Buddy lee jump rope

CABIN ROAD is the gateway to paradise. But why does this feel like a path to hell? I smash into a tall pine tree that stands in the middle of the otherwise straight gravel road. I've gone around it hundreds of times before. But now, my fingers are firmly gripped on the steering wheel, disregarding all my commands. Have I become paralyzed? A potato is wobbling on the dashboard, having obviously leaped out of the potato crates in the back seat. Jack gets out and strides to the front bumper. His lips press into a thin line as he appraises the destruction and cost of fixing it. Nothing should hold him back from swearing. But he maintains his composure, anger simmering just beneath the surface. The memory of thirty years of marriage fills my mind. I question whether this man has drugged me. A fleeting thought that he might have crashed the car surfaces, but it seems too much of a stretch. I take a deep breath and try to clear my head. In the rear-view mirror, Jack gets an axe from the trunk. He comes and gazes at me from my window, his eyes looking heavy and weary—like two precious pearls inside their oyster-like shells. I straighten and open the window: “Thank goodness it wasn't worse.” “I'll chop it down.” “That’s a pretty big tree, Jack.” Jack blinks several times. “I do have a chainsaw...” “Yes.” I wonder what stories this tree has witnessed during its lifetime. Will we see the marks of our journey on its rings? There’s always something that gets squeezed in tighter, begging to be unraveled. “I'll drive you to the cabin and grab the chainsaw,” Jack says. “Prepare some coffee while I'm gone.” Our short passage to the cabin around the bend is like shifting through the fog of memory. I'm in the kitchen. My fingers clench around the coffee tin can and spoon. Bewilderment engulfs my brain. I spot Jack with his saw. He slips around the corner, the curve of his bottom visible through his tight work trousers. I feel anxious about the crash. Did I deliberately hit the tree? The measuring spoon slips from my hand. It drops onto the floor along with the tin can. I clean up the mess. Could someone drive into a tree on purpose? Accidents do happen after all. It's fascinating to see him take on this role of being so chivalrous. Far away from his academic duties. As the chainsaw outside whines, I scroll through social media on my phone. People arguing about something or other makes me tired. I pick up a copy of Science magazine from the coffee table and scan through an article titled “Quantum Communication Across Interstellar Space,” authored by Jack. As usual, the details go right over my head. I like to amuse myself with the idea that it speaks about communicating with individuals who have passed away. Billy's message pops up. He asks for money for a fishing trip with his buddies somewhere in Lapland. I am more than happy to support him since he’s enlisting in the army soon in July. My big boy. I tell him about the car crash, and he gives me advice about a car repair store. Jack comes back earlier than expected. He plops into his seat, sweat beading on his forehead and the smell of resin emanating from him. He seems disappointed. I pour coffee to the brim. “Did the saw get stuck?” Jack shakes his head and adds sugar to his mug. “It got shattered under the tree. I stumbled...” Silence descends slowly, like dust. “My helmet cracked.” “Do you want me to buy new parts when I go to the store?” “No need.” “But there's pruning and cutting to do first.” Jack takes a bite out of a cinnamon bun. “I can sharpen the axe.” “Ask the neighbors for help, that's what they're for. You can also mow the lawn while I'm away.” “The grass is already short— it'll die off.” “You don't want ticks taking over! Think about your mother's joint pain. She would roll in her grave if—” “Cremated?’ “Yes!” My answer is like a flyswatter, leaving no room for further discussion or quantum physics. Jack is busy chewing on the bun. His regular coffee breaks, which have become part of his daily routine in his sixties, have honed impressive jowls. We enjoy our coffee and stare at the lake. Calm as a mirror. I have a feeling Jack will soon suggest fishing. As I gather my things to leave, I call to him: “Don't hurt yourself. Should I bring more buns?” “I was thinking of skipping the sugar and wheat...” I simply smile in reply. “Can you refuel the car?” Jack asks. I'm already off. The door slams shut in the middle of his sentence, but Jack knows better than to expect a response. I jump into the driver's seat and immediately notice forgotten potato baskets in the back seat, but my mind drifts away before I can do anything about it. As I pass by our old well, I remember that we need to discuss connecting the cabin to a new water source. No matter what it costs, it needs to be done. Why should I agree to be responsible for our running water anymore? I collide with something hard. Airbags abruptly inflate around me, disorienting me as my vision blurs. Struggling to escape from the tangled mess of seatbelts and inflatable bags, it feels like I'm an old person trying to climb out of a bouncy castle. My gaze rests on the scene before me, but my thoughts can't understand it. I have plowed into a tree stump. The tree stretches over the ditch. Nearby the chainsaw lies crushed. The cutting chain is nowhere to be found. I get back in the car. Should I phone Jack for an urgent call? Inhaling slowly helps me stay calm. Why didn’t he mention the tree stump? Someone taps on my window I jump and my neck stiffens up. I reach for the window switch. “I should have told you about...” Jack says. “The stump?” “Didn't you see the tree on the ground?” “I'm sorry. I was daydreaming.” “Great galaxy, Hazel! You're burning through our last savings as if money grew on trees!” Jack is being truly authentic with me. I stare back at him like some big-eyed exotic species from Madagascar that I can't identify in all this chaos. Jack opens the door and starts to put the cushion back in its place. We turn on the engine, giving the accelerator a test ride. “Let's go to a repair shop. I'm sure our insurance will cover this,” Jack suggests. “We can say that we had an accident with a reindeer.” “You're supposed to report it to the police or game warden if you hit an animal,” I reply. Jack pauses for a moment. He then reverses and drives forward again, but when he looks into the rear-view mirror, he slams on the brakes. “I have a better plan.” He retrieves an orange towing strap from the trunk, a burst of determination on his face. He connects the stump and the tow hook. “Get ready. We’re going to take a quantum leap here.” We buckle our seat belts with a single click as we prepare for the inevitable disaster. We had already made so many mistakes together, starting with raising our children—though sometimes failing was just part of parenting. Jack revs up the engine. A sudden lurch forward, then Jack howls in pain as the stump smashes through the rear window, clambering through the seats and lodging itself onto the gearbox, trapping Jack's hand. He veers off toward the ditch. The Milky Way spins around us, potatoes fly in the air and suddenly, all is quiet. We find ourselves upside down—surrounded by earthy potatoes and broken glass. I try to break the silence: “I just remembered: Billy's friend can repair cars at the vocational school much cheaper.” Jack looks so pale, his face almost white. I guess he’s contemplating the next step. Through the cracked windshield, I see the chainsaw chain lying in the ditch. How did it come to be rusting away? Maybe everything will go back to normal if we sit here and wait. It feels almost as if we are flying in outer space, my nerves slowly calming down. But then a sudden stillness strikes that is anything but soothing. “Jack, I’m feeling a bit dizzy…” No answer. “Jack...” I snap open my eyes and the scene in front of me has changed drastically. It’s like I’ve been sucked into some kind of surreal void. I hear a tapping noise on the window. An apology and then a loud thud; a huge rock has been hurled through the glass. A stench of strong aftershave ferments around me. A burly arm reaches across to release the seatbelt. An elderly man growls something crude, nothing like Jack's usual scout-like words. My eyes close as I'm being cradled away, and visions of Jack's mathematics and symbols flicker around in my mind. Is the soul truly free when there is no force of gravity to pull us down? I don't know who my savior is, but I can sense his worry as his face reddens. He is in military garb. I come to as I feel my head thudding against the rubble. Instantly, I yearn to run away, contemplating that perhaps this experience is only a dream, and I'm back in the cabin chamber, tucked securely underneath a cosy blanket. A blanket that grants me the power to perform heroic acts like disappearing in a puff of smoke. “Are you okay?” he speaks in a familiar voice. Fingers brush over my clothes, picking out pieces of glass. My pocket contains an odd bulge—a potato? Suddenly, everything clicks: an aged Billy, wearing a major's rank insignia. How could he have achieved that rank so fast? “Son, what are you doing on this tree ring?” Billy peers at me from across the way, accompanied by a mysterious female figure. “We came to check on how you're doing,” Billy says. “Do you remember what happened?” I raise my head and look around. There's nobody in the driver's seat of the car. “Where is Jack?” I manage. Billy furrows his brows like a detective would when weighing evidence. An image of the classic TV show Columbo flashes through my mind—he could lull suspects into a false sense of security before dropping the hammer of his sharp intellect on their inconsistencies. But I'm not hiding anything here. Though why are modern shows so bad? That's another mystery entirely. “Mom, what were you doing out here? The road is an absolute disaster zone, with the car smashed up in the ditch.” My thoughts swim haphazardly as Billy reads something from my expression, then casts his eyes towards his new girlfriend for assistance. I try to get up but it hurts too much. Instead, I reach into my pocket and feel a sandy-sharp potato there. Maybe I can still wash it off. “I’m fine,” I reply. “I need to get back to plowing the field... baking buns for Jack... buying a chainsaw...” The darkness returns and I feel my body shiver. I'm in the car, traveling down bumps I've known for quite some time. Soon, I’m settled inside the cabin's living room on the couch. The coffee maker is gurgling in the corner of the room. Billy is on a call with a doctor about how to deal with grief and coping alone; it seems someone had died while cutting down a tree last year. He gets furious and threatens to take away the keys from the person he's talking to. It might be a good idea; many people have too many keys that they don't use anyway. My head is spinning with thoughts about Jack's absence. Where did he go? Someone runs water over potatoes while a pot clatters on the stovetop. My temper rises as I wait for Jack's return. I won't stay here by myself without an explanation from him. I call out for Jack until there's no sound left but my coughing voice. I crave sausage soup, and I know I must go to the store. As I try to move forward, I am wading through tar. They guide me to the coffee table. According to Jack, time runs faster the more hunched your back becomes. Let it be and let us sit here, motionless, gazing at the tips of our shoes. Surely, time has slowed down in this moment. Billy reaches out and takes my hand. A handsome, greying gentleman. His girlfriend also places her hand on top of the pile. Her name is Ewa. A beautiful name, something familiar about her. But did I hear her calling me mother? In the yard, a squirrel hops with a cone in its mouth. It freezes and stares at me. I avert my gaze. My hands suddenly look wrinkled. I summon the inner strength that I've been striving to find for an eternity: “Do we have to leave now?” Billy exchanges glances with Ewa and then looks outside. “You don't have to walk this path alone, Mother.” We finish our coffee without saying another word. The wind sweeps across the lake. A pair of swans take flight, and a duet of gentle honks echo across the water. A shivering cold envelops me. Billy and Ewa take me to the car. The potatoes can wait. The sun blazes brightly above us as we travel the cabin road; shapeless clouds dot the horizon and suddenly I sense a presence—as if someone is waving to me. I surrender. I believe I will be warmly welcomed.

