“Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.”
--Anton Chekhov
The new morning for the young host began as the last, minus any startling parts. His guest must have awakened quite early as he was just walking back up to the porch from down the road when his host called out to him about his wish for coffee, or no. They settled into the chairs and sipped quietly, enjoying the crisp air and smells of the dew enlivened cut grasses and willows.
“Besides the response you offered about 'being,' I also thought about what you said about preparedness,” remarked the young man, broaching the conversation once again. “Wouldn't a person already need to know what was coming along, I mean in the big picture, to be ready for any opportunity that arises? And let's say they have such knowledge, it makes my head spin but wouldn't that make a person constantly and always determining the present and future possible worth of each and every little incident, news, and happenstance they encountered, every moment of every day? How could anyone get anything done? It would make me crazy.” He rubbed his forehead as already in the throes of such a conundrum.
“I'm glad you gave it some thought,” responded his elder companion, a faint smile playing at the corners of his eyes. “And you're right as far as you are aware of it thus far. It would make anyone nuts.” He paused to allow the young man to enjoy his brief satisfaction at the corroboration. “However, with real knowledge, the knowledge that is the inalienable property of a man such that he is his knowledge, the consternation with which you have concluded is no more likely than if you were suddenly unable to remember how to make coffee in the morning.” He paused again, “Let me see if I can illustrate...”
He thought in silence for a moment and began, “Let's say you drive to work on a particular route, and over time you no longer actually notice the various specifics of which turn to take, when to slow, where to stop, etc. Then there is a week during which you must stop and wait for some construction delay at some place along the route at which you have not stopped before. As you wait for the 'go ahead' from the workers, you begin to see the particulars of the area in which you are waiting and it is as if you were seeing it for the first time. The newness of it is a little surprising. Now, it could also have occurred differently. You are a competent driver and instead of occupying your mind with the multitude of other matters with which one is constantly reviewing once one becomes inured to a usual routine, you might have looked upon each trip as new and fresh every time you journeyed it. Your driving would not have suffered, in fact it could be posited that it would be better due to the added attention you were giving it. An increase in consciousness always improves a situation, not the opposite as you suspected and described. We are so often unable to imagine what it would be like to be more conscious of our inner and outer world, moment by moment, because it is such a foreign experience from our ordinary life of half-sleep, or half-waking. Does that help?” asked his guest, sincerely wishing to assist.
“Yeah, it helps some. Maybe I'll just have to wait and see if some other pieces fall into place during the rest of the story...” said the host resignedly.
“Very well,” then the guest picked up the story again as if it were a favorite book and relished the memory of the next pages.
“George resumed his Sunday fishing excursions once the bungalows were completed, he took turns every few weeks with Belle. They alternately took each of the children into the mountains to fish and to learn---Just as they had learned---the interconnectedness of all life around them. How every bug and plant, beast and stream, each were part and parcel of the web of life on the planet. Just as the caterpillar devours the plant it will return as a butterfly to pollenate, the Livingsons utilized and nurtured the forest, the mountains, the meadows and the waters. Harry, Tania, and Poly became as familiar with the personalities of the land, animals, plants and weather as well as they knew each other and themselves. For part of their training was to recognize that what they saw around them in nature was to be found, in some way, inside them and as they grew to know the one better and better, they grew to know the other. This was the way George and Belle had been raised and educated and they passed their love and understanding on to their children---always balance, always respect.
During the spring and into the summer, George, with Harry's assistance, built a new boat. It was similar in design to the modified sampan but was much wider in the stern and quite a bit longer, but there the similarities ended. They built into the midships sole a sleeved, retractable keel which when deployed extended to a depth of more than three feet, and from leading edge to following was also about three feet. Attached to the keel pocket they fitted a mast step and installed the necessary hardware around the gunwales to secure the intended mast. George had been very thorough in explaining about the more curious aspects of the mast's construction to Belle. When near the end of that summer it was varnished and rigged, the little family launched it for its maiden voyage.
It was of course George's Great-uncle Fong Li who had directed the construction, and it was Fong Li who meticulously explained the subtleties of sailing a small craft to Belle and George during the long construction process. So although it was their first time on a sailing vessel for which they had to trim sails, steer, and navigate through the wind, they were exceptionally capable sailors from the outset. The boat still had plenty of cargo area just as its smaller cousin had, into which they stowed their camping gear and headed off with the kids. But it wasn't only for pleasure excursions that the boat was too fulfill its intended purpose.
