Nobody Can Say It's You

34

It was three months until the twins' 15th birthday. Dara wanted Chandra to go mushroom hunting with her.

"I'll go with you," Chandra said, "if you promise to go with me 'n' Dougal 'n' Arison. Dougal won't go without Arison. Arison won't go without a date. I want some real food. Dougal promised if you agreed to be Arison's date, he'd take us to the Spoon for some yellow squash casserole and some fried pork chops and stewed apples. Dara, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Say you'll go."

"What do I have to do later?" Dara asked.

"Nothing much," said Chandra. "You know, Dougal will probably drive us around. Maybe we'll park by the side of the road and look at the stars."

"You can't see the stars from the backseat of Dougal's car! I know what you do, Chandra. Granny Dilcie is always saying prayers to keep you from gettin' knocked up."

"I don't need Granny's magic to prevent that," said Chandra. "I need a trip to the health department for some birth control. Simple enough in this day and age, but way out here, that's about as hard as slaying a dragon."

"I'll go," said Dara.

"You'll go! Great!" said Chandra.

"No," said Dara, "you didn't let me finish. I'll go into the woods today by myself. I'm sure I can find enough mushrooms for everybody's supper. Y'all have a good time, Chandra."

"Dara," Chandra said, "you make me so mad! What is wrong with you! You act like you're a nun cloistered up in these darn woods. Have some fun! You're only young once!"

Dara grabbed a handmade basket from off Granny's porch. Silently, she walked away from the rustic cabin. 

In the woods, it was peaceful. She could think there. She didn't like Dougal Orner. She detested Arison Saydus. Both of those boys were bad news. Arison's face was nothing but a fiery purple field of angry blackheads and pimples. Dougal Orner wasn't nice. Dougal Orner's mother, Estill, was a black witch.

 Granny Dilcie said Chandra should shun the Orner clan like a bad penny. But Chandra only laughed. She'd had more fun with Dougal Orner than anyone else. Let Dara be the good one, Chandra had said. She'd be the free spirit, and she'd have a great time doing it.

***

Dara let the mountain fill her. Every day it surprised her with small wonders and beauties. The scenery, the animals, the plants. Dara loved all that was this place. 

She let her senses become attuned to what the mountain wanted to teach her. She heard the whisperings of the wind. She let the sun warm her in the day. She fell asleep to the twinkle of the billions of stars just outside her tiny loft window.

She soaked up everything Granny Dilcie taught her like a sponge. The old woman was kind and patient. Dara wanted to be like Granny Dilcie in so many ways, but most of all, the young girl wanted to help folks. She was sensitive to Mother Nature and felt that the natural world was magical, wonderful, and full of beautiful gifts.

Granny said that Dara was her 'chosen' one, the one who would receive the knowledge of the Ancients. Dara's heart swelled whenever she thought of being picked for that honor.

"Chandra is an outsider," Granny Dilcie told Dara one day when they were in the woods foraging for roots and herbs. "She is not our blood."

Dara said nothing.

How could Chandra not be her blood? Chandra had grown with Dara from tiny specks in their mother's womb. Granny was wise about so many things, Dara thought. But she was wrong about this.