Update 2
Sorry for being radio silent for the past few weeks, I have been hoping to post the update once the plane was returned to its rightful owner, but that hasn’t happened. My work got busy and this issue is dragging on so there isn’t much to report on. Honestly, if I read a novel where this happened, I wouldn’t have believed it because it’s all just so absurd.
If you haven’t read the past posts, please do. I’ve only posted to Reddit and Beechtalk but others, including the owner, have posted to other sites. As a note, a third party who is NOT involved coincidently has the same name as one of the parties. James Gallagher (Gallagher Aviation) is a Whelen lights dealer in Ohio and NOT the same James Gallagher (Aviation Technologies Inc) in this story. Unfortunately, he’s had some negative emails sent to him and I want to make sure everyone realizes the James Gallagher from this story isn’t the same.
To recap quickly, my buddy hired an avionics shop last year, agreed to an estimated cost, dropped the plane off in early December, accepted delay after delay, paid the $75K avionics bill in early May and asked me to give him a ride to Scranton PA, KAVP, to pickup his airplane after the avionics shop finished their work on his panel. Unfortunately, the mechanic shop in the same hangar hit him with an absurd $18K bill for additional work that they completed without his request and the shop owner went crazy and called the cops and parked a tug in front of the plane. Now my friend seems to be caught up in this argument with the owner of Aviation Technologies, the shop and FBO at AVP, trying to get his plane back. The players in the story are My buddy, the owner of the plane. Matt Jensen, the owner(?) of Airport Radio inc the avionics shop; he’s also the avionics tech and this is the shop that my buddy contracted to do the work; it seems like Airport Radio rents space in the same hangar as Aviation Technologies Inc. Kris Cerretani, the A&P mechanic and employee of Aviation Technologies Inc; he’s the guy who, by his own admission, went overboard in the work he did on the plane. James Gallagher (not the Whelen guy) who owns (?) Aviation Technologies Inc and likes to put his hands on propellers moments before pilots are about to start them.
New to the story are the lawyers… of course. My Buddy’s lawyer is also a pilot and is trying to help get the plane back. Gallagher’s lawyer is Ernest D. Preate, Jr. who, if the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Preate) is correct, was the Pennsylvania Attorney General before being convicted of federal racketeering and mail fraud and sentenced to prison. You can’t make this shit up!
Since the last update, my buddy’s lawyer has been trying to work with Preate and/or get the police to take the case, but the local DA / ADA sees the name of the lawyer on the other side and his credentials and “is scared of the next election.” Basically, James Gallagher and his lawyer seem rather well connected with the local establishment and “the good ole boys club” seems to have no interest in helping out my buddy. There have been threats of charges from both sides, but the police seem to not be involved. According to my buddy, Preate doesn’t answer the phone ever and only replies to email between 4 and 6PM so as to avoid having to answer anything the same day. Seems like a tactic to respond so late in the day as the courts have already closed and most people have gone home for the day.
On Monday May 15th, Gallagher accused my buddy of punching him and the tug driver when Gallagher had his hand on the prop. This was, obviously, a stalling tactic because when my buddy asked for the video of the incident, Gallagher’s lawyer produced it. It shows my buddy push Gallagher off the prop and get in the way of the tug driver but both his hands are clearly visible and he never swung a punch. That jives with my recollection of the incident from the pilot’s seat. My buddy is 6 foot tall, 250 pounds and practices martial arts, if he swung at anybody they would’ve been on the ground for a long time and this story would be very different. I would LOVE to post the video, but it’s not mine and I don’t have a copyright release for it so my buddy thinks it’s a bad idea to post it. If Gallagher gives a release, I’ll link it here, but I think everyone agrees that time is better spent on getting the plane back to its rightful owner.
As to the justification for why the mechanic went crazy and did a ton of work, well that’s another part of the story that is just unbelievable. According to Preate “attached are 2 “quote” documents describing deficiencies of the aircraft, … None of these were specifically objected to by [my buddy] and he knew that the work had to be accomplished for safety reasons, and that Kris Cerretani was an FAA Airframe and Power plant mechanic and FAA inspector. Your client would constantly say “I want my aircraft done right.” And “I don’t want to take chances with my life.” … There is no way Kris, FAA certified, and in this business for over 25 years, could interpret those words as anything but approval to do the job correctly.” So, if you say you want the work done right and safely, you’re authorizing an A&P to do everything in his power to bill you??? What’s interesting is that they specifically forgot that a week after dropping off the plane Kris sent my buddy an email saying “I Won’t go any farther until I hear back from you.” And then went a lot farther!
Here's the way my buddy sees it. He dropped off his plane in early December, and Kris saw him getting a new panel and new interior done and thought Kris should have a cut. When Matt had a family issue in late DecembeEarly January, Matt hired Kris to do some of the original work. Kris figured, incorrectly, my buddy would be paying him also. Kris sent over an estimate for extra work to be done and my buddy told him not to do it and Kris said he didn’t have to have it done for the plane to be airworthy. When my buddy discovered that Kris had already done most of the work without approval, he instructed Kris to stop and told Matt to tell him the same thing! Unfortunately, Matt billed for all of this work also and the two of them just expected my buddy to double pay for the labor because “airplane owner=rich guy,” right? Kris also found a few items which he deemed as airworthiness items and so fixed them. Kris was adamant, all through February, March and April about getting the logbooks for the plane and asking for a few more hours here and there all while Matt took extra time to do the work quoted. When we surprised them with a visit to the shop and found the unapproved work already done, Kris changed his tone on what constituted an airworthiness issue and admitted he got ahead of himself because he figured it would be done. After we left the surprise visit in April, Kris sent my buddy this email: “your belly Corrosion was repaired at No Cost to you, I had one of my part time sheet metal guys available when we were discussing your Repairs and took advantage of having him here before you declined the Repairs, That was Totally on me I jumped the Gun and Assumed you would want that Fixed so That Repair is Free.” Although Kris claimed that was “free” when the mechanics’ bill was handed to my buddy, that item wasn’t on there but things like brake pad changes taking 4 hours shows a clear “padding” in the bill to compensate.
One thing that still makes this all seem like a scam is the fact that the plane was put on jacks and the wheels removed. For an avionics upgrade??? How does that seem reasonable to anyone? Ok, you want to swing the gear, sure, I guess, but why would Kris remove the wheels and inspect bearings if he wasn’t looking for work to do? And as to those brake pads, if Kris had the log books (which he did not), he would have known that they had been replaced a few months earlier and my buddy’s mechanic noted no deficiencies in anything related to the brake system.
I’m guessing that Matt and Kris’ original plan in December was to take extra time and let the annual expire. Then try to force my buddy to do the annual at their shop and fix everything figuring they could get an extra 15-20K out of my buddy since he was already doing 75K of avionics work. Since this was the shop’s plan from December, Kris went ahead and did everything involved in an annual inspection and all of the work to correct deficiencies. When my buddy recognized the scam and complained, they tried to squeeze him for as much as they could.
TL;DR: So in short, nothing much to report besides what seems to me like a scam that’s probably been run a number of times on rich guys who just pay the bill, a false claim of being punched, and a lawyer who’s trying to claim that a comment about being safe and doing work right is authorization for an A&P to do whatever he wants with a plane.