Tania and Poly were just about seven years old. Harry was now, almost the de facto store manager, with erstwhile help from White Feathers. He envied his sisters' next few months. It was certainly about time for them to begin external training, even overdue, and he looked back on his own beginnings with fondness. Yet for the girls it almost didn't begin at all.
George and Belle had waited for the nod from their ancestors to begin the twins' lessons. They waited and waited; their girls' fifth birthday came and went, then their sixth,and still no prodding by the old one's to initiate the program. Finally, out of sheer impatience Belle asked George to discover the cause for the oversight. When were the girls to begin?
'Unprecedented.' 'Unnecessary.' 'Imprudent.' Such were the responses Belle and George received from his forebears when he announced his intent to begin his daughters' external training. For her part, Belle remained silent in the face of their ranting and simply waited for the squall to settle.
George reminded them, “I taught and trained Belle...”
But before he could finish his argument's rationale, they had already interrupted. 'We were not pleased about that event either, if we had been able to make our wishes known then, we would have made the attempt to stop that from occurring as well.'
Belle remained impassive. George tried to continue, “And while I know the training has been passed down through our lineage through only our men...”
Again he was cut short, 'Because it is our tradition proceeding down through time out of memory from the first Wang, in the dimness of ages past, who after a lifetime of dedication and extreme sacrifice, developed the means and technique to actually see the realities of the world, and so designed the training which prepared his 'sons' for their responsibilities in taking up the challenges,' and the confirming voice of another ancestor finished the explanation, 'We have ALWAYS passed the great knowledge from man to boy. Never to our wives and never to our daughters.'
At last Belle asked simply, “Why?”
'Because young lady, it has always been the way of our family to do so, men are the...'
This time it was Belle who interrupted, “Forgive me but, this is a matter of 'tradition'? That's what this comes down to? Tradition? Perhaps you have failed to fully appreciate the uniqueness of the situation we are at present engaged.”
She chose her words carefully, not wishing at any cost to show disrespect. “George and I are able to converse with each of you, and those of my own lineage who during their lifetimes acquired, however incidentally, the strength of Spirit to allow them also the capacity to extend their life's wisdom well beyond the threshold of death.”
She paused for comment, but had at last succeeded in gaining their considered attention. “We are the beginning of a new tradition. Whether the external training is integral to the raising of our children in this oddest of new circumstances or not, we will not debate. It is working for all of us. Leaving such a boon for our girls to the whims of chance, as the women of my lineage have---as demonstrated through the untutored achievement of a few; that is Unacceptable! Titania and Hipolyta shall receive full training. And our children's children shall be given the choice as well---regardless of their gender.” After a silence which was so prolonged George and Belle both began to wonder if communication had at last been severed with their cherished counsellors, finally Lizette spoke for all. “ 'Let it be so.'
The girls' external training proceeded a bit differently as had Harry's. In the first place it was Belle who told them the story of the Guang donkey and the explanation of their purpose and the seriousness of their choices. It was Belle who, once the twins accepted the task, began directing their lessons on the new boat and arranged the course of exercises at home with George. It was Belle who most fully understood Tania and Poly's natural bent toward teamwork, not just their apparent preference for each other's company. This she both encouraged and enhanced, so that while each must rely on the other in an activity they could not perform individually, neither required the constant assistance of the other to accomplish those tasks which were just within the capability of one. In this way each girl became more of herself and both girls became more than the sum of their parts---to borrow a metaphor from George and his rod building.
George's part in their training was as Belle's had been for Harry: seemingly simple, straightforward tasks, with almost immediate reward of accomplishment; all the while augmenting the flexibility of body and mental acuity necessary to act accurately and without pause in the face of ever-changing circumstances. And of course, to wear them out.
It began like this: Belle announced one morning that she and the twins would be 'taking the boat out today.' She delegated certain of the Lodge tasks and chores to the men and, remembering the picnic basket, walked the girls to the little boat dock. When they had gotten quite a ways offshore, Belle began an introduction to what lay in store for them.
“Every so often, certain of the women of our lineage have for generations developed within themselves the necessary strength of spirit which allows them to conquer the silencing power of death and carry their wisdom forward for the benefit of themselves and for following generations. I learned from my mother a part of this knowledge and from my Grandmama, and Great-grandmama the completion of it, just as they had learned from their own mothers and completed by their grandmothers. Always it took at least two generations to accomplish the task. But our days on Earth are not guaranteed to last and there were some generations who lacked fulfillment of training, it has not been so with your father's ancestors. From the shadows of the great ages past, with few interruptions, the great knowledge has been passed down. This you must remember:
“Once upon a time there was no donkey in the Guang. So someone from the Heavenly Court sent one there, but the farmers and peasants finding no use for it, set it loose at the foot of the mountain.
