ARCH 1.2
“… teach a jan to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime…”
Outskirts of NRQZ, West Virginia
Rustling and scraping noises outside.
Occasional sounds of metal clanging and welder zapping.
Vic lazily opens his eyes, always exhausted.
He shifts in his makeshift bed; a thrown out bathtub from his ol’ scrap pile that was conveniently waiting to be repurposed, has a flimsy curtain holder fixture above it.
His mind starts putting the morning scene and the today to-do list together.
The ever familiar pains start to wake their way up as well.
He pulls the curtain open. The couch across the metal table has a folded quilt and two pillows neatly stacked on top.
On the table; rests his old as nails laptop with a worn-out headphone jack and a wired mouse to make up for the broken trackpad.
Nala uses it every day.
Dorothy recommended it to him, she said writing forces you to get real with yourself, and that helps iron out internal conflicts.
Vic decided his truth is that people are like water, they take the path of less resistance, even when a roof is designed to flush them through gutters… …and sewers.
And that’s a big problem, our collective flow isn’t strong enough to go against planned currents.
If he could find the flood-gate of the problem, he could help heal himself and those he wronged.
Vic never got past a few paragraphs though.
He’s ashamed about that.
Writer blocked by a wall of guilt, fear and insecurities in himself and the world around him.
He is always busy solving the big survival and make-ends-meet struggles; alone.
That takes up most of his alive time; as he feels time slipping away from him.
Vic doesn’t have much lux, but he made due. He’s proud of his outdated laptop tool with no working battery and no wi-fi to grab onto; has to be kept on the life line of the power brick when in use. Sometimes if the DVD player inside of it didn’t work, blowing into it through a cloth did the trick. The practically antique hard spinning external drive loaded with random pop-culture bootlegged songs, shows, series and movies from throughout the years helped with company and filling huge social voids. He had a bookshelf with a variety of do-it-yourself and sci-fi books.
Nala’s has religiously gone through most of Vic’s collection of books and media.
It proved invaluable for them. That and a dictionary.
Nala always has questions, concerns or frustrations on everything she sees and experiences.
Fortunately, Vic has already seen and lived most of what she brings up, so they easily get deep into discourses about the meaning of words and the meaning of stories. The messages and morals behind them. Through art of different mediums vs what they understood of it and experienced, they quickly learned, grew and bonded.
He starts thinking about the quickly draining food supplies.
{Nala is as ready as she’ll ever be. No telling what’s going on out there but them supplies aren’t going to restock themselves. Don’t forget to return the books. Will Dorothy be there? Please be there}
{Gotta stay collected and keep it together now. Poor Nala was so scared from her first time seeing me have a panic attack… …had no way of letting her know in advance… i have to avoid getting triggered much as i can… …running low on medicine. Gotta check the woods to see if there’s any more cần sa ready… Running low on corn, beans, rice and pasta… Got things to-}
!@# CRASH !@#
Something rolls around and causes another smaller crash sound and reciprocating noises.
Nala sheepishly calls out from somewhere outside, “mi okay Vic jan! Please please no be waked up!”
Vic took a deep breath and exerted himself out and beyond the bathbed. Goes into the morning routine; rubbed cold water over his face, preps some coffee, thinks about the progress they have made, worries about what the future may bring.
Vic’s backyard scrap hoarder collection became a learning playground of physics, material properties, gravity, fluid dynamics, jerry rigging, and a proving ground of pain and patience lessons for Nala.
Vic gently coaches and mentors and stays as hand’s off as much as possible; rising to the ultimate challenge of trying to be the best guide possible to another human being.
Nala is working on her almost done couch-bed for her almost done shed next door.
Nala considers all these mistakes as wasteful, something bad.
Nala grudgingly takes a chisel and hammers some slag off.
Vic taught her to be mindful of her emotions, especially strong ones like anger.
He taught her that just like water, you can drown yourself and other’s in it if not careful.
Nala ponders if she was upset at herself for not being skilled and knowledgeable enough. She reasoned that it’s frustrating to work with the impossibly dark safety glasses, it would be easier without them, but Vic said big super no no for eyesight ouchies, eyes are very important pali kili.
She imagines picking up the entire project and chucking it out into the fields and not doing it anymore.
Nala then damns those thoughts.