This is part two of my Ironsworn campaign experiment meant to emulator an “Old School” D&D like experience–a party of vulnerable allies, location-based adventures, and strange monsters lurking just on the outskirts of human civilization.
In the last episode, the party gained a quest to figure out why the fishing has dried up for the town of Longhill, and they have followed what clues they could find into the woods east of town.
The Party: Sir Gethin Oyvind E-1 H-2 I-3 S-1 W-2 Health: 5, Spirit: 5, Supply: 5, Momentum: 8/2. Assets: Commander (strength 4), Ironclad (light armor), Empowered (Knight Errant). Equipment: chain armor, sword, shield, crossbow, horse Vows: Become worthy of the Oyvind family name (epic): 0.0, bring back the fishing (dangerous): 2.0
Bonds:

1. Baggi the Carpenter.
2. Frej the Mercenary.
3. Tessa the Wheel-maker.

Because this is a D&D style game, my PC won’t be solo, but the rest of the characters will not be represented by Ironsworn PCs. Instead, they are represented by the party contained within the “Commander” perk. As it stands, they are:

1. Sola the Cruel (fighter). Workcrew overseer.
2. Inguna the Naive (fightescout). A trapper.
3. Bjarn the Jealous (fighter). A falconer.
4. Somhaile the Tactless (thief/scout). A thief.

#
Cautious after their near-encounter with the strange crab-mosquito, the party moves forward with as much stealth as five people, a horse, and a donkey can muster.
Delve the Depths (Shadow): [Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]. [Mark Progress: Haunted Forest :9 boxes]. What do they find? Clearing (complex/refuge).
They eventually find a game trail and make faster progress. It winds through the wood until emerging in a large clearing that holds a walled camp. The walls are made of ~8 foot high poles and enclose an area about 80 feet across. A light gate stands open on one side.
Because I had no encounter, I’m going to rule that this is unoccupied. Since my supply is full, I won’t need to resupply but I may make camp.
Gethin sends Somhaile and Inguna in to investigate. They creep up to the walls, peer carefully around the open gate, and eventually disappear inside. A few moments later, they come back out waving and reporting that the camp appears to have been abandoned.
Are there supplies inside still (50%)? No, and…
The interior is entirely bare. Few signs of the prior occupants remain. Still, it’s a defensible spot and Gethin orders the party to set up camp for the night.
Make Camp: [Strong Hit: 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 vs 7 1]. +1m (now 9) and +1 next move.
The night passes easily, and the party sleeps well knowing that they have walls around them. Even the watches are uneventful. They rise early and break camp just after sunup.
[Progress Roll: Haunted Forest :Strong Hit = 9 vs 7 7]. +1 to next move (now +2).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :4 boxes]
The road passes beyond the forest and emerges onto the shore of a small lake.
Is the smell of death worse here (75%)? Yes, but…
The smell of death worsens as they leave the woods, but they still cannot see any sign of what may be causing it. There are no fish decomposing on the lake’s shoreline, and they see nothing floating atop the water. Still, they are confident that they are growing closer to their goal.
With nowhere to go but further upriver, Gethin dispatches the two scouts to see what they can find.
Gather Information: [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 2 = 9 vs 9 2]. +1m (now 1). What do they find? Blighted/Thicket.
It is very late before they come back. When they do, they look wary of what they have to report. A thicket ahead, near the great eastern forest–but the trees there are dead, and not by fire. The grass, too, is yellowed and crunches underfoot. They dared not go further by themselves, for they heard strange sounds within.
That sounds promisingly sinister, so they head toward it, although they make camp when they are still a fair ways off, and they take care to keep their watches carefully.
Because we have already traveled through a dungeon and scored a hit on our gather info, I’m going to rule that this is probably the thing we seek. To figure out what kind of dungeon it is, I’m going to roll from three options and I’ll randomly assign a theme:

1. Barrow
2. Cavern
3. Sea Cavern (river, in this case)

Result: Corrupted Cavern. Good theme result! I’m going to make this one formidable, because I think this should spell the end of my quest once we complete it. I haven’t finished a full, formidable dungeon yet, so we’ll see how it goes. Formidable means that there should be ~10 locations in the dungeon before I can be confident that I have cleared it.
The next day they rise, but they take their time approaching the thicket. Even from far off they can feel a sense of wrongness about it. Even so, glory (and hopefully payment!) lay on the other side, so they push forward.
Discover a Site: Corrupted Cavern (Formidable).
They enter the thicket, fighting the horse and donkey all the way. Inguna finds a hint of a trail in the dead grass and leads them up a gentle rise to a low hillock. Just to the north lies the river; it would have been hidden behind a canopy in better days, but the bare tree limbs hide little. The circle of death extends equidistantly in all directions; even a few trees on the far side of the river are chalky gray instead of brown.
At the peak of the hillock stands a low wall of pale gray stone that is all that remains of the foundation of some building now long gone.
A dark pit, ringed by a strange red moss, gapes open in the earth like a sucking wound. A faint wet sound can be heard from within. “Underwater river,” Bjarn posits. All the rest pretend to believe him as they stake the animals and prepare to descend into the earth.
What do they find within? Something Unusual – Fortified/Hideaway.
The pit descends as a narrow chute through almost twenty feet of earth until it emerges into a cavern of unworked stone. Gethin lifts his torch and paces the chamber while the rest of the party follows him down. By the time the last of them arrive, he has mapped the room. It is featureless and without exits except for a single door of iron set into the northern wall.
“This strange curse is no work of nature, red in tooth and claw,” Gethin observes. “Some man had a hand in this. And that man might still be here. Be ready.” The party draws their weapons.
[Delve the Depths (Wits): Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :1 boxes]
Feature: Subterranean Waterway (Treacherous/Exit)
Danger: Lose way or are delayed
The door opens with a rusty groan, revealing a claustrophobic tunnel that sinks deeper into the stone. Gethin leads with his shield high as the others follow behind with torches and weapons. The fires cast long shadows that move strangely against the warped walls.
The faint water sounds become louder as they progress. Eventually, their tunnel opens into a large cavern that is split in half by a wide and swift river. The water is roaring here, for at the far end of the cavern the water gathers and throws up spray as it drains in a violent whirlpool.
“Where do you think it goes?” Inguna asks. None of them want to find out.
Unfortunately, there is no bridge and the span is too far to jump. They cast lots for who will have to swim across, and it falls on [d5=] Inguna. “Guess you’ll get the chance to find out,” Somhaile jokes. Inguna doesn’t laugh as they tie a rope around his waist.
Face Danger (iron) to swim across: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 3 2]. +1m but I’m already at 10 (I should burn it!).
He swims across but is swept quite a ways down stream before he reaches the far bank. They throw him a torch and wait as he secures the rope to a stone outcropping on his side. The rest of the party passes by safely, though they are cold and shivering when they emerge and begin to dress again.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :2 boxes]
Feature: Cramped Caves (Secret/Entry)
The tunnel beyond the river leads to a series of cramped chambers. In one, a faint breeze stirs the air. They investigate and eventually find a chimney that might lead up into the world above, although the climb upward would be nearly impossible.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :3 boxes]
Feature: Twisting Passages (Unstable/Valuables)
Eventually, they progress out of the caves and into a maze of twisting passages. Time seems to stall as they track and backtrack their way through the tunnels. All grow weary and–truth be told–frightened when they realize that they have been underground for far longer than they had expected, and that the way out may not be trivial.
It is Somhaile who spots them first, with her keen thief’s eyes–a smattering of reflective discs down a side corridor. They investigate and realize that they are silver coins, shining in the torchlight. Someone has definitely been here. Somhaile pockets the coins as they pass, though the others want to leave them behind to track their return. “Leave your own silver, then,” she retorts.
Inguna drops a few coppers before he realizes that no one else is doing so. Feeling foolish, he stops.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :4 boxes]
[Reveal a Danger: Denizen controls dark magic]
Feature: Vast Chamber (Fortified/Boundary)
The passage emerges into another chamber, on that stretches out so far in all directions that their torchlight is swallowed by the darkness.
Face Danger (Wits) to detect the foe: [Miss: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 7 8].
Unwilling to become lost in the darkness, they decide to hug the walls and circle the cavern in a counterclockwise direction. Eventually, the come around again to the tunnel where they started. With nothing left to do, they leave the safety of the wall behind and step out into the great open chamber. Soon the wall is lost behind them. Their torchlight flickers feebly in the darkness, revealing a dim circle of dun beige stone floor and nothing but void beyond.
Eventually, something materializes out of the darkness–a squat, perfectly square structure of worked stone, possibly twenty paces to a side and 10′ high. [Description: Assault/Desolation] Scenes of battle and destruction appear to be engraved upon its surface, but even in the still air underground the ancient carvings have been worn smooth by countless aeons.
In one wall stands a door. With no where else to go, they open it.
Here’s where the Face Danger miss comes into play. Let’s decide what kind of monster we’re facing.
Monstrosity: giant-sized – fish (I’m going to interpret as eel) – spikes/spines – keen senses
A robed figure stands within, hunched over a darkly stained altar. As the party enters, the figure turns and begins to howl. Foul green mist pours of its open mouth, billowing across the narrow room toward the party. None want to test it, so they fall back into the large chamber, slamming the door behind them.
Just then, a whistling sound fills the air. They look up just in time to see a shadow, almost iridescent in its blackness, falling from the ceiling. The thing strikes the ground just within the light of their torches. It is a silver-scaled thing with a mouth full of razor-pointed teeth; its head it huge, easily large enough to bite through a man’s torso if it can get hold of him. Suddenly it begins to move, wiggling forward like a snake with an explosive burst of speed.
Enter the Fray against Eel-Monster and Wizard (Formidable): [Weak Hit: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 6 4]. Keep initiative.
Strike (I’m going to rule I can use my warband here): [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 1 10].
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :2 boxes]
The band falls together into a group as the beast comes at them. Spears out, they manage to turn it aside just as it sends its snapping maw against Gethin’s shield. In a moment, it slithers out of sight around the building and disappears into the darkness.
They can hear it moving, just beyond the circle of torchlight. The band presses their backs together, peering futilely into the darkness.
Suddenly, it snaps forward out of the dark. Its body is long–they can see it now–dozens of feet long, and as thick around as a man. Heavy spines like sharpened quarterstaffs drag behind it, flaring from the sides of its body.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 4 + 0 = 9 vs 7 4]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :5 boxes]
The party scrambles aside at the last second and the beast cannot stop its momentum as it sails through their midst. They stick it several times at it passes, cutting long scores in its scaly hide.
Strike: [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 3 6]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :7 boxes]
They follow it this time, gaining confidence. Several more hits land home. Suddenly, the door behind them smashes open and a whip of silver-green fire lashes out at them–the wizard has arrived.
Clash: [Weak Hit: 2 + 4 + 0 = 6 vs 10 1]. Can’t use momentum, so one of my men goes down.
Who is hurt? Bjarn.
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :9 boxes]
Sola, Gethin, and Inguna stay focused on the eel while Bjarn and Somhaile turn their attentions on the newly arrived wizard. The eel lashes out again, but not in time–Sola and Gethin form an effective wall while Inguna runs it through the neck with his spear. The thing writhes violently for a few moments, but it has been stuck well. It dies.
Just as the party turns, the wizard’s whip catches Bjarn across the chest. He goes down in a heap, like a puppet with the strings cut.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 1 3]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :10 boxes]
[Progress Roll: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :Strong Hit = 10 vs 3 6]
The wizard’s victory is short-lived. Somhaile manages to sneak behind the robed figure and plant her dagger in the center of its back. It collapses with a groan and lies still.
After that fight, I’m going to say we completed one of the major steps on our quest. Surely this wizard and big eel were related to Longhill’s troubles.
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :6 boxes]
Was Bjarn killed (75%)? No!
They go to Bjarn and find that he still lives, though his breathing is shallow and his eyes will not open. They need to get him rest, but none of them would be mad enough to rest in that cavern. Gethin and Somhaile investigate the building while Inguna and Sola try to prepare Bjarn to be moved.
What’s inside the building? Transform-Wound / Avenge-Time.
The chamber is spartan in its decoration. The altar stands alone near one wall; near the other lies the top of a staircase that leads deeper into the earth. Gethin averts his eyes from the altar and even Somhaile turns away; neither know what poor creature contributed to the mass of tortured flesh upon the bare stone, but both are glad that they killed the robed figure outside.
This doesn’t seem like a good place to rest, so Bjarn is going to have to stay out of commission for a while. Meanwhile, I’m going to use the stairs as an opportunity to change the domain of this dungeon–instead of a Corrupted Cavern, we are now moving into a Corrupted Underkeep. Otherwise, progress remains the same.
[Delve the Depths (Shadow): Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :5 boxes]
Feature: Hall or Chamber (Fragile/Exit)
The party moves more slowly now, and with as much quiet as they can muster given Bjarn’s condition. Somhaile moves a few dozen paces ahead of the others, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. The stairs descend into a large, worked hall. Colonnades progress up the sides of the hall and lead toward an imposing set of bronze doors, but when the party draws near they realize that the right hand doors is ajar; there is enough room to pass through without disturbing it.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :6 boxes]
Feature: Foundry or Workshop (Foreboding/Breach)
The door leads into a maze of 10′ wide corridors of worked stone. They choose a direction at random and move that way, passing several locked doors before coming at least to an open chamber. Light and heat emanate from within, but the room is empty. Inside, a forge’s embers lay dying. Strange tools of iron line the walls, devices of torture and war, twisted armor or weapons designed for bodies clearly inhuman.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :7 boxes]
Feature: Stairs into the Depths (Mystical/Threshold)
Finally, they come to the end of the mazelike corridors. Another chamber stands there, and against the far end looms the maw of some devilish beast. It takes a heartbeat before they realize it is carven stone, and that within that maw stands a staircase that descends even deeper into the earth.
None of them want to follow it, but what choice do they have now?
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :8 boxes]
Danger: Ancient Mechanism or Trap
Feature: Carved Passages (Active/Entry)
They descend further into the earth. The stairs spiral down, deeper and deeper, seemingly forever. Finally, they level out and open into a tunnel of perfectly smooth stone. They take cautious steps forward.
Face Danger (Wits) to avoid the trap: [Miss: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 8 8]
That could be bad! I’ll use momentum.
[Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 10 vs 8 8]. Reset to 2m. +1m (now 3).
Suddenly, Somhaile reaches out and grabs Gethin’s armor and jerks him backwards off his feet. The clatters to the ground with a resounding echo. In a second he’s up, ready to berate her for making so much noise, but she puts her hand over his mouth. With a finger she points at the ground. A low wire, no thicker than a hair, runs at ankle height across the tunnel.
After a moment he removes her hand. Thank you he mouths at her. She reaches forward and pulls the coin purse off his belt and ties it to her own. He decides that argument can wait for later.
[Delve the Depths: Take both: Mark progress and Find an Opportunity.]
[Find an Opportunity: You are alerted to a potential threat.] +1 to next move and +1m on hit.
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :9 boxes]
Feature: Shrine or Temple (Marked/History)
Monstrosity: person-sized – beast – tentacles – crusheconstrictor
The tunnel eventually leads to a small complex of carven chambers, all leading toward one center chamber. There, the ground slopes forward like an amphitheater toward a terrible shrine. That strange red mold grows everywhere here, red enough that it seems to glow with its own inner light. Water seeps in from countless tiny cracks on the walls, flowing down the pulsating mold and eventually draining through a small hole set before the altar.
A half dozen figures are here, worshipping at the altar on bended knee. The sound of their inhuman ululating covers the sounds of the party’s approach [thanks Find an Opportunity!]. The adventurers ready their weapons and prepare to throw.
Battle: [Weak Hit: 2 + 3 + 1 = 6 vs 4 9].
Who pays the price? Sola. -1 strength to warband (now 2).
The party’s ambush catches the cultists off guard and two of them are cut down immediately. The others turn, though, and the wailing becomes a scream of anger. They throw back their hoods, revealing faces that had once been human but are not mixed inseparable with that horrific red mold. Tentacles sprout from the fingers and backs as they run, spreading out from beneath dark fabric robes.
The party fights valiantly, holding the strange things off with fire and steel, and eventually the last of them lies dead. It is then that Gethin notices Sola, kneeling at the side of one of the defeated cultists. He goes to her, reaches out a hand, but that’s when he sees it–one of the cultist’s long tentacles has found a weak spot in her armor and has punched through her side.
Can he get the tentacle out without killing her? [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 0 = 7 vs 4 10]. -1 Supply (now 4).
The mold fears the fire, even in death, and he thrusts his torch into the wound on her side. She screams and tries to wrench away, but Inguna grabs her by the arms and holds her tight as Gethin thrusts the burning brand right into her flesh. She shudders, bites her own tongue until blood pours from her mouth, and falls still. He keeps the torch on her as her skin blisters and blackens.
Finally, he tosses the torch aside and digs in his pack for a small glass vial. He tips it into her mouth and holds back her head. The potion works quickly. The burnt flesh begins to pinken and scab. Her pale face flushes with color. Gethin sinks to his knees beside her.
Finally, he looks around. “I think we’ve done it,” he says.
Have they done it?
Reach destination: [Progress Roll: Corrupted Underkeep :Strong Hit = 9 vs 4 7]. Success! +1m (now 4).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :8 boxes]
There is no where deeper to go. The put the torch to everything they can find. The mold on the walls catches and the fire races up toward the ceiling of the cave, filling the chamber with acrid smoke. The party then takes hammers to the altar and throws the shattered stones to the four corners of the chamber, so that even its foul presence will no longer infect the water seeping through the walls and down the drain.
Finally, they retrace their steps and, after many long hours, emerge once more onto the surface.
That's it for this session! And as a reminder: You can find links to every one of my solo session game reports on my Campaign Logs page on my blog.

