mam?” he asked.

“No thank you.” She said.

“I am sorry Mam, that’s not what I meant. My instructions were that once I saw your ID I was to ask that question and if you were the right person you would know the right response.” The attorney said.

She sat there a moment then smiled and said. “I would like a Grapette please.”

“Thank you, Mam.” Do you have any questions?

Over the next thirty minutes they discussed how the trust was set up and that was plenty of funds in it to cover all taxes for many years. They talked about the man who had set up the trust and the all the attorney said he knew was that he came him had it done, told him he would probably never see her but if he did he was to ask the question, then answer anything she wanted to know and finally give her the sealed letter he left for her. So at that point he handed her the sealed envelope.

“Would you like me to leave while you read it in privacy, as you can tell I do not know what it say?” He asked.

”No that is okay.” She said and then opened it up and read the note folded inside.

If you are reading this then I am gone. I built the chapel as it was all I could do to honor the love you showed me and your deep devotion to God. I missed you every day of my life. I tried to become worthy of your love, but how can a mere man be worthy of an angel. I pray your life was happy and filled with joy. my hope is that we will know one another yet, good bye my sweet angel