A tiger ran out from the mountains. When he saw this big tall thing, he thought it must be divine. He quickly hid himself in the forest and surveyed it from under cover. Sometimes the tiger ventured a little nearer, but still kept a respectful distance.
One day the tiger came out again. Just then the donkey gave a loud bray. Thinking the donkey was going to eat him, the tiger hurriedly ran away. After a while he sneaked back and watched the donkey carefully. He found that though it had a huge body it seemed to have no special ability.
After a few days the tiger gradually became accustomed to its braying and was no longer so afraid. Later the tiger became bolder. Once he walked in front of the donkey and purposely bumped it. This made the donkey so angry that it struck out his hind legs and kicked wildly. Seeing this the tiger was very gleeful, 'Such a big thing as you can do so little!' With a roar he pounced on the donkey and ate it up.”
Belle finished the story and then she began the same explanation always conferred upon the child before a decision should be required of them. “We master the art because: in order to be able to unite the machine of a human, all her lower centers must be active, strong and willing to surrender to the higher center's will. This must be trained in a person, it can not be left to chance. Otherwise she will be like the discarded Guang donkey, helpless before the forces of nature, and never recognized as the helpmate to mankind she was meant to be. We are the faithful, and humble bearers of truth. The wall around the house isn't only for the thief or the tiger, but to keep honest men from the temptations of riches they can not bear unassisted.”
They continued to sail silently until they reached the other side of the lake where they anchored and Belle opened the basket, offered Tania and Poly bread and cheese, then began to take down the mast.
The twins had listened to their mother carefully and finally Tania asked, “What training must we have?” then Poly continued, “And how shall we build this wall that that keeps out the tigers, and protects honest men?”
Belle wondered for a moment how many generations of George's family had asked those very questions and she swelled with pride and resolve that her family would now both carry on the old, and begin the new traditions of so remarkable a lineage. She had taken the mast completely down and was disassembling it when she began the explanation of the state of man's being and of the structure of man's machine, that it was a microcosm of the great world and how it was supposed to function. Then she detailed the necessary steps which enabled it to perform as intended. At length, she sat quietly as her daughters absorbed as much of the information as they were able.
“When may we start?” They asked together at last.
“Your father and I have seen to the foundations of your internal training, you may begin external training when you wish.” Belle then cautioned them sternly, “But it is not an everyday wish like, 'wishing for more pie,' it is a wish that must command your whole attention.” She looked at each of them in turn, “When you decide to begin, there is no turning back, it would waste what you have already acquired and endanger your future desires.”
“Today, we shall begin today!” was their unanimous resolve in response.
“Very well, you shall row us back then,” she answered.
The girls looked at each other in confusion and back to their mother as if she were obviously confused. “Mother, this is a sailboat,” said Poly, as if it were up to her to correct her mother's delusion.
And with that, Belle took apart the last brace keeping the two members of the mast together as one, producing as a result, two full length oars. The girls were amazed. Belle fitted them into matching oarlocks at the stern, so that there was now a tandem platform upon which her daughters could perform their exercises. She asked them to hold steadily one oar's handle, lowered to them as they sat in the sole looking up to her while she demonstrated the proper grip, stance and stroke she expected them to emulate, 'just so.'
The demonstration having been given, they traded stations with her and set themselves to the task. They dipped the blades in the water and pushed the handles out, then pulled them back.
“Wait.” Belle stopped them. She got up behind each in turn, starting with Poly, and reaching around her, placed her hands near her daughter's then went through the movement once more. She repeated the demonstration with Tania and each girl could feel the boat propelled through the strong force of each push and pull of the oar's motion. Belle sat back down and let them continue unassisted.
They pushed with all their strength, keeping their hands and feet 'just so.' Then pulled back with all their strength, each carefully watching that her body kept its posture and position. It wasn't easy going at first, their strokes were different lengths of pull or push, so they bumped and knocked at each other sometimes. Gradually though they assumed a rhythm and concert which kept them unbruised. Although they were two, the boat was large; soon their legs and backs ached and their arms and hands were sore.
After what seemed to them an eternity, ahead of the prow they could at last see their tiny dock and the Lodges' water tower rising above the far shore of the lake. They pushed themselves to greater efforts and finally reached the dock. As Poly held the oars out of the water, Tania settled and tied up the boat next to the dock, Belle commended their strength and spirit before they walked up off the dock. As the long shadows of evening allowed them a dimmed view of their steps up the graveled path, they walked slowly up to the house. The twins slept very well that night.
