Authors: Madeleine L'engle
The Moon by Night (19 page)
The branches hung out over the road, and the little boys had a perfect view, so Daddy and Mr. York didn't have to worry about picking them up again. Suzy and the York girls wanted to get up in the tree, too, but Daddy and Mr. York said it wasn't strong enough and they were all big enough to see, anyhow. There didn't happen to be many trees right there by the roadside that were close enough to give a good view, and the few others were already filled with other children. Rob and the York boy had managed to pick the best tree of all and were having a fine time playing Tarzan. John and I played Botticelli, and then some easier word games with the younger ones, and all of a sudden a lot of motor cycles came by, slowly, and in formation, so we knew that the Queen's car was coming.
I saw Suzy and the York girls climbing up in the tree with the little boys in spite of what Daddy and Mr. York had said, but just then people down the road began to cheer loudly. I knew that the Queen was coming, so I forgot about the little kids and craned my neck with everybody else. A couple of closed cars drove by, very slowly. I suppose they must have been the mayor and stuff of Banff. And then, behind them,
came an open car with the Queen and Prince Philip, smiling and waving at everybody.
came an open car with the Queen and Prince Philip, smiling and waving at everybody.
Just before the car reached our part of the road there was a tremendous CRACK and suddenly in the middle of the road right in front of the car was a branch of a tree and a lot of green leaves.
And Rob.
Everybody shrieked, and the car with the Queen and Prince Philip stopped suddenly. Rob picked himself up out of the leaves, stood up in front of the car, and bowed, deeply, and solemnly.
At that the tension broke and everybody laughed, and the Queen and Prince gave Rob a special wave and smile. A mountie scooted up and brushed Rob off and got him up on the bank, the car started up again, and in a moment the Queen and Prince Philip had gone around a bend in the road and were out of sight.
Behind us we heard Suzy and the York kids being excited, and in front of us the mountie was scolding the kids all around, though not as though he really meant it, because, after all, nothing awful had happened, it hadn't been an international incident or anything. Suzy and the York girls had tried to climb up in the tree with the little boys to see better, and of course they were too heavy, and one of the branches broke, the one with Rob on it. He was the only one to go tumbling down, and the branch broke slowly enough so that it softened his fall, and he wasn't hurt a bit, just breathless, and excited because he'd bowed to the Queen. Daddy and Mr. York apologized to the trooper; Mr. York did most of the talking, and made a big joke out of the whole thing, and then he went on about how Suzy
had saved his little girl's life that morning, and Suzy got pink with embarrassment.
had saved his little girl's life that morning, and Suzy got pink with embarrassment.
But he didn't say anything about our being American, and I think I'm just as glad.
W
hat with all the excitement of the day we gave up all idea of going to Lake Louise. Daddy suggested that we go instead to a pool where the water came from natural hot springs. The Yorks said they'd gone the day before, and swimming in the hot water was wonderfully relaxing. That it was. The water in the pool was tested while we were there, and it was 100°. There were signs advising people not to stay in the water more than twenty minutes at a time, but we couldn't even take it that long, but would inch in and stay for a few minutes, and then climb out and lie stretched supine in the sun. It was absolutely gorgeous, as close to being ancient Romans as we'll ever get. At the shallow end of the pool were lots of elderly people, just standing there in the water. It was kind of sad, and I was glad to see Mother and Daddy swimming in the deep end.
hat with all the excitement of the day we gave up all idea of going to Lake Louise. Daddy suggested that we go instead to a pool where the water came from natural hot springs. The Yorks said they'd gone the day before, and swimming in the hot water was wonderfully relaxing. That it was. The water in the pool was tested while we were there, and it was 100°. There were signs advising people not to stay in the water more than twenty minutes at a time, but we couldn't even take it that long, but would inch in and stay for a few minutes, and then climb out and lie stretched supine in the sun. It was absolutely gorgeous, as close to being ancient Romans as we'll ever get. At the shallow end of the pool were lots of elderly people, just standing there in the water. It was kind of sad, and I was glad to see Mother and Daddy swimming in the deep end.
What with a whole afternoon of being ancient Romans (John said he missed a gorgeous slave girl to rub him down with
oil afterwards) we were all so relaxed that after the movies (which were plain, uncontroversial science films that night) we all went right to sleep in spite of the noise.
oil afterwards) we were all so relaxed that after the movies (which were plain, uncontroversial science films that night) we all went right to sleep in spite of the noise.