This is part two of my Ironsworn campaign experiment meant to emulator an “Old School” D&D like experience–a party of vulnerable allies, location-based adventures, and strange monsters lurking just on the outskirts of human civilization.
In the last episode, the party gained a quest to figure out why the fishing has dried up for the town of Longhill, and they have followed what clues they could find into the woods east of town.
The Party: Sir Gethin Oyvind E-1 H-2 I-3 S-1 W-2 Health: 5, Spirit: 5, Supply: 5, Momentum: 8/2. Assets: Commander (strength 4), Ironclad (light armor), Empowered (Knight Errant). Equipment: chain armor, sword, shield, crossbow, horse Vows: Become worthy of the Oyvind family name (epic): 0.0, bring back the fishing (dangerous): 2.0
Bonds:

1. Baggi the Carpenter.
2. Frej the Mercenary.
3. Tessa the Wheel-maker.

Because this is a D&D style game, my PC won’t be solo, but the rest of the characters will not be represented by Ironsworn PCs. Instead, they are represented by the party contained within the “Commander” perk. As it stands, they are:

1. Sola the Cruel (fighter). Workcrew overseer.
2. Inguna the Naive (fightescout). A trapper.
3. Bjarn the Jealous (fighter). A falconer.
4. Somhaile the Tactless (thief/scout). A thief.

#
Cautious after their near-encounter with the strange crab-mosquito, the party moves forward with as much stealth as five people, a horse, and a donkey can muster.
Delve the Depths (Shadow): [Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]. [Mark Progress: Haunted Forest :9 boxes]. What do they find? Clearing (complex/refuge).
They eventually find a game trail and make faster progress. It winds through the wood until emerging in a large clearing that holds a walled camp. The walls are made of ~8 foot high poles and enclose an area about 80 feet across. A light gate stands open on one side.
Because I had no encounter, I’m going to rule that this is unoccupied. Since my supply is full, I won’t need to resupply but I may make camp.
Gethin sends Somhaile and Inguna in to investigate. They creep up to the walls, peer carefully around the open gate, and eventually disappear inside. A few moments later, they come back out waving and reporting that the camp appears to have been abandoned.
Are there supplies inside still (50%)? No, and…
The interior is entirely bare. Few signs of the prior occupants remain. Still, it’s a defensible spot and Gethin orders the party to set up camp for the night.
Make Camp: [Strong Hit: 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 vs 7 1]. +1m (now 9) and +1 next move.
The night passes easily, and the party sleeps well knowing that they have walls around them. Even the watches are uneventful. They rise early and break camp just after sunup.
[Progress Roll: Haunted Forest :Strong Hit = 9 vs 7 7]. +1 to next move (now +2).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :4 boxes]
The road passes beyond the forest and emerges onto the shore of a small lake.
Is the smell of death worse here (75%)? Yes, but…
The smell of death worsens as they leave the woods, but they still cannot see any sign of what may be causing it. There are no fish decomposing on the lake’s shoreline, and they see nothing floating atop the water. Still, they are confident that they are growing closer to their goal.
With nowhere to go but further upriver, Gethin dispatches the two scouts to see what they can find.
Gather Information: [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 2 = 9 vs 9 2]. +1m (now 1). What do they find? Blighted/Thicket.
It is very late before they come back. When they do, they look wary of what they have to report. A thicket ahead, near the great eastern forest–but the trees there are dead, and not by fire. The grass, too, is yellowed and crunches underfoot. They dared not go further by themselves, for they heard strange sounds within.
That sounds promisingly sinister, so they head toward it, although they make camp when they are still a fair ways off, and they take care to keep their watches carefully.
Because we have already traveled through a dungeon and scored a hit on our gather info, I’m going to rule that this is probably the thing we seek. To figure out what kind of dungeon it is, I’m going to roll from three options and I’ll randomly assign a theme:

