The Women on the West ridge
Facilitated By Kaeli Stephens
November 7, 2015
There was a drought about as long and dry as the clanking bones hung on Lady Aritista's porch. There's lots of rumors about what type of animal their from, how long they have been up there, where they came from. When I was young and walked by on the way to school it scared me. But when I turned 10 years old I got the job of being a milk boy for a local organic dairy farm. I recall scrying down the list of addresses pulling my self up onto my bike. Lady Aritista's was the third on my list. Parking my bike out front I was tense walking up the creaky stairs staring at the bones running against one another in the wind. When I rang the doorbell and set the milk down I heard movement. Some thing inside me the youth or mystery of the large wood planked house adorned with questionable bones. She opened the door but it wasn't till I saw her i realized I never had before. She smiled with her silver grey eyes. Her hair was long and done into 100's of braids like the dark girls some times do. peering into her house hundreds of artifacts and hanging herbs drawing done right on the wall. " Thank you young man" she said it so gingerly. I examined the crows feet made out on her leathery tan skin. She looked of puertorican decent.I handed her the bottle and that was the first of many times I went to lady Aritista's house. It wasn't till the fith or sixth time I delivered her milk I dared ask her what kind of bones they were. She grinned then like she often did but then a new spark ignited in her eye a look that showed the story that was held in that question. " When I was 18 a senior in high school I had a boyfriend far older than me he was a brand new archeologist and he was digging for dinosaurs and found a hippo. Somehow 20 feet deep in the middle of north America a hippo. None other found in the region, no one understood why but at the time no one cared. He didn't have much money so for our one year anniversary he thought to give me the hippo bones. Out here I hung the ribs in my back yard I have the vertebrae strung out. The phalange's and arms around my garden and withering skull I use as a planter." she spoke with an untraceable accent. I nodded. Quite a story that was."I see" I said walking down the stairs back to my bike. I felt different. I felt as though I had a question my whole life and that instead of it being answered I got more directed. Who is the woman in the house with bones. Over time she told me other strange stories abount underground caves and painting murals and speaking to ghosts. The drought was announced and after that she never came to the door. The house smelled different and there were people inside and they were talking always. it five or seven months into the drought and the sun was beating on us like a fiery tyrant. Things were dying every where. I saw the women that day leaving the Lady;s house. For some reason I rationed to follow them. My close friend Darren lived a good two blocks away. With me on bike and them on foot I didn't believe I'd lose them. I rode over to Darren's as quickly as possible and then explained what I could how I could and Darren being that friend understood. He trailed behind me trailing behind the women . There were ranging in age from 15 to mid-80's. They hiked up a mountain to what's known as the west ridge. By the time we'd arrived it'd grown dark. The women began humming then singing and one put out a bowl in the middle of the circle they curated. Watching them I could feel the energy rising slowly then spiking giving me instantaneous goosebumps. I didn't believe much in magic or any thing like that but I felt it and I saw it with my own eyes I watched the water raise out of the bowl and evaporate suspended there in the middle of the circle. The next day it poured long and hard. I rember peering out the window at people celebrating and thinking of the women. With the rain running down my window I thought of what there is out there what there could be
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