We got off quite early in the morning and had an exciting drive over the Kananaskis Mountain Road and Pass. It's an unpaved road, a hundred and fifty miles long, and so sparsely traveled that you have to sign in with a ranger when you enter, and sign out again at the other end. I suppose if you don't come out they send search parties for you. It's completely uninhabited, no stores or filling stations or any sign of civilization. We passed a few fishermen's tents down by the river, but that was all. At one of the points on the pass we got out and threw snow balls, although it was so warm that Rob started to have prickly heat again and was stripped to the waist.
I'd really been in a very good mood ever since we reached Victoria. Once a day I'd read Zachary's love song in the lav, and I thought about only the nice part of him, his gentleness, and his liking me the way he used to. And because he wasn't with me, saying things to frighten me, I didn't think about his heart condition, or Anne Frank, or any of the things that had upset me in Laguna.
But then that afternoon we drove through the town of Frank in Alberta. First of all there was the name. Frank. Like Anne Frank. And it was as though Zachary were there standing by me and grinning because I was so dumb and so ignorant and I'd never even heard before of what had happened to the town called Frank and everybody in it.
What happened was that about fifty years ago half of the mountain crashed down in the middle of the night, burying most
of the town and the seventy people in the section it covered. There wasn't any warning for those people in the town of Frank; they didn't have to sleep all night with their ears half open, listening for the sound of storm troopers' boots. They went to bed without worrying about anything at all, just the way we do in Thornhill. The mountain was there, strong and secure, when they went to bed, and in the middle of the night it fell on them.
of the town and the seventy people in the section it covered. There wasn't any warning for those people in the town of Frank; they didn't have to sleep all night with their ears half open, listening for the sound of storm troopers' boots. They went to bed without worrying about anything at all, just the way we do in Thornhill. The mountain was there, strong and secure, when they went to bed, and in the middle of the night it fell on them.
I thought of the psalm again.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills
. The people of Frank must have thought of their mountain as being strong and permanent and reliable. They probably knew that over millions of years mountains rise and fall, but it takes millions of years, and this mountain fell all of a sudden in the middle of the night.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills
. The people of Frank must have thought of their mountain as being strong and permanent and reliable. They probably knew that over millions of years mountains rise and fall, but it takes millions of years, and this mountain fell all of a sudden in the middle of the night.
The mountain was so huge that they never tried to clear up the rubble; they just rebuilt over and around it, the people who were left to rebuild. The remains of the huge slide are still there for everybody to see, with the railroad tracks and the road simply going over it.
I wasn't the only one to be silent after we'd driven through the town of Frank. For several miles nobody said anything at all, and then nobody really noticed that I wasn't doing much talking. Just Vicky and her moods.
By the middle of the afternoon we were back in the United States again, in Montana, at Glacier National Park. I suppose because it was well into July and right in the middle of the camping season all the parks were at their most crowded, but we did manage to find a fairly good campsite by some nice people, two rather elderly Greek professors and their wives. Their tents
were old and battered and their equipment was as elderly as they were, but they seemed to be having as good a time as though they were kids. Both the professors taught at Harvard, but they seemed really pleased about John's going to M.I.T., and when they discovered he'd studied a little Greek and loved it, you'd have thought he'd given them an enormous present. They were really fun to camp next to, and when we discovered we were both going to have stew for dinner, we put all the stew into their big old iron pot and ate together.
were old and battered and their equipment was as elderly as they were, but they seemed to be having as good a time as though they were kids. Both the professors taught at Harvard, but they seemed really pleased about John's going to M.I.T., and when they discovered he'd studied a little Greek and loved it, you'd have thought he'd given them an enormous present. They were really fun to camp next to, and when we discovered we were both going to have stew for dinner, we put all the stew into their big old iron pot and ate together.
The next day we went up beyond Logan Pass, across the Continental Divide once again. We were even higher and closer to snow than we had been the day before on the Kananaskis road. We went through banks of snow more than twenty feet high, on a road that was opened from the winter only a week or so before. And here it was the middle of July!
At one point when we'd left the station wagon and were walking along the road, Rob shouted out, “A bear! A bear!” A shaggy looking bear was sitting on the snow bank right by the car, peering at us in a much more friendly manner than the bears in Kootenay. Daddy told us to get back in the car, and we had just shut the door when the bear got up, lumbered over, and stuck his head in the window by Mother. I don't think she was happy about this at all. He was an awfully
big
bear. She very gently rolled the car window up almost to the top, so the bear was left on the outside, his paws up against the car, his wet nose smearing the window.
big
bear. She very gently rolled the car window up almost to the top, so the bear was left on the outside, his paws up against the car, his wet nose smearing the window.
We drove on, and came on the Greek professors looking through binoculars up at something high on the mountain. They managed to point out three white moving dots to us, which they
said were mountain goats, and quite unusual to see. So Suzy had some
more
animals for her book. After that we stuck with the Greek professors and they let us look at everything through their binoculars.
said were mountain goats, and quite unusual to see. So Suzy had some
more
animals for her book. After that we stuck with the Greek professors and they let us look at everything through their binoculars.
