Part 1
Massaging the back of his neck was the the warm embrace of the rosy fingered Dawn. Her friend from the west gentle Breeze whispered the morning songs of the night hunters returning to hiding as nature's workers began their daily earnings. Morning Dew gently kissed the blades, leaves, and aromatic flowers. The old gardener remembered the mystic state of mind that caused him to build the rock garden.
To most people a rock is a rock and that is simple and true. What was also true is that rock is something more. Forged in fire in the middle of the earth the greatest alchemist of all brings her secrets to the surface. A rock is just a rock that will one day become sand, become dirt. That sand will one day support and become part of life. One day that life will once again become sand or clay. That sand would become compressed and heated and once again return to rock. A large rock is what seems to be an immovable object but is made more of nothing than something. Something as gentle as water can cut right through rock. In a place where time no longer exists the rock is all at the same time the solid object, the life form, the microscopic particles, the various minerals, and the symbol of something that seems immortal. When first completed the translucent rocks would glow as the sun hit them. Rock collection was just a hobby but the rocks were much more to Eric.
The Columbia Basin to the naked eye is a scab land with black basalt dominating the outcroppings. What most people do not know is there lies a petrified forest under the thick layers of basalt. Millions of years ago earthquakes and volcanoes changed the landscape. What is now the West Coast emerged from the bottom of the ocean creating the cascade mountain range in the process. Before this the dry grasslands of Eastern Washington was the fertile forest full of ancient giant trees. On average the basalt layer is about 150' deep. There are certain areas that were not buried as deep that expose an ancient world. Some of the local prizes agates, amethyst, crystals, emeralds, garnets, jasper, obsidian, quarts, and even precious metals. It can be difficult to mine precious metals because of the various basalt layers. Better for the lucky hobbyists than the commercial miners. In the summer time the various vines would hide the rock garden. Honeysuckle, ivy, silver lace, trumpet vine and wisteria grew around a trellis built around the rock garden. In the early spring which it was the hidden rock garden would reveal it's treasures.
It was not a treasure in the traditional sense. Some rocks had value such as what is referred to as Ellensburg Blue but the treasure was remembering the experience of the various travels collecting the rocks and the amount of labor it took to build the rock garden. Strangely the building of the rock garden provoked an interest in the mystic belief of ancient societies. In school one is often taught of the primitive and simple mind of the ancient person. Reading the various classic tales and the mastery of story telling suggests something else. Michaelangelo said that his work was not as good as the ancient sculptures. It had been some time since he had last collected rocks but the light causing the rocks to glow caused a renewed interest. Where the rock garden is gets on average 6" to 12" of annual rainfall.
The Olympic coast gets up to 30" of annual rainfall. What was strange to Eric is on completion of the outer circle of the rock garden a single cloud in a clear sky dropped record amounts of rain in about a two hour time span. Out of nowhere the dry draws were flowing like rivers. Eric stood in the rain staring at the cloud in a hypnotic state. A tractor trailer slid down the sloped gravel driveway. The basement of the house flooded, the front lawn could not absorb the water fast enough. Eric felt small and scared. Who knows if it was just pure chance. After cleaning up the basement he drove around and noticed the cloud only existed in about a five mile area. He has been on a reading binge of classical tales.
Homer's tales and other epics from various ancient societies. What happened next was what seemed to be an endless series of tragedy that put Eric in a downward spiral. Now he remembered why he had quit working on the rock garden. One may have had nothing to do with the other but the mind has a way of affiliating events. He wondered if he could still lift some of the rocks he had carried for long distances. The once unbreakable man thought of himself as immortal at the time was humbled by aching pains that aging brings.