{"id":6596,"date":"2020-12-12T06:31:13","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T14:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/?p=6596"},"modified":"2020-12-12T06:31:14","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T14:31:14","slug":"lindas-christmas-grove-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/meditations\/lindas-christmas-grove-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Linda’s Christmas Grove (Part 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

Linda followed Albert to an open area just outside the grove. He stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook at this,\u201d he said, pointing to the snowy ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda noticed a toppled cairn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albert kept walking and showed Linda three other toppled cairns. They formed a rough rectangle around the grove. Linda had never noticed them before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They walked back inside the grove. It was still. Not a single bird flitting and the sound of the creek had drifted to another direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese cairns,\u201d said Albert, \u201cmark my people’s burial ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou mean, right here?\u201d said Linda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, under this very grove you decorate for Christmas every year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh my God! Have I been desecrating it? I didn’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo. No. Quite the contrary. We thank you for honoring the trees in the way you do. We believe when people visit here they come away better people. At least for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wish I could have seen this valley and estuary before the Pioneers came and destroyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a wondrous place and will be again one day, many centuries from now when people understand how to live with the world instead of taking from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know about the county’s plan for destroying the grove to widen the road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes. That’s why I am here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is great news. There’s no way they can build here now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda was giddy when she said this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo. We don’t want the word to ever get out,\u201d said Albert. \u201cIf it does, here come the grave robbers and archaeologists and politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He paused for a moment, then continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want this place to be eternally undiscovered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t understand,\u201d said Linda. \u201cI was under the belief that state and federal law protected these Native American burial grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey don’t. They still allow for molestation in the name of study. The word always gets out and the ground gets dug up and the spirits profaned and scattered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we’ve got to make news of the burial ground public or they will bulldoze right through it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a different way. And I will tell you how and then you will help us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWouldn’t it be better if you did it. You’re a tribal member.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m not really here. Only to you to ask for your help and then silence forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon’t be. Your job is to make someone else scared, very scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Linda knew exactly who that someone else was.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda followed Albert to an open area just outside the grove. He stopped. \u201cLook at this,\u201d he said, pointing to the snowy ground. Linda noticed a toppled cairn. Albert kept walking and showed Linda three other toppled cairns. They formed a rough rectangle around the grove. Linda had never noticed them before. They walked back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","category-meditations","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6598,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6596\/revisions\/6598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}