5/12/23

The air shimmered as if I were engulfed by a desert mirage. Down to my left through deep gray rocks flowed a beautiful creek from the Pennsylvania hills way up ahead. I had finished my morning rollers and was on a gravel path North.

I sat very still alone in the morning sun as I heard whispers from down below. Hidden by thick green leaves she dared to peep out scanning the woods with her large deep dark eyes. Suddenly I could see them all…a young mother and three little ones camouflaged by the rocks behind.

Escaped slaves…

I sat wondering “ How did I get here?!”… but Time has no boundaries in my world…

The little ones …frightened, hungry and tired …pleaded with their mother for food…

“ Wes lost lil uns…Wes on ours own”.

She looked up to see me standing there next to a bike all decked out in my bright orange garb. Of the three I’m not sure what scared her the most. Before she could dive back into the woods I placed one hand on my heart and with the other pointed forward … North…

Exhausted she seemed to understand…she nodded her head and slowly crawled up the bank with the three little ones behind.

Onward we moved …slowly so slowly …

Dog barks would lead her to scurry down the bank to wade in the stream throwing off the scents. Sometimes all 4 would just disappear for days as I pedaled on… who am I to understand how my travels work…

For a good while I saw none of them but wondered at intermittent shimmerings in the woods to my left.

I finally reached the border and sat down on an old wooden bench. From behind me whispers again and there they were hidden in the creek.

I looked to my right and up ahead could see an old Quaker couple frantically waving a white kerchief. I looked in front of me… a shadow…but the best possible from their time…from a tree marking the Mason Dixon line.

I looked again beneath the branches over the creek and motioned her forward with all due haste.

All 4 stepped out drenching wet and rushed North to freedom at last.

She turned one last time as did the three little ones who now brave enough in safety asked what I was…

“ Dats an Angel of God lil ones”…

I turned to see Angel and Flossie there… they had been leading them all along.

I placed my hand on my heart, she did the same, and we nodded to each other…and both went North …more than a century and a half apart.

Along the way I found the “forget me nots” she had left for me for this very day…seeds planted so long ago…maybe just yesterday.

Todays ride is dedicated to all mothers…