Montana was a state we really loved. We spent one night near a marvelous cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites. Rob really got a bang out of this. Then there were great, fertile, gently rolling plateaus, bounded in the distance by the snowy peaks of the Rockies. Everything was green and lush, with beautiful strip planting, and the farms all absolutely enormous in comparison to the little ones we were used to at home. There weren't very many trees, which was surprising, but there were loads of cattle. Every once in a while we would see wild horses running along beside the road, their manes flying behind them, swift and beautiful. These were very exciting to all of us, and of course Suzy could hardly contain herself. The one thing in the world she wanted was to have a chance to tame one of them. I didn't see this at all. The whole reason I loved them, the whole reason they made me shiver with their beauty, was that they were
wild
and
free
. Maybe feeling this way is what makes me more of a beachcomber type than somebody who's planning to be a doctor, like Suzy.
wild
and
free
. Maybe feeling this way is what makes me more of a beachcomber type than somebody who's planning to be a doctor, like Suzy.
From Montana we went into Wyoming, to Yellowstone National Park. We knew Yellowstone would be crowded, and Daddy almost decided to skip it. If he had it would have changed the whole course of my life. Well. Maybe it's a little early to say that. But Yellowstone made a lot of
difference
to me.
difference
to me.
I wasn't feeling particularly glad about it, though, when Daddy said it would be too bad to miss Old Faithful, when we
were so close. We drove in, a little before lunch, and wandered around and around looking for a campsite. At the big parks you had to get there before lunch at the latest if you wanted to get a campsite, and we began to think even that was too late at Yellowstone, when we finally saw some people driving away, down at the far end of the camping section, and slid into their place, with a couple of cars behind us still looking for sites. We were in a new section of campground that had just been opened that spring, and that, as recently as a couple of months before, had been bears' territory. As far as the bears were concerned, it was still their territory. While we were setting up camp two large brown bears lumbered along the road right by us, looked inquisitively in the car windows, then methodically went through the supposedly bear proof garbage containers across the road. I was glad we weren't camped right
by
one of the garbage containers. I'm not Suzy.
were so close. We drove in, a little before lunch, and wandered around and around looking for a campsite. At the big parks you had to get there before lunch at the latest if you wanted to get a campsite, and we began to think even that was too late at Yellowstone, when we finally saw some people driving away, down at the far end of the camping section, and slid into their place, with a couple of cars behind us still looking for sites. We were in a new section of campground that had just been opened that spring, and that, as recently as a couple of months before, had been bears' territory. As far as the bears were concerned, it was still their territory. While we were setting up camp two large brown bears lumbered along the road right by us, looked inquisitively in the car windows, then methodically went through the supposedly bear proof garbage containers across the road. I was glad we weren't camped right
by
one of the garbage containers. I'm not Suzy.
We were very close to whoever was on our right; the campsites at Yellowstone weren't made for privacy. We saw three pair of bathing trunks out on a line, and there was a very weatherworn tent and a beat-up old grey car with a New York license plate. We were just getting settled when three kids, boys, came sauntering up and took their trunks from the line. They looked over at us, saw that John was about their age, and came over to say hello.
They were brothers, two straw-colored blonds, and one with red hair, not dark red like John and Uncle Douglas, but bright orange red. I figured he was probably the youngest, but you couldn't really tell, except that from something they said I thought the other two, Don and Steve, were in college, and
Andy still had another year to go. Their last name was Ford, and they were camping by themselves. No parents or anything with them. Just on their own. I was very impressed. But
they
seemed kind of impressed that John was going to M.I.T.
Andy still had another year to go. Their last name was Ford, and they were camping by themselves. No parents or anything with them. Just on their own. I was very impressed. But
they
seemed kind of impressed that John was going to M.I.T.
Suddenly Steve said, “
Cave
, kids, watch it, here comes the suicide blonde.”
Cave
, kids, watch it, here comes the suicide blonde.”
“Hunh?” Suzy asked.
“Dyed by her own hand,” Andy said, and the three of them dived into their tent and vanished into the shadows.
I looked around and an enormous woman was bearing down on us. She must have weighed two hundred pounds, and she had on bright red slacks that were too tight, an orange shirt, and the brightest yellow hair I've ever seen. But she was as friendly as could be. As a matter of fact, she didn't give anyone a chance to get a word in edgewise.
