Short story, "A Thief in the Night"

Ruby Rose

Ruby Rose

Location: Canadian Prairies
Reminiscent of our thief in the night in 1947.

Short Story - A Thief in the Night - Maple syrup collection cans.JPG

”A Thief In The Night” part 1

By Ruby Rose​

Similar to a blind man's cane...tapping to produce a sound which can echo back from obstacles in his path...bats briefly call or "tap" in their own way, producing a sound in the air brief enough for many to be heard separately. So may a human being's silent plea also be heard in the echoes of the night by someone travelling from the unknown.

In 1947, in a small rural French town bordering on the city of Montreal, there lived a large family of the times: Jules, Marie and their eight children. The yard in front of their farm house was huge. Bordering the front lawn were ten magnificent sugar maple trees...five on each side. It was early spring and time for the father to bore holes near the base of each tree to insert a spigot and hang a can to tap the sap once more. His children danced around with visions of maple syrup and maple fudge. Everyone was assigned a tree and before bedtime, they would all traipse outdoors to check the levels of precious sap in their hanging cans. Then, the next morning, they would all empty their cans into the large receptacle their mother would have waiting on the old wood-burning stove in the kitchen...ready to simmer to a nectar of the gods.

The first couple of days, they were blessed with relatively full cans. Then, to their dismay, the following mornings revealed the cans to be totally empty. Yet, they had been half full before retiring.

"What was happening?" they all wondered. The father and mother agreed to allow the older children to stay up with Jules and hide outdoors in the shadows of the nocturnal darkness in order to put a face to the thief in the night.

Maple syrup: Since the first maple tree was found in Quebec 1542, the Province has become the undisputed leader in maple syrup production, generating 71% of the world's supply of sweet, sticky goodness—and some healthiness, too. Maple syrup as an immune booster thanks to its naturally occurring manganese and zinc.

to be continued
 

Lovely story, Ruby!

You just had to fashion it to keep us in suspense, didn't you! LOL!

Looking forward to reading more, and really looking forward to reading what happened to the missing maple syrup!
 
Part 2 of 2

Next door to Jules and Marie's house, there lived a kindly old man in his eighties called Pe-Pere. No one knew his real name, he had always been known as just "Pe-Pere"...a name tag for an elderly man. In spite of maintaining a comfortable living for himself and his family all the years past, Pe-Pere looked rather shabby in appearance with obvious signs of neglect. His wife, Lise had passed away early in the year and Pe-Pere was now steeped in loneliness. His daughter with her husband and children moved into the family home seemingly to take care of Pe-Pere. But Pe-Pere was slow in movements and speech, therefore, he was still alone as he was seen but unseen. He understood, though, as he knew they had their own lives to live and build on. Thus, he lived within himself...reliving in his mind his past life with his beloved Lise. He had buried her himself on the top of her favourite hill where they used to sit and dream and plan to be together forever. Pe-Pere visited his Lise's grave many times during the day and night...always longing to be with her at her side forever.

As sleep evaded Pe-Pere often, he would grab his cane and walk many times slowly outdoors in the still frosty crisp air...listening and looking to the waking world around him. The darkness was full of sounds as the season changed from one to the other. He could hear small animals scurrying about and if he looked closely, he could also see small crocus footprints in remaining snow patches. Pe-Pere loved to stand in the shadows and listen to the happy chatter of the children next door. One day, he heard Marie say to the children, "Soon, we will have enough sap collected to prepare the nectar of the gods for you to enjoy."

“The trees," he thought, "They are talking about their maple trees!" When Pe-Pere was younger, he used to look upon these trees as emblematic. Now in his confused mind, Pe-Pere began to plan. He felt that if he could acquire this sap from the maple trees and sprinkle it on his wife's grave, perhaps, the gods that be would take notice and present themselves to him. And they did.

Every day, as the imminence of change from dark to dawn began, Pe-Pere with bucket in hand would venture outdoors and slowly slip over to Jules and Marie's yard. He would then empty all ten little cans of sap into his bucket. Afterwards, Pe-Pere with cane in hand would shuffle up the hill and lovingly sprinkle the sap on his Lise's grave...all the time mumbling, "Soon, my Lise, soon, we will be together."

On the fifth day, when it was still dusky outdoors, Jules and his sons waited. Soon they spotted a shadowy figure coming up the path heading for their maple trees. As they watched with bated breath, they discovered the identity of the thief in the night and couldn't believe their eyes.

"Why, it is only old Pe-Pere!" they exclaimed silently to each other.

Jules decided not to make their presence known as he saw how Pe-Pere was treated by his family and felt for him. Then Jules said to his sons: "Look how happy Pe-Pere is collecting our sap and you know how little happiness he has in his life. I say, let him take it." His sons agreed. They did decide to follow Pe-Pere and expected him to head towards his own house. But he did not. Pe-Pere, with cane firmly in hand, stumbled up the hill and stopped in front of his wife's grave. Jules and his sons then watched the old man sprinkle the precious sap on her grave. Duly subdued at what they had just witnessed, Jules and his sons quietly headed back home.

Oblivious to all, Pe-Pere's actions were observed by an interplanetary traveller from an unknown world...

One day as Pe-Pere was sitting on the hill at his Lise's grave, he heard a sonance in the air. Where is that coming from? he wondered as he paused to listen. Then, he heard a strange echoing. For some reason, Pe-Pere thought of bats and their sonar echo-ranging sounds. Suddenly, as yet unseen, an unknown being spoke to Pe-Pere and demanded to know why he was sprinkling the nectar of the gods on that grave.

Then Pe-Pere said, "I knew you would come! I beg of you, please grant me my wish. All I desire is to be with my Lise who is buried in this grave." And his wish was granted.

Pe-Pere slowly rose to his feet and shuffled back home to try and sleep as suddenly, he felt the weariness of his many years on this planet. Later, his daughter, impatient to get the breakfast cleared away and begin her day of chores, yelled through the door to Pe-Pere's bedroom “Pe-Pere", she said, "Get up, won't you, you are always making me late with my chores." But there was no answer. She then knocked loudly on the door and walked in. She found Pe-Pere stretched out fully dressed on his bed seemingly fast asleep. "Oh Pe-Pere," she said, "You could at least take off your shoes. You don't have to do the washing around here!" But Pe-Pere never woke and that is when the daughter realized that Pe-Pere would never wake again. She then noticed how thread-worn and shabby his clothes were and how his shoes had holes in the soles. The daughter wept at how her father had been seen but unseen by her and her family.

Pe-Pere was buried at the top of the hill beside his beloved Lise. Unbeknownst to all, two small saplings began to grow on the graves. They kept on growing larger and larger until they became magnificent maple trees, standing next to each other, with branches intertwined, receiving the wind and the rain and the seasons together...symbolic of their continuing love for each other in the next world.

THE END
 

Last edited:
cg50a3d4a493ab4.jpg
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top