She analyses her role in the weld and intrinsically knew that she can do better with more practice and careful observation, and appreciates herself for being this far in the process to begin with.
Nala whispers to herself while working, practicing her english vocals and accent,
“Best go go with the flow, enjoy your time learning the mostest, and be safe and sound; like Vic says.
Now now, measure twice, maybe more just in case, then cut once. Mi careful, mi mistake and waste zero zero”
Vic surprises her, holding a warm mug in his hand,
“Well somebody’s been a busy bee this mornin’, how goes the going there jan Nala?”
Nala wipes her forehead sweat with her yellow cloth and smiles bright at seeing Vic finally awake, “Pona morning jan vic mi going going. Made mistakes, now have a big fix but is ok ok, like you do say, ‘patience and practice is pona and pragmatic shuuuuuug’, hehe, today travel day today?”
Vic takes a sip, validating timeless wisdom spoken back to him by someone from a completely new generation,
“That’s right shuuuuug! haha, and I see what you mean there ’bout that mistake; tsk tsk- that corner weld looks risky. That cut’s gonna have to be extra careful and gentle to fix it, that’s a good test though; repairing anything makes you better at everything, you can take that to heart as well.”
Vic smiles knowing that his shared wisdom will be well received and applied by Nala, as she is a huge fan of timeless truths. universal truths. simple truths.
Vic stares at his coffee as he comes around to answer Nala’s question, “I should be back sometime this afternoon, hopefully walmart is still a thing and we can get some of those supplies we are missing and restock what we can. I see you are about to use that rope to finish the bed, going to add some more of that to the list then, good rope is always handy…”
Almost abruptly, Vic shifts to the most important part of their interaction, “Naly-jan, how you feeling about this? First time alone, think you got this?”
Nala confidently speaks up for herself,
“mi can do it. Mi strong so can protect myself when you are not here!”, Nala flexes her buff biceps proudly.
Nala was putting up this brave front while worried of course, this would be her first time home alone and this frightened her as something different and new.
She doesn’t want to be cause for delay, and reasoned today as a major test of her character… …somewhat excited at the prospect of being alone and having to rely on her own, “Oh! We low low on e6011, Vic please please ask walmart if they have extra and can give to us for help?”
{It’s about that time to go. Hurry on up and get out of here while there’s plenty of sunshine out, don’t forget to take the shooter with you… …no idea what to expect out there}
Vic stays standing for a moment, pausing his travel plans,
“Now before I leave and you get to roping that there bed, I wanted to show you something you might find helpful. Haven’t made one of these in years but I recon you’d appreciate it.”
Vic went in and retrieved an small red bag of marbles and came back to cut some 550 cord out from a soon to be depleted spool. He expertly gave Nala a how-to as he held a marble between two fingers and wrapped around it easily in three passes vertical, then carefully held everything together as he did three passes horizontal, after working clumsily around his own obtruding fingers he managed three over and under passes and tensed the cord all around bit by bit twice to bring it all together.
Nala was impressed at this elegant tool, hurridly gave it a try in making one for herself, secretly competing against Vic’s hoping it will somehow come out better.
Given her ease of learning, Nala was on the gist of it; 3 loops here, three loops there, and was doing well until a bit over halfway through she dropped her marble.
Vic teased and tried to amuse her with a pun, “Well, that’s one marble lost, any more and for sure folks will start calling you crazy”.
Unamused, Nala frustratingly got down and looked around for her marble that she heard sharply bounce and go in the direction of… ….somewhere.
After a few minutes of the both of her wander-looking around Vic was able to point it out in a place Nala had already double backed and checked thrice before.
Nala exclaims triumphantly, “Ha! Mi no cray-cray! Good okos jan Vic! sinpin oko pona monsi oko pona”
Vic blushes to the side at the compliment; glad his eyesight is still good at helping spot things others miss in front of them.
Plus, it had a cute purple wave design inside, it was irreplaceable.
She untangles and straightens her knotted mess and tries again, evermore mindful of not losing her marble.
Nala carefully applies what she remembers from Vic.
Easing into it, breathing with her task, not against it, trusting her hands and letting them take over.
Finished, Nala is confident she did it right, it looked good to her.
She passes it to Vic with hidden hopes and expectations of external validation.
Without approval, she would have a much harder time knowing for sure if it was up to standard.
