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Written by Storie-Jean Agapith
But in this new age, Cherry Coke was sold in a can or bottle. The chocolate sundae came in boxes served in tiny cups, and was sold from a yellow truck! Lori was only a small hop away from sixty, and her physical health had got worse in the past seven years. She now lived on disability, and some days had problems getting around to check her ranch pets. Lori had felt she lost fourth years, how could those years have passed so swiftly? These days Lori spent quiet hours writing children stories. She had completed eighteen stories, and eight of them were a series. All her stories were from the days that she was a story-teller, she shared stories from the heart to many children through the years. These last four years she has been busy trying to put those stories down on paper, then locate an illustrator for her books! But there were times like now, when the words run dry and stories couldn’t come alive. Lori sat quietly, at a loss for words, and time to remember the good old days. Lori smiled as she remembered how the “Stolen Papoose Board” was born! Lori loved to ride horses on her good health days, and on one wonderful day she tied her grandson’s papoose board to her saddle so it could take a ride with her! On the trail with a group she was taking on a “Country Trail Ride”, one of the people asked her if she was looking for the Indian so she could return their baby! When Lori got home, she wrote the most wonderful story called “Stolen Papoose Board”. Lori smiled as she remembered how she would tie a shawl around her body securely, and then carefully places her infant son into the shawl. Then she would mount up for a nice long country ride. Her baby was safe and secure; in fact, it was security for both of them. She remembered showing her son how to wrap and tie the shawl to himself and take his infant son for a ride. Those were nice memories, because her only child was killed in a vehicle accident. Her thoughts were broken when she heard her niece, Dolly. Dolly was now sixteen, and just graduated from high school in only three years. Lori watched as Dolly and her friend entered the room. “Auntie, meet Raven.” Said Dolly, as she gave her auntie a nice big hug. The girls, both with long black hair, had grabbed a cold soda and sat to discuss the latest teen issues. They were discussing Sue, a friend of theirs who was also 16 and would be a senior in high school when school once more began. Dolly announced that Sue was four months pregnant. Raven told her part of the story; it appeared that Deek was already dating a second girl since he left Sue. Four months earlier, Deek had asked Sue to pick up the “raincoats” from the clinic, but she had forgotten. So they had their long weekend trip as planned, but without protection! No wonder Deek left Sue, she was way too forgetful, or so Raven thought. But Dolly added that Deek was also not responsible! In order to prevent a conflict, Raven announced that her boyfriend, Scott, was being selfish! After all, they’ve dated for ten days now but he was spending way too much time with the guys. In fact, Scott was planning on spending the weekend with the guys on a camping trip! Raven stated that Scott should be spending all his time with her; after all, she didn’t forget any “raincoats”! Dolly asked her auntie what her opinion on this was. Lori took a deep breath, then told the girls to settle back for a good story. Afterwards they could tell Lori what they thought. Oh Great Spirit, thought Lori, helps me to use the right words to help these girls. The words must be powerful, but not so powerful that it will scare them away! So the story began. When the Eagles mate up it’s forever. But the female eagle has to be careful in her selection, so she puts the male through several tests. When a male eagle shows interest, the female gives him the visual test. They fly up, down, slow, and fast; taking dives and chances to prove strength and dexterity. While he is chasing her in flight, she is checking out his flying ability, his wings for any flaws, and any odd or unusual action he may show during flight. If she finds any problem whatsoever, she will fly away to find a new suitor. When she finally finds a male who passes the visual test; she moves to the test of strength. She picks up a stick and fillies up high, and then drops the stick! The male dives for the stick, catches the stick, and carries it back to her. The female Eagle will continue to do this, each time picking up a larger stick. If at any time the male fails to catch the stick and bring it back to her, then she will fly away and start all over with another male. When she finds a male that can catch the largest stick, which by the end of the test is almost a log, then she mates for life. The reason these tests are so important to the female is because when one of their young eaglettes is unable to fly, it will fall to it’s death unless the male can catch his young and return it to the nest. The male needs to be strong, needs to have healthy wings, strong claws to catch and hold their young, plus the ability to return it high up to the nest. Since the female eagle has put her mate through such long hard tests, she has the faith that he can handle the job! Dolly announced that she would make her future mate pass tests too! He would need a job; money put away, and be able to drive. He would also need to handle all her moods, and if he failed any part of her test, then he was history! Then she sincerely let her aunt know that she understood, in this new age the young think they are in love right away but it ends up being only an infatuation. Sometimes a child is created with this infatuation, which means the mating is occurring before the test of visual appearance is even performed. She said that to her understanding, in order to perform this test, and to know each other well, a couple needs to take a couple of years with the test. Raven said that her and Scott would back up in their relationship to the visual test! Her relationship lacked trust, security, and strength. From now on, her and Scott would only hold hands while she checked out his wings for flaws. Raven thanked Lori for the wonderful story, she said it helped her eyes to open, and her heart to understand more. She even admitted that she and Scott were not compatable, but that they just wanted to hang onto each other just so that they had someone! This was not a relationship to build a future on! Both girls agreed that Sue should have tested Deek. But since it was too late for that, they would share this story with her. Maybe when Sue met a new suitor she would stop and do the testing period before making such a drastic mistake again. For now it appeared that Deek was only being selfish, he wanted his weekend to be his way no matter what. Now Sue was stuck with a baby while Deek is out doing what he does the best, spoiling someone’s future. Maybe by sharing this story, other young people would not make the same mistake. Then Dolly said it was time to leave but asked Lori to write a story for young teens so they could learn to be a female eagle and make the right choices. Lori smiled, she knew because of this visit from Dolly and Raven; a new story would be born.
~BACK~
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SPECIAL DEDICATION:Dedicated to: My wonderful and beautiful niece, Dawn. May she always be able to soar with the eagles, and put her suitors through tests. She can never tell when he will have to hold her up, and carry her to safety. Dawn, I love you so very much!
