The Story of Babe Cow and Babe Pig, page 2

Chapter 13

The River of People

The woman is older now. Her children have children of their own. One night, as she lies awake, she sees herself- looking much like her own mother- curled on a couch in the half-light, in a waking dream. She is 61, her mother died at 75. She wonders if this will be her span of time, as well.

   And her vision reaches out to embrace her son, his woman, and their child.. She sees his lifespan, and that of the baby.

   And the vision widens yet again, to include her husband and his family- those older and younger.

   And it was as if we all were walking on a road together, the stream of humanity becoming wider and wider in her mind’s eye; each family or group, old or young, embracing as they walk, helping each other along. It moves her to weep with love and compassion to see the old ones holding each other. She knows too, that somewhere, on that road, her mother and her brother are walking ahead of her, and the babies she had lost are traveling safely, although separated from her for now.

   ‘We are all on the same road’, she thinks; a river of people, moving along the byways of creation. And the animals are walking with them. ‘We would be so lonely if we journeyed alone. I am not alone, for I walk in the river of humans. We walk to the sky, and I will never be alone.’

Discussion
  
   OK, 'Babe Cow and Babe Pig' is a very strange section. It kind of reads like a kid's book. It is in fact told from the point of view of the child in me coping with some huge adult, complex, marriage-breaking issues. But it's not a kid’s book- not quite- I don’t know just what it is. I just know it’s very important, and once I had written it, it never quite left me alone. I knew I was supposed to do *something* with it.
   The genesis of this piece was, curiously, the movie ‘Babe’ (the one about the little piglet who saves the farm). That summer, (1995) MacDonald’s was giving away a stuffed cow and a stuffed pig with their Happy Meals. I was on a road trip, taking my son to stay with his grandmother for a bit. Nothing would do, of course, but that we both get Happy Meals so we would have a cow and a pig. Both have labels that say ‘Babe', so to my son they became ‘Babe Cow’ and ‘Babe Pig’ We completed the trip, and I left to drive home.
   I don’t know why he sent the stuffed animals back with me. (Perhaps it was because he was already 13 and didn't want to be laughed at for traveling with stuffed animals. I think he was more into the food at this age, but I remember him giving them their names.)
   They rode on the dashboard. As I got to the first motel of the journey home, I was moved to write, ‘Babe Cow and Babe Pig are missing you, They are crying.’  Of course, it wasn’t the animals that were crying, it was me. But they were grieving for me by proxy, and the story somehow came forward from that strange beginning.
   I know the episode in Chapter 6 was most likely in 1997, so this story evolved as the farm evolved (and I evolved). I know I ‘finished’ it and shelved it (for the first time) before 2001.
   Of course, it was not finished. Even as I have collected these pieces in 2011, I have been moved to add more to the story. And as I have been working, the two stuffed animals have been sitting on top of my copier, keeping me company. It is better than fifteen years later, but they are still cheerful and happy in each others' company. Babe Pig is a little worse for the wear, having been chewed by one of the many puppies we raised through the years, They have spent many years in a basket full of ‘Beanie Babies’. My grand-daughter wanted to take them home. I let her take one of the ‘Beanie Babies’, and also a ceramic cow, but not Babe Cow or Babe Pig. They live with me, until and unless my son (now 29 years old and living on his own) decides he wants them.
 
   (As of 1/26/12 there are 9 cattle, 1 horse, 1 dog, and 7 chickens. The gardens have grown to include grain cultivation.
   The woman now has a LOT more gray in her hair. The marriage is coming up on 20 years. chapters are clearly still being added...)

   (12/7/12 sees the addition of chapter 13. This could easily be posted under 'Things That Come' (because it did), but fits here in the widening of the odyssey. The vision as narrated was mine, and it was a remarkable experience. I knew the concept was very familiar, so I did some research (in the course of getting up and writing it down- always best when you first experience something like this, otherwise it fades..)
   The concept per se goes back to early myth- of the milky way or the rainbow- and was used by Philip Jose Farmer, Elizabeth Goudge, Arthur B. Davies, and surely many others.
   Some use the analogy of a river; a Wiccan I knew back in the 90s expressed it as 'all of us climbing the same mountain'.  I feel it has validity in consideration of humanity's migration from Africa through Europe to Asia, and across the Bering Strait in early times. We traveled as a tribe, with the animals. We walk through time, and through life, and beyond.
   Not all migrations are voluntary, and many have been unhappy. The climate change of today may well push more migrations. God knows if you will see us go to Mars. We live in interesting times.

   2/11/18 sees the addition in 'Things that Come', p2, of a piece on Safe Space. As noted there, this could be seen as an adjunct to Babe Cow and Babe Pig chapters 6 and 7. Other material is still in a file on  my desktop, and I may have the time to review it during this present editing session.