Nala holds her breath as Vic inspects it like a jeweler does a diamond.
Vic is yet again surprised by her speed and intelligence, it had taken him over 10 tries before he got it right when he first had tried decades ago and she did it on practically her first go off of a rusty demonstration.
Vic validates her, “this came out great! You got it tight and even all around, so this marble ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. Now take that bit of cord off at the end with a lighter; you want to seal it by melting it down onto itself so it doesn’t unwind on ya. Carefull now! I can see you burning yourself again already shug, you gotta resist that urge to touch it!”
They both smile at each other as vic hands nala the lighter and straightens back to nursing his almost empty mug, “So remember, that kind of 550 cord also has some different strands inside for stuff like sewin’ or fishin’ or whatever the situation might need if you catch yourself in a pinch, I’ve had to use it a few times myself, it can be a real life saver you know”
“monkey paw cute cute and ouchie ready!”
Nala lightly swings the monkey fist onto herself and feels the weight and pain potency, she does a slightly harder test swing to the metal spot in front of her and was impressed by the noticeable power increase; as it dented the metal it was definitely in big ouchies territory.
Nala beats Vic to the safety warning reminder, “String hammer daaaaaangerous, so be carefull now shuuug”.
Vic chuckles amused… …then eases into a more serious tone, “Nally girl… …the world is full of dangerous and scary people and…” Vic pauses to process and resumes, “Please keep this in mind shug, don’t hesitate to protect yourself, it’s always okay to prepare to defend yourself by any means necessary from anybody. Nobody is allowed to hurt you.”
Nala nods and says she also wants to be able to use her fists and be able to punch bad people in the face to protect herself and Vic, like many of the pona-jans in the books and movies do; they train hard and get skilled at protecting people they care about from so many inconceivable risks and threats.
Vic assures her, “When we finish getting you squared away with your own space we’ll recycle that old sea bag I got lying around and find somewhere to hang it up on. I figure we fill it up with sand and it should make for a good punching bag. I used to like doing that way back in my younger days. It’s good to help you get a feel for hitting something with your elbows and knees as well, those are strong parts of your body you will want to use for fighting by the belt buckle and…”
Vic finds himself taking a short pause mid sentence.
” …yeah… being able to fight by the belt buckle is always important, this monkey paw definitely helps with that, but of course, it is better to keep dangerous people away from you as much as possible, that’s the bigger win. Fighting is always unpredictable, scary, fast and violent… …it’s impossible to be ready, but you have to be as ready as possible shug…”
Vic looks around, shadows that no one else can see are scampering in fear and crying all around him.
Vics mind starts melting on him again, he starts remembering his drills, his lost friends, the countless murders, child violations and abuses he witnessed first hand…
Nala has seen this before a few times already, Vic gets frightened before staring off into space and begins shaking.
She knew that, if left like this, he would eventually curl into a ball somewhere, cry, and be unreachable for long times.
Nala quickly got up and attended to Vic, removing the coffee mug from his trembling hands so it wouldn’t fall, break and spill.
She gave him a gentle hug that wrapped him fully against her, confident it would help.
Vic recovers under Nala’s warmth and heartbeats, enough to start breathing slowly again, apologizing to Nala in shame between breath stutters.
He has no control over his vulnerabilities; his mind is broken and body is old.
He hates himself for that.
Nala effortlessly sweeps Vic up like brides on wedding days and eases him gingerly onto the couch inside, right next to the folded quilt and two pillow stacks.
She rinses the coffee out of Vic’s mug and serves him water.
Vic thanks her, “So sorry about that Nala dear, i, i don’t…”
Nala simply begs him that it would be better if he stayed just a little longer.
She worriedly explains back to her mentor that people are like water; when disturbed, they can’t see well in their turbulence, “so you need settle settle first Vic-jan… …you are not clear yet shuuuug…”
Nala pets Vic’s head and shoulders next to him; helping fight Vic’s demons by showing presence, attention, care and support.
Nala doesn’t know, nor remember anything from her time before being human.
In which she also helped Vic return to calm, simply by being there next to him.
Vic stays and settles himself down.
A few minutes later he wills his way out of the couch and insists on helping her sand and paint her project for half an hour.
Proving he was back to normal and in control of himself again, Vic fires up the buggy, loads up his billy joel cd, and drives towards the Walmart in Buckhannon.