Crowspun... Crow Johnson Evans

Miss Henrietta

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The Trick of Knowing About Why and Because…

Miss Henrietta announced, “The two most dangerous words in the human language are why and because.”

She sounded like she was answering a person I couldn’t see. Me and Miss Henrietta were down by the creek. (Oops, I should have said Miss Henrietta and I were the only people at that spot on Howard creek.  grrr. It’s hard to remember to talk right).  

So I bit and asked her a question.  “But, I hear people say those words all the time. I don’t git it. How can why and because be dangerous?”

“Well, Lil, why implies that there is only one obvious reason for each experience in our lives. Let’s try an experiment. I’ll ask questions and you can answer.”

“Why did you fall down?”
“Because I tripped.”

“Why did you trip?”
“Because I caught my big toe on a tree root.”

“Why did you catch your toe?”
“Because I didn’t see it.”

“Why didn’t you see it?”
“I wasn’t looking.”

“Why were you not looking?”
“I was looking at the sky instead of my feet.”

“Why were you looking at the sky?”
“Because I wanted to find the durn hawk that was screaming.”

“Ahhh. So tell me, Lillian the Fearless, do you think you fell down because of the hawk? the tree root? the sky? your toe? or the hawk’s urgent call?”

“Miss Henrietta, are you just trying to get me confused?”

“No, I’m not. Okay, let’s consider the word because.”

“Why did you fall down, Lil?”
“Because I was not watching my feet.”

“Do you always fall down if you are not watching your feet?”
“Well, no.”

“So, because you were not watching your feet isn’t the answer either, is it?”

“You are just messing with me. I knew it. ”

She gave a little laugh like she does.

“Oh, Lil, every action doesn’t have only one predictable result. We human beings crave easy answers. The sensation of knowing something makes us feel safe and superior to the chaos we face in this crazy life.”

After she threw a pebble in the creek she said, “Me?  I like not knowing.”

“Why do you like not knowing things, then?”

“Because it makes me pay at-ten-tion.”  She said that with a twinkle. Yup, she did it. She tricked me into thinking again.

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Miss Henrietta’s story about Fox, Bunny, and Day of the Dead

She had that look she gets when her mind flies at the speed of lightning and zaps memories from her early life. Half the time I don’t know if she’s making ‘em up or not, but they’re always entertaining.

Momma put a rocker in our tiny kitchen that just fit Miss Henrietta’s bones, as she put it. We’d been talking about Halloween and pumpkins and making money to buy things like pumpkins and costumes.

Explaining who Miss Henrietta is, is difficult. First I thought she was the Woodsy-Witch, then she became a friend, and now, although she’s not blood kin, we declare her as family. When Momma is at work or the weather is bad, she stays at our house to help look after me and my brother.

Miss Henrietta rocked slowly and looked up at a cobweb in the ceiling corner, then she turned to me with a look of duck-like purpose. That’s like a duck staring at a Junebug it’s about to eat.

“Lil, I’m proud of you for turning your mood around and figuring out how to buy a pumpkin.. rather than bemoan the fact that somethings cost money we may not have. It made me think about the Autumns when I was about your age.”

I complained that looking at her gray hair and wrinkles I could tell that she NEVER could have been my age. That wisecrack earned me a half-hearted stink-eye. She threw that look across the room and hit me square on my giggling-triggering button.

With pretended elegance, she added, “May I continue, Miss Lillian A. Bohannan aka Lillian the Fearless?”

I gave my approval by nodding and waving a spoon covered with pumpkin goo.

“As I was saying, WHEN I was about your age, the world was very different in some ways and very much the same in other ways. My people believed that there was a day every year in late October when the here-after and the right-now could touch.”

My skeptical look urged her to go on with her tale.

“The gypsies, as you called my Romani people, said that the people who had died could reach through to those still alive and vice versa.”

“That’s just too spooky, Miss Henrietta. Yuck.” I got chills and made an eyes-wide wrinkled-nose face.

“Well, Child, let’s think about it for a while. My dear husband died, he crossed over, but I’d love to have him wrap me up in his arms at least one day a year. Heck, I’d even cross over momentarily to feel that hug and hear his Scot laughter.

“And I told you about my wonderful grandmother with her bare feet and long skirts. Well, little could make me happier than to sit and talk with her again.” She smiled and covered her mouth for a minute in private thought.

“So, to your comment about SPOOKY, it’s like most things on this darn crazy planet, Lil. Halloween might remind you of skeletons and ghosts—-while I think about my happiest memories of my beloved family. You still look a bit puzzled.“

After a minute or two, she added, “Try this out. A fox and a human see a baby rabbit. Do they see the same thing? The answer is “Yes and no”. The fox sees a meal and the human sees a fuzzy adorable creature.”

I told Miss Henrietta that she’s always doing that to me, making me think differently. I’m still not sure I like the spooky stuff.