1. Barrow
2. Cavern
3. Sea Cavern (river, in this case)

Result: Corrupted Cavern. Good theme result! I’m going to make this one formidable, because I think this should spell the end of my quest once we complete it. I haven’t finished a full, formidable dungeon yet, so we’ll see how it goes. Formidable means that there should be ~10 locations in the dungeon before I can be confident that I have cleared it.
The next day they rise, but they take their time approaching the thicket. Even from far off they can feel a sense of wrongness about it. Even so, glory (and hopefully payment!) lay on the other side, so they push forward.
Discover a Site: Corrupted Cavern (Formidable).
They enter the thicket, fighting the horse and donkey all the way. Inguna finds a hint of a trail in the dead grass and leads them up a gentle rise to a low hillock. Just to the north lies the river; it would have been hidden behind a canopy in better days, but the bare tree limbs hide little. The circle of death extends equidistantly in all directions; even a few trees on the far side of the river are chalky gray instead of brown.
At the peak of the hillock stands a low wall of pale gray stone that is all that remains of the foundation of some building now long gone.
A dark pit, ringed by a strange red moss, gapes open in the earth like a sucking wound. A faint wet sound can be heard from within. “Underwater river,” Bjarn posits. All the rest pretend to believe him as they stake the animals and prepare to descend into the earth.
What do they find within? Something Unusual – Fortified/Hideaway.
The pit descends as a narrow chute through almost twenty feet of earth until it emerges into a cavern of unworked stone. Gethin lifts his torch and paces the chamber while the rest of the party follows him down. By the time the last of them arrive, he has mapped the room. It is featureless and without exits except for a single door of iron set into the northern wall.
“This strange curse is no work of nature, red in tooth and claw,” Gethin observes. “Some man had a hand in this. And that man might still be here. Be ready.” The party draws their weapons.
[Delve the Depths (Wits): Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :1 boxes]
Feature: Subterranean Waterway (Treacherous/Exit)
Danger: Lose way or are delayed
The door opens with a rusty groan, revealing a claustrophobic tunnel that sinks deeper into the stone. Gethin leads with his shield high as the others follow behind with torches and weapons. The fires cast long shadows that move strangely against the warped walls.
The faint water sounds become louder as they progress. Eventually, their tunnel opens into a large cavern that is split in half by a wide and swift river. The water is roaring here, for at the far end of the cavern the water gathers and throws up spray as it drains in a violent whirlpool.
“Where do you think it goes?” Inguna asks. None of them want to find out.
Unfortunately, there is no bridge and the span is too far to jump. They cast lots for who will have to swim across, and it falls on [d5=] Inguna. “Guess you’ll get the chance to find out,” Somhaile jokes. Inguna doesn’t laugh as they tie a rope around his waist.
Face Danger (iron) to swim across: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 3 2]. +1m but I’m already at 10 (I should burn it!).
He swims across but is swept quite a ways down stream before he reaches the far bank. They throw him a torch and wait as he secures the rope to a stone outcropping on his side. The rest of the party passes by safely, though they are cold and shivering when they emerge and begin to dress again.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :2 boxes]
Feature: Cramped Caves (Secret/Entry)
The tunnel beyond the river leads to a series of cramped chambers. In one, a faint breeze stirs the air. They investigate and eventually find a chimney that might lead up into the world above, although the climb upward would be nearly impossible.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :3 boxes]
Feature: Twisting Passages (Unstable/Valuables)
Eventually, they progress out of the caves and into a maze of twisting passages. Time seems to stall as they track and backtrack their way through the tunnels. All grow weary and–truth be told–frightened when they realize that they have been underground for far longer than they had expected, and that the way out may not be trivial.
It is Somhaile who spots them first, with her keen thief’s eyes–a smattering of reflective discs down a side corridor. They investigate and realize that they are silver coins, shining in the torchlight. Someone has definitely been here. Somhaile pockets the coins as they pass, though the others want to leave them behind to track their return. “Leave your own silver, then,” she retorts.
Inguna drops a few coppers before he realizes that no one else is doing so. Feeling foolish, he stops.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Cavern :4 boxes]
[Reveal a Danger: Denizen controls dark magic]
Feature: Vast Chamber (Fortified/Boundary)
The passage emerges into another chamber, on that stretches out so far in all directions that their torchlight is swallowed by the darkness.
Face Danger (Wits) to detect the foe: [Miss: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 7 8].
Unwilling to become lost in the darkness, they decide to hug the walls and circle the cavern in a counterclockwise direction. Eventually, the come around again to the tunnel where they started. With nothing left to do, they leave the safety of the wall behind and step out into the great open chamber. Soon the wall is lost behind them. Their torchlight flickers feebly in the darkness, revealing a dim circle of dun beige stone floor and nothing but void beyond.
Eventually, something materializes out of the darkness–a squat, perfectly square structure of worked stone, possibly twenty paces to a side and 10′ high. [Description: Assault/Desolation] Scenes of battle and destruction appear to be engraved upon its surface, but even in the still air underground the ancient carvings have been worn smooth by countless aeons.
In one wall stands a door. With no where else to go, they open it.
Here’s where the Face Danger miss comes into play. Let’s decide what kind of monster we’re facing.
Monstrosity: giant-sized – fish (I’m going to interpret as eel) – spikes/spines – keen senses
A robed figure stands within, hunched over a darkly stained altar. As the party enters, the figure turns and begins to howl. Foul green mist pours of its open mouth, billowing across the narrow room toward the party. None want to test it, so they fall back into the large chamber, slamming the door behind them.
Just then, a whistling sound fills the air. They look up just in time to see a shadow, almost iridescent in its blackness, falling from the ceiling. The thing strikes the ground just within the light of their torches. It is a silver-scaled thing with a mouth full of razor-pointed teeth; its head it huge, easily large enough to bite through a man’s torso if it can get hold of him. Suddenly it begins to move, wiggling forward like a snake with an explosive burst of speed.
Enter the Fray against Eel-Monster and Wizard (Formidable): [Weak Hit: 3 + 2 + 0 = 5 vs 6 4]. Keep initiative.
Strike (I’m going to rule I can use my warband here): [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 1 10].
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :2 boxes]
The band falls together into a group as the beast comes at them. Spears out, they manage to turn it aside just as it sends its snapping maw against Gethin’s shield. In a moment, it slithers out of sight around the building and disappears into the darkness.
They can hear it moving, just beyond the circle of torchlight. The band presses their backs together, peering futilely into the darkness.
Suddenly, it snaps forward out of the dark. Its body is long–they can see it now–dozens of feet long, and as thick around as a man. Heavy spines like sharpened quarterstaffs drag behind it, flaring from the sides of its body.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 4 + 0 = 9 vs 7 4]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :5 boxes]
The party scrambles aside at the last second and the beast cannot stop its momentum as it sails through their midst. They stick it several times at it passes, cutting long scores in its scaly hide.
Strike: [Weak Hit: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5 vs 3 6]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :7 boxes]
They follow it this time, gaining confidence. Several more hits land home. Suddenly, the door behind them smashes open and a whip of silver-green fire lashes out at them–the wizard has arrived.
Clash: [Weak Hit: 2 + 4 + 0 = 6 vs 10 1]. Can’t use momentum, so one of my men goes down.
Who is hurt? Bjarn.
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :9 boxes]
Sola, Gethin, and Inguna stay focused on the eel while Bjarn and Somhaile turn their attentions on the newly arrived wizard. The eel lashes out again, but not in time–Sola and Gethin form an effective wall while Inguna runs it through the neck with his spear. The thing writhes violently for a few moments, but it has been stuck well. It dies.
Just as the party turns, the wizard’s whip catches Bjarn across the chest. He goes down in a heap, like a puppet with the strings cut.
Clash: [Strong Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 1 3]
[Mark Progress: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :10 boxes]
[Progress Roll: Battle: Eel-monster and wizard :Strong Hit = 10 vs 3 6]
The wizard’s victory is short-lived. Somhaile manages to sneak behind the robed figure and plant her dagger in the center of its back. It collapses with a groan and lies still.
After that fight, I’m going to say we completed one of the major steps on our quest. Surely this wizard and big eel were related to Longhill’s troubles.
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :6 boxes]
Was Bjarn killed (75%)? No!
They go to Bjarn and find that he still lives, though his breathing is shallow and his eyes will not open. They need to get him rest, but none of them would be mad enough to rest in that cavern. Gethin and Somhaile investigate the building while Inguna and Sola try to prepare Bjarn to be moved.
What’s inside the building? Transform-Wound / Avenge-Time.
The chamber is spartan in its decoration. The altar stands alone near one wall; near the other lies the top of a staircase that leads deeper into the earth. Gethin averts his eyes from the altar and even Somhaile turns away; neither know what poor creature contributed to the mass of tortured flesh upon the bare stone, but both are glad that they killed the robed figure outside.
This doesn’t seem like a good place to rest, so Bjarn is going to have to stay out of commission for a while. Meanwhile, I’m going to use the stairs as an opportunity to change the domain of this dungeon–instead of a Corrupted Cavern, we are now moving into a Corrupted Underkeep. Otherwise, progress remains the same.
[Delve the Depths (Shadow): Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :5 boxes]
Feature: Hall or Chamber (Fragile/Exit)
The party moves more slowly now, and with as much quiet as they can muster given Bjarn’s condition. Somhaile moves a few dozen paces ahead of the others, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. The stairs descend into a large, worked hall. Colonnades progress up the sides of the hall and lead toward an imposing set of bronze doors, but when the party draws near they realize that the right hand doors is ajar; there is enough room to pass through without disturbing it.
[Delve the Depths: Choose one: Mark progress or Find an Opportunity.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :6 boxes]
Feature: Foundry or Workshop (Foreboding/Breach)
The door leads into a maze of 10′ wide corridors of worked stone. They choose a direction at random and move that way, passing several locked doors before coming at least to an open chamber. Light and heat emanate from within, but the room is empty. Inside, a forge’s embers lay dying. Strange tools of iron line the walls, devices of torture and war, twisted armor or weapons designed for bodies clearly inhuman.
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :7 boxes]
Feature: Stairs into the Depths (Mystical/Threshold)
Finally, they come to the end of the mazelike corridors. Another chamber stands there, and against the far end looms the maw of some devilish beast. It takes a heartbeat before they realize it is carven stone, and that within that maw stands a staircase that descends even deeper into the earth.
None of them want to follow it, but what choice do they have now?
[Delve the Depths: Mark progress and Reveal a Danger.]
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :8 boxes]
Danger: Ancient Mechanism or Trap
Feature: Carved Passages (Active/Entry)
They descend further into the earth. The stairs spiral down, deeper and deeper, seemingly forever. Finally, they level out and open into a tunnel of perfectly smooth stone. They take cautious steps forward.
Face Danger (Wits) to avoid the trap: [Miss: 6 + 2 + 0 = 8 vs 8 8]
That could be bad! I’ll use momentum.
[Strong Hit: 6 + 2 + 0 = 10 vs 8 8]. Reset to 2m. +1m (now 3).
Suddenly, Somhaile reaches out and grabs Gethin’s armor and jerks him backwards off his feet. The clatters to the ground with a resounding echo. In a second he’s up, ready to berate her for making so much noise, but she puts her hand over his mouth. With a finger she points at the ground. A low wire, no thicker than a hair, runs at ankle height across the tunnel.
After a moment he removes her hand. Thank you he mouths at her. She reaches forward and pulls the coin purse off his belt and ties it to her own. He decides that argument can wait for later.
[Delve the Depths: Take both: Mark progress and Find an Opportunity.]
[Find an Opportunity: You are alerted to a potential threat.] +1 to next move and +1m on hit.
[Mark Progress: Corrupted Underkeep :9 boxes]
Feature: Shrine or Temple (Marked/History)
Monstrosity: person-sized – beast – tentacles – crusheconstrictor
The tunnel eventually leads to a small complex of carven chambers, all leading toward one center chamber. There, the ground slopes forward like an amphitheater toward a terrible shrine. That strange red mold grows everywhere here, red enough that it seems to glow with its own inner light. Water seeps in from countless tiny cracks on the walls, flowing down the pulsating mold and eventually draining through a small hole set before the altar.
A half dozen figures are here, worshipping at the altar on bended knee. The sound of their inhuman ululating covers the sounds of the party’s approach [thanks Find an Opportunity!]. The adventurers ready their weapons and prepare to throw.
Battle: [Weak Hit: 2 + 3 + 1 = 6 vs 4 9].
Who pays the price? Sola. -1 strength to warband (now 2).
The party’s ambush catches the cultists off guard and two of them are cut down immediately. The others turn, though, and the wailing becomes a scream of anger. They throw back their hoods, revealing faces that had once been human but are not mixed inseparable with that horrific red mold. Tentacles sprout from the fingers and backs as they run, spreading out from beneath dark fabric robes.
The party fights valiantly, holding the strange things off with fire and steel, and eventually the last of them lies dead. It is then that Gethin notices Sola, kneeling at the side of one of the defeated cultists. He goes to her, reaches out a hand, but that’s when he sees it–one of the cultist’s long tentacles has found a weak spot in her armor and has punched through her side.
Can he get the tentacle out without killing her? [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 0 = 7 vs 4 10]. -1 Supply (now 4).
The mold fears the fire, even in death, and he thrusts his torch into the wound on her side. She screams and tries to wrench away, but Inguna grabs her by the arms and holds her tight as Gethin thrusts the burning brand right into her flesh. She shudders, bites her own tongue until blood pours from her mouth, and falls still. He keeps the torch on her as her skin blisters and blackens.
Finally, he tosses the torch aside and digs in his pack for a small glass vial. He tips it into her mouth and holds back her head. The potion works quickly. The burnt flesh begins to pinken and scab. Her pale face flushes with color. Gethin sinks to his knees beside her.
Finally, he looks around. “I think we’ve done it,” he says.
Have they done it?
Reach destination: [Progress Roll: Corrupted Underkeep :Strong Hit = 9 vs 4 7]. Success! +1m (now 4).
[Mark Progress: Bring back the fishing :8 boxes]
There is no where deeper to go. The put the torch to everything they can find. The mold on the walls catches and the fire races up toward the ceiling of the cave, filling the chamber with acrid smoke. The party then takes hammers to the altar and throws the shattered stones to the four corners of the chamber, so that even its foul presence will no longer infect the water seeping through the walls and down the drain.
Finally, they retrace their steps and, after many long hours, emerge once more onto the surface.
That's it for this session! And as a reminder: You can find links to every one of my solo session game reports on my Campaign Logs page on my blog.