“Hi, you nice big family,” she started out. “My, but campers are so friendly, don't you think so? Those are the nicest boys right by you. You'll just love them. My girls all have crushes on them.” She kind of batted her eyelashes and leered at me. “You will, too, so watch yourself, cutie-pie, watch yourself.” I thought of the boys right inside their tent hearing every word, and writhed, but she went right on. “Joe's gone off fishing, my husband, Joe, that's his boss Joe's gone with, they were gone all day yesterday, Joe went with his boss, and today the girls wanted to go fishing, too, so they went with Joe and his boss, and I thought I'd write some letters, my mother-in-law gets so worried, and I didn't have any writing paper, so I wondered if I could give you a quarter for a couple of pieces of paper ⦠. Oh, thank you, but can't I give you something for it? ⦠I know what, I'll bring the
kiddies some ice cream ⦠. Well ⦠you'd better watch out for bears here. The rangers say they're nastier this year than they've ever been before. This is our fourth year here and we always used to try to get close enough to a bear to take a picture. Well, like I said, Joe and his boss went fishing, Joe took the car, and I didn't want to leave the food on the table, so I put it in the tent. The girls had picked up a lot of children and they were playing charades, and I was playing right along with them, like a dumbbell, except for my oldest girl, she was lying in the tent reading, Jo-Bette's thirteen, all five of my girls are named after their Daddy, Jo-Bette, Jo-an, Jo-Belle, Jo-Blanche, Jo-Lee. And a bear went after the food right into the tent with Jo-Bette, and I was so scared I picked her right up and said, âRun, Jo-Bette, run!' and all the time I was holding her tight and almost throwing her at the bear. Well, we couldn't get that bear out of the tent. One man hit at it with a hatchet, but it wouldn't budge. Another man threw a couple of big firecrackers at it, but it didn't even act like it heard them. All the men came running because I was screaming so. âMother,' Jo-Bette said, real mad at me, âyou kept telling me to run and how could I run with you throwing me right at the bear?'”
kiddies some ice cream ⦠. Well ⦠you'd better watch out for bears here. The rangers say they're nastier this year than they've ever been before. This is our fourth year here and we always used to try to get close enough to a bear to take a picture. Well, like I said, Joe and his boss went fishing, Joe took the car, and I didn't want to leave the food on the table, so I put it in the tent. The girls had picked up a lot of children and they were playing charades, and I was playing right along with them, like a dumbbell, except for my oldest girl, she was lying in the tent reading, Jo-Bette's thirteen, all five of my girls are named after their Daddy, Jo-Bette, Jo-an, Jo-Belle, Jo-Blanche, Jo-Lee. And a bear went after the food right into the tent with Jo-Bette, and I was so scared I picked her right up and said, âRun, Jo-Bette, run!' and all the time I was holding her tight and almost throwing her at the bear. Well, we couldn't get that bear out of the tent. One man hit at it with a hatchet, but it wouldn't budge. Another man threw a couple of big firecrackers at it, but it didn't even act like it heard them. All the men came running because I was screaming so. âMother,' Jo-Bette said, real mad at me, âyou kept telling me to run and how could I run with you throwing me right at the bear?'”
We took everything she said with a whole keg of salt. I can't imagine Daddy hitting at a bear with a hatchet, or throwing a firecracker at it. As soon as she'd gone the boys came out of their tent, wearing trunks.
“There are more darned fools around here,” Don, the oldest, said. “One of her kids is going to get hurt by a bear, and she's not even going to understand why.”
“They have to drive
in
,” Steve said impatiently. “You'd think
they could read the warnings. After all, if she can write a letter she ought to be able to
read
.”
in
,” Steve said impatiently. “You'd think
they could read the warnings. After all, if she can write a letter she ought to be able to
read
.”
Don laughed. “Doesn't always follow. About a hundred and fifty people have to be treated for bear wounds every summer, and it's all their own fault. They think bears are just too cute for words and will eat right out of their hands like pets. You can't tell 'em a million times that bears are wild animals,
not
domesticated, and they won't believe you.”
not
domesticated, and they won't believe you.”
Steve started to lean against the hood of their car, then jerked away because the sun had made it so hot. “Last night this girl across the road went to bed with a chocolate bar and only ate half of it. So a bear smelled it and went right into the tent after the chocolate.”
“Not that we want to scare you, or anything,” Don said. “Just a friendly warning. A man where you're camped now had an unopened carton of milk in his tent. One of the bears ripped a neat little hole in the tent with his claws, reached in, got the carton of milk, very carefully sliced off the top, and drank it. They're the biggest gluttons you'll ever find. The main thing is
never
to leave a crumb in the tent, and to shut your car up tight at night. We're off for a swim. See you later.”
never
to leave a crumb in the tent, and to shut your car up tight at night. We're off for a swim. See you later.”
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