The next morning before sunrise, Belle roused them from sleep, told them to splash cold water on their faces, arms, and legs and meet her at the boat. She packed the basket into the boat and waited. Soon Poly, followed by Tania, joined her, took up their positions at the stern and each girl set her hands and feet into position and commenced to row them away from the little dock.
Belle instructed, “Aim for those two large boulders at the foot of those Ponderosa pines, just there, she pointed.” They sighted along their mother's arm and they began the steady push and pull on the tandem oars, always keeping the craft headed for the two boulders.
Belle, as George had done years before with Harry, lounged in the bow feigning sleep under her parasol; but she kept careful vigilance on both of her daughters' form and progress without them noticing.
They finally reached the boulders. Belle pretended to rouse herself and pointed to another spot even further up the lake to which she would next like to go. After the briefest rest and only a bite of bread apiece, they were compelled to begin rowing again, but this time with the oars on their left sides instead of their right. A few moments of adjustment to the new position and they were making for the next destination.
Once again they arrived and as before, Belle roused herself and pointed to another spot further up the lake to which she would next like to go. And again after the briefest rest and only one bite of bread apiece, they were compelled to begin rowing once more and this time with the oars back on their right sides again. Three more destinations and three more changes from right to left and left to right, three more bites of bread and all the while with Belle seeming to doze in the bow. Then at last they were back at their little dock. It was only a bit after noon, they were famished and ready to have some lunch, which their father provided to each of them: a piece of fish, a hunk of goat cheese, and a small potato each. Tania and Poly were too ravenous to question the menu, they set upon it at once and devoured the meager morsels.
When they had finished, George asked them to please begin painting the walls on the outside of the bungalows. They went to the store room and fetched the large paint brushes and rags, then went to the wall of the nearest bungalow where their father waited for them to begin the chore. George smiled as he opened the paint cans and exchanged their large brushes for the smaller ones he brought for them to use. They looked up at him in confusion. “Put the paint on the wall this way,” he said simply and demonstrated the strokes. He put the brushes in their hands reminding them as they started to keep their feet, arms and hands: 'just so.' “Be sure to change hands every twelve strokes or so,” he called back over his shoulder, and they began putting the new coat of paint on the first bungalow wall.
The shadows were lengthening and the air was becoming chill when Poly and Tania dragged themselves back to the house and into the kitchen. “Clean the brushes, please,” came their father's voice from the great room. They went out onto the porch and dipped the brushes over and over into the bucket of water, left beside the door for that purpose. When they were finally certain no more tinges of paint would come from the bristles, they gave them a final slap on the edge of the porch. They laid each brush carefully on the bench beside the bucket and went into the great room. A plate of food for each of them was set out on the table so they set down, Each raised a forkful, began to chew and set the forks down again. They repeated the labor twice more then promptly dropped off to sleep where they sat. Their forks were still suspended over the plates, their heads only slightly drooping forward.
George smiled to Belle and they smiled to Harry who returned it with the same pride they all felt for their girls. He and his father went over to where the girls still sat, took the forks from their hands, lifted them into their arms and carried them to bed, tucking them gently in under the sheets and quilts. When they returned to the great room and went back to their previous occupations, Harry looked up at his parents and asked, “Was I that tired after my second day?”
Belle answered without too much mirth, “You don't remember because you were asleep after the first bite; Tania and Poly at least got in three.”
The next morning and the next morning, the routine repeated. Until on the fourth morning when Belle went to rouse them, they were not to be found. She didn't need to search the house; she went from their room to the bay window and looked out. There they were, waiting for her on the dock, their hair still wet from the cold morning water. She mused as she went down to join them, how many times these same activities had been performed with nearly the same schedule and expected results over the countless generations before them. But her daughters only took half as long to adopt the early morning rituals for themselves.
'Don't become too impressed with them, so soon. There is a long path ahead of them to go, yet. But they are doing well.' Fong Li both cautioned and commended.
Belle, walked down to the boat, took up her position in the bow and they started off toward another part of the lake. Before they had gotten too far, as the training dictated: without waiting to arrive where the boat could be steadied, Belle told them to shift sides of their oars. With an anticipated bit of fumbling and rocking of the boat, they switched to the other side of their oars.