So for context, I had asked to talk to him on our next date about changing ppm to allowance, because I wasn’t happy with it and felt I should start receiving more since we had become intimate and I was spending more time around him. He acted all cool and open about it, however when we finally had the discussion over brunch he admits he joined the site because hes “still technically married” and wants to be able to discreetly date. Huh funny, so you joined a SD site expecting a vanilla relationship, just more secretive. Obviously this turned me off instantly, but I decided to ride the rest of the date out because I wanted him to take me shopping one last time. He buys me a dress and pair of shoes (the total value was only about $110). Big whoop, I could’ve paid for it myself but I already knew he was going to try and use this as leverage so I would sleep with him. And then surprise surprise, he already had a hotel booked for us. That’s fine, I had seen this coming and one thing about me is, im stubborn as hell. If I don’t want to do something, not even the devil himself can make me. On the way there he’s ranting about how he thinks I’m too much of a “people pleaser” and I should stop caring about what others think when all I had said was that I don’t like people knowing when I’m high (on maryjane) LMAO. It was another instant ick, not to mention he said I seem too emotionally detached and he doesn’t like feeling that I’ll just randomly block him one day. In my head I’m like, oh buddy, you don’t even know whats coming for ya. So fast forward 30 minutes later we’re in the hotel. Now usually as soon as we get to the hotel he would shower and then I’d pounce on him as soon as he’s out (usually Id be really tipsy and have stars in my eyes thinking about the cash app I’d be getting later.) This time, Im already annoyed as soon as we get to the hotel. I end up falling fast asleep because that’s what happens when I smoke, I get super tired. He’s in the shower and calls me over so I go, I open the door to see him standing with the shower door open butt naked. Water spraying all over the floor, and the shower humidity is already fucking up my bombshell curls that took me like two hours to do. I start awkwardly using my foot and a towel to wipe up water that’s leaking onto the bathroom floor because that’s one of my pet peeves, wet floors just gross me out. I’m guessing he expected me to jump in there with him, LOL what a joke. We haven’t even discussed the allowance yet, so please don’t expect a damn thing. He just stands there looking stupid, so I go back to bed. A few mins later he comes out and lays down next to me and he keeps saying “if you’re tired I’m going to head out” I’m like … okay! Sounds good. Make my life easier. Obviously this was his childish way to hint that he wanted me open my legs to him or he’s gone. Not happening. He ended up calling me an Uber and sulking at the hotel bar as I left. Didn’t even bother to walk me out to the car. And to top off the night, the Uber driver hit on me the whole 45 minute drive home. The next day I get this text: “Hey Babe… hope you’re enjoying your Monday afternoon. So I had a good time with you yesterday… but I know it got a lil awkward at the end for some reason. Not entirely sure why… but maybe we should just chill. Even tho we talked an thought we were ok…maybe we did still kill our vibe lol 🤷🏾‍♂️”
Instantly blocked him. In fact, I was going to block him the night before but me being petty, I wanted him to text me again so I could ignore it and never reply so he could see how much I really didn’t give af. Lol. I have no time for a man this much of a mess, let alone one trying to treat me like some sort of cheap escort/call girl type. I had plenty of reasons to dump him and was honestly just waiting to find a better SD before doing so but at this point it’s not even worth it! Good riddance!!!

Mr. Compress has some flaws to its kit and I wanted to talk about it. In the show Mr. Compress is a mobile trickster, that usually gets away with a couple allies in hand, and they tried to implement this kind of playstyle, but failed imo.
First of all I want to talk about the good stuff first. His primary fire is pretty good. It fires really fast and on higher lvls it gains massive aoe, because he will start to throw bigger things like trucks. The trucks in particular make him really hard to spot, because they cover line of sight. There were many instances, where I struggled to spot his location based on his projectiles. His get away ability is also one of the best movement skills in game, if you shoot it in the sky. The range is crazy. Combined with being able to carry a teammate, he ends up being a great support to other mates, that aren't as mobile.
Lets start with the bad things. While his get away ability is one of the best movement skills in game, it sucks as a tool to disengage fights. The wind up is crazy long and you usually get knocked out of the move before you can leave or get killed while doing it. So it requires a good set up to work, which Mr compress doesen't have. His complete kit has only one knock back move and thats his regular combo and yeah try hitting that one in a sweaty 1v1 situation or on every enemy in a row in a 1vX situation. On top of that his block is extremely situational. Some character can't be parried or have tools to get around block easily or even worse you can just not engage. You aren't forced to shoot at the shield. Also his projectiles hit close while his shield is risky close, because a lot of attacks like dekus kick for example hit close and ignore shield. Short projectiles with shield for mid-long range... horrible combination and super unfitting. So without shield you usually fight with only 2 abilities and 1 of them is your get away... Also the worst about him is that he isn't able to save teammates reliable in a fight situation, which is something he is known for in the show. If you start carrying someone mid fight, they usually jump out of your carry before you can get away, because of panic jump presses from mates. THIS HAPPENED SO MANY TIMES WITH ME AND A BUDDY. Also you can't defend downed mates well, because you lack knock downs.
So my changes would be:

1. If Mr. C starts carrying you, you can't jump out of it for 0.5 Seconds. This makes sure your mates don't jump out of last minute saves accidentally.
2. Compress big movement is cool, but having one big move and then being stuck at walking again, is really unfitting for the quick trickster get away from the show. So instead of one big jump, how about we split it in 2-3 small jumps that can be chained. (Maybe we could retain the big jump in form of a long button press).
3. Just remove his block. It sucks and doesen't fit him. He isn't reinhardt. Instead of that how about a move that temporarily compresses enemys. It would be the perfect set up for a get away or help to make mates survive and it would fit him more then a shield. Btw you would also expect Mr. C to compress enemys. Its something he would do. Check the name bro.
4. Also I think it would really fit Mr. C if he also was able to compress downed mates. In the show he literally saved half dead allies. You could also argue that compress doesen't have a lot of support abilities, which is ironic as his literal support role in game and his support nature in the show.