“Wait.” Belle said aloud. “Shift like this.” She traded places with them and demonstrated the fluid movement she expected them to perform. It was a smooth and seemingly effortless transition in which, during the pull stroke she lowered her body with her back held straight, she swiveled on the balls of her feet and rose up on the other side of the oar, all without the boat wobbling, without a splash or even the blade losing its powerful stroke through the water. “Here,” she said simply and they all traded places once more.
Poly and Tania took up their respective positions made a couple usual strokes and at their mother's command, shifted sides nearly as they were shown. “Almost,” Belle observed. “Set your feet first, then be sure as you make the shift so that the oar doesn't notice you've moved. Try again.” This time they both complied smoothly and were on the other side of the oar with as little wobble as Belle had executed. “Better,” she commented. “Watch where you're going,” she added as they were naturally drifting quite a ways off course. They had no sooner brought the vessel back to course than Belle called out, “Shift.” They made the maneuver as smoothly as before and resumed from the new side. Belle settled into her usual posture and position in the bow and every odd moment would call 'Shift,' to which her daughters, in a synchronous display of agility, would readily comply.
The first bungalow was at last completely painted and the second beckoned them when they returned from rowing on one of the following afternoons. They retrieved the necessary tools from the porch and prepared to tackle the new walls. When they began applying their usual 'up and down--just so' strokes of paint, George called, “Wait.”
They looked at him, ready to defend their brushstrokes and form as he held there wrists, brushes still against the wall. He gently turned their hands just ninety degrees. Now they were to brush the paint on side to side, the grip was the same, just the direction had changed. They resumed painting. George put the ladders they would use again when they reached the upper parts of the wall on the ground behind them, “Remember to change hands every so often,” and he went back to the house.
The routine of their days continued unabated, only the afternoon tasks changed after they had repainted the bungalows, always alternating 'up and down' with 'side to side' from one wall to the next. When they were docked for the morning and after they had eaten the meager lunch, George put sanding blocks in each of their two hands and led them to the decks behind the house. “The weather has been hard on the deck planks, but before we can re-varnish them they have to have all the rough spots and old varnish smoothed off.”
The girls got to their knees and each started to push the blocks in their hands pell mell over the planks. “Wait,” George said. They stood back up, shoulders sagging already. George borrowed a block from each of them and demonstrated the posture and motions he expected them to use. Then he placed each girl at opposite corners of the deck, and like Harry's 'frog work' in the gardens, they squatted and made large circular patterns with the blocks over the deck's surface. The right hands: clockwise, the left hands: countering in alternating cadence in front of each twin as she moved very, very slowly away from her corner down the length of the deck. “Good,” he announced once they began. George then went over to a stack of long timbers next to the wood shed and began a new project, always keeping an inconspicuous eye on his daughters' progress.
The next afternoon, with more of the deck still to be sanded, he set them to task once more. This time he positioned them such that they covered narrower stretches of the deck and had to start a new direction more frequently. “Wait,” he called after they had barely finished one pass, “When you reach the edge, don't turn around to face the new direction, just go backward the way you came.” Going backwards they veered this way and that at first, until like they did when piloting the boat, they sighted above the deck in the direction aligned with their destination and gradually began to maintain straighter lines once more. When that deck was completely sanded, they varnished. Now they were supposed to use the squat position from the sanding chore, but with a heavy towel grasped in both hands in front of them. They had to push forward almost as far as they could reach, without collapsing face down on the planks, then pull back to their starting position. Forward and backward across the deck they pushed and pulled like giant inch worms, rubbing the thinned varnish into the grain of the wood, being careful not to step on the deck planks already coated. In a not so surprising coincidence George finished his tower project just when they had completely varnished the decks. Next the decks at the Lodges.
Every morning they were at the boat waiting for their mother, every evening they could now stay awake through supper, even helping to clean up afterwards. Tania, at first and soon after her Poly, grew increasingly bored with the lack of excitement the 'boat training' offered as compared with the at least changing chores at the house. And this slowly built up inside them though neither of them mentioned a word of it to the other, lest she be outshone by her sister. It wasn't the first time they had competed for the approval or praise of their elders, just the first time it went so completely to their core as individuals.
When at last the Lodge boardwalks and commons deck were renewed like their own back decks, George set them to a new task. The tower he had constructed by the wood shed was the shorter cousin of the great water tower at the street in front of the Lodges. George had affixed a crane of sorts to the roof of the twenty foot structure, and attached a cross beam to the end of the arm. From the ends of the cross beam he attached two very thick ropes which reached all the way to the ground. So the next day when they returned from the their rowing 'excitement,' but before they had a chance to leave the little dock to come in for lunch, he pointed to the four buckets sitting on the deck of the dock and asked them to pleas