(owing to the reddit character limit, I'm posting this in two parts, but it's one contiguous story)
There are instincts that you develop when you’re a parent. If you don’t have any children it might be a little hard to understand. If you have a toddler, for example, and they’re in the other room and silent for more than a few seconds, there’s a good chance they’re up to no good. I take that back, most of the time they’re doing nothing, but you still have to check. You feel a compulsion to check. I don’t think it’s a learned skill, I think it’s an actual instinct.
Paleolithic parents who didn’t check on their toddlers every few minutes, just to double check that they weren’t being stalked by smilodons were unlikely to have grandchildren and pass on their genes. You just feel you need to check, like getting goosebumps, a compulsion. I suppose it’s the same reason little kids are always demanding you look at them and what they’re doing.
I think that instinct starts to atrophy as your kids grow. They start learning to do things for themselves, and before you know it, they’re after their own privacy, not your attention. I don’t think it ever goes away though. I expect, decades from now, my own grown kids will visit and bring my grandkids with them. And the second I hear a baby crying in the earliest morning hours, I’ll be alert and ready for anything, sure as any old soldier who hears his name whispered in the dark of night.
I felt that alarm just the other day. First time in years. My boy came home from riding bikes with a couple of his friends. I’m pretty sure they worked out a scam where they asked each of their parents for a different new console for Christmas, and now they spend their weekends traveling between the three houses so they can play on all of them.
We all live in a nice neighborhood. A newer development than the one I grew up in, same town though. It’s the kind of place where kids are always playing in the streets, and the cars all routinely do under 20. My wife and I make sure the kids have helmets and pads, and we’re fine with the boy going out biking with his friends, as long as they stay in the neighborhood.
You know, a lot of people in my generation take some weird sort of pride in how irresponsible we used to be when we were young. I never wore a helmet. Rode to places, without telling any adults, that we never should have ridden to. Me and my friends would make impromptu jumps off of makeshift ramps and try to do stupid tricks, based loosely on stunts we’d seen on TV. Other people my age seem to wax nostalgic for that stuff and pretend it makes them somehow better people. I don’t get it. Sometimes I look back and shudder. We were lucky we escaped with only occasional bruises and road burns. It could have gone so much worse.
My son and his buddies came bustling in the front door at about 2 PM on a Saturday. They did the usual thing of raiding the kitchen for juice and his mother’s brownies, and I took that as my cue to abandon the television in the living room for my office. I was hardly noticing the chaos, by this point, it was becoming a regular weekend occurrence. But as I was just leaving, I caught something in the chatter. My boy said something about, “... that guy who was following us.”
He hadn’t said it any louder or more clearly than anything else they’d been talking about, all that stuff I’d been filtering out. Yet some deeper core process in my brain stem heard it, interpreted it, then hit the red alert button. My blood ran cold and every hair on my skin stood at attention.
I turned around and asked “Somebody followed you? What are you talking about?” I wasn’t consciously aware of how strict and stern my voice came out, yet when the jovial smiles dropped off of their faces it was apparent that it had been so.
“Huh?” my son said, his voice high-pitched and talking fast, like when he thinks he’s in trouble and needs to explain. “We thought we saw somebody following us. There wasn’t though. We didn’t really see anybody and we’d just spooked ourselves.”
“What did he look like?” I asked.
“Nothing? We really didn’t see anybody! Honest! I just saw something out of the corner of my eye! But there wasn’t really nobody there!”
“Yeah!,” said one of his buds. “Peripheral! Peripheral vision! I thought maybe I saw something too, but when I looked I didn’t see anything. I don’t have my glasses with me, but when I really looked I got a good look and there was nothing.”
The three boys had that semi-smiling but still concerned look that this was only a bizarre misunderstanding, but they were still being very sincere. “Were they in a car?”
“No, Dad, you don’t get it,” my boy continued, “They were small. We thought it was a kid.”
“Yeah,” said the third boy. “We thought maybe it was Tony Taylor’s stupid kid sister shadowing us. Getting close to throwing water balloons. Just cause she did that before.”
“If you didn’t get a good look how did you know it was a kid?”
“Because it was small!” my kid explained, though that wasn’t helping much. “What I mean is, at first I thought it was behind a little bush. It was way too small a bush to hide a grown-up. That’s why we thought it was probably Tony’s sister.”
“But you didn’t actually see Tony’s sister?” I asked.
“Nah,” said one of his buds. “And now that I think about it, that bush was probably too small for his sister too. It would have been silly. Like when a cartoon character hides behind a tiny object.”
“That’s why we think it was just in our heads,” explained the other boy, “That and the pole.”
“Yeah,” my son said. “The park on 14th and Taylor?” That was just a little community park, a single city block. Had a playground, lawn, a few trees, and some benches. “Anyway, we were riding past that, took a right on Taylor. And we were talking about how weird it would be if somebody really were following us. That’s when Brian thought he saw something. Behind a telephone pole.”
“I didn’t get a good look at it either,” the friend, Brian, “explained. Just thought I did. Know how you get up late at night to use the bathroom or whatever and you look down the hallway and you see a jacket or an office chair or something and because your eyes haven’t adjusted you think you see a ghost or burglar or something? Anyway, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned there wasn’t anything there.”
“Yeah, it was just like sometimes that happens, except this time it happened twice on the same bike ride, is all,” the other friend explained.
“And you’re sure there was nothing there?”
“Sure we’re sure,” my boy said. “We know because that time we checked. We each rode our bikes around the pole and there was nothing. Honest!”
“Hmmm,” I said. The whole thing seemed reasonable and nothing to be concerned about, you’d think.. The boys seemed to relax at my supposed acceptance. “Alright, sounds good. Hey, just let me know before you leave the house again, alright?” They all rushed to seem agreeable as I left the room, then quickly resumed their snacking and preceded to play their games.
I kept my ear out, just in case. My boy, at least this time, dutifully told me his friends were about to leave. He wasn’t very happy with me when I said they wouldn’t be riding home on their bikes, I was going to drive them home. The other boys didn’t complain, but I suppose it wasn’t their place, so my boy did the advocating for them, which I promptly ignored. I hate doing that, ignoring my kid’s talkback. My dad was the same way. It didn’t help that I struggled to get both of their bikes in the trunk, and it was a pain to get them back out again. My boy sulked in the front seat on the short ride back home. Arms folded on chest, eyes staring straight ahead, that lip thing they do. He seemed embarrassed for having what he thought was an over-protective parent. I suppose he was angry at me as well for acting, as far as he knew, irrationally. Maybe he thought he was being punished for some infraction he didn’t understand.
Well, it only got worse when we got home. I told him he wasn’t allowed to go out alone on his bike anymore. I’d only had to do that once before, when he was grounded, and back then he’d known exactly what he’d done wrong and he had it coming. Now? Well, he was confused, furious, maybe betrayed, probably a little brokenhearted? I can’t blame him. He tramped upstairs to his room to await the return of his mother, who was certain to give a sympathetic ear. I can’t imagine how upset he’ll be if he checks the garage tomorrow and finds I’ve removed his tires, just in case.
I wish I could explain it to him. I don’t even know how.
Where should I even begin? The town?
When I was about my son’s age I had just seen that movie, The Goonies. It had just come out in theaters. I really liked that movie, felt a strong connection. A lot of people do, can’t blame them, sort of a timeless classic. Except I wasn’t really into pirate’s treasure or the Fratellis, what really made me connect was a simple single shot, still in the first act. It’s right after they cross the threshold, and leave the house on their adventure. It was a shot of the boys, from above, maybe a crane shot or a helicopter shot, as they’re riding their bikes down a narrow forested lane, great big evergreen trees densely growing on the side of the road, they’re all wearing raincoats and the road is still wet from recent rain.
That was my childhood. I’ve spent my whole life in the Pacific Northwest. People talk to outsiders about the rain, and they might picture a lot of rainfall, but it’s not the volume, it’s the duration. We don’t get so much rain, it just drizzles slowly, on and on, for maybe eight or nine months out of the year. It doesn’t matter where I am, inside a house, traveling far abroad, anywhere I am I can close my eyes and still smell the air on a chilly afternoon, playing outdoors with my friends.
It’s not petrichor, that sudden intense smell you get when it first starts to rain after a long dry spell. No, this was almost the opposite, a clean smell, almost the opposite of a scent, since the rain seemed to scrub the air clean. The strongest scent and I mean that in the loosest sense possible, must have been the evergreen needles. Not pine needles, those were too strong, and there weren’t that many pines anyway. Douglas fir and red cedar predominated, again the root ‘domination’ seems hyperbole. Yet those scents were there, ephemeral as it is. Also, there was a sort of pleasant dirtiness to the smell, at least when you rode bikes. It wasn’t dirt, or mud, or dust. Dust couldn’t have existed except perhaps for a few fleeting weeks in August. I think, looking back, it was the mud puddles. All the potholes in all the asphalt suburban roads would fill up after rain with water the color of chocolate milk. We’d swerve our BMX bikes, or the knock-off brands, all the way across the street just to splash through those puddles and test our “suspensions.,” meaning our ankles and knees. The smell was always stronger after that. It had an earthiness to it. Perhaps it was petrichor’s lesser-known watery cousin.
There were other sensations too, permanently seared into my brain like grill marks. A constant chilliness that was easy to ignore, until you started working up a good heart rate on your bike, then you noticed your lungs were so cold it felt like burning. The sound of your tires on the wet pavement, particularly when careening downhill at high speed. For some reason, people in the mid-80s used to like to decorate their front porches with cheap, polyester windsocks. They were often vividly colored, usually rainbow, like prototype pride flags. When an occasional wind stirred up enough to gust, the windsocks would flap, and owning to the water-soaked polyester, make a wet slapping sound. It was loud, it was distinct, but you learned to ignore it as part of the background, along with the cawing of crows and distant passing cars.
That was my perception of Farmingham as a kid. The town itself? Just a typical Pacific Northwest town. That might not mean much for younger people or modern visitors, but there was a time when such towns were all the same. They were logging towns. It was the greatest resource of the area from the late 19th century, right up until about the 80s, when the whole thing collapsed. Portland, Seattle, they had a few things going on beyond just the timber industry, but all the hundreds of little towns and small cities revolved around logging, and my town was no exception.
I remember going to the museum. It had free admission, and it was a popular field trip destination for the local school system. It used to be the City Hall, a weird Queen Anne-style construction. Imagine a big Victorian house, but blown up to absurd proportions, and with all sorts of superfluous decorations. Made out of local timber, of course. They had a hall for art, I can’t even remember why, now. Maybe they were local artists. I only remember paintings of sailboats and topless women, which was a rare sight for a kid at the time. There was a hall filled with 19th-century household artifacts. Chamber pots and weird children's toys.
Then there was the logging section, which was the bulk of the museum. It’s strange how different things seemed to be in the early days of the logging industry, despite being only about a hundred years old, from my perspective in the 1980s. If you look back a hundred years from today, in the 1920s, you had automobiles, airplanes, electrical appliances, jazz music, radio programs, flappers, it doesn’t feel that far removed, does it? No TV, no internet, but it wouldn’t be that strange. 1880s? Different world.
Imagine red cedars, so big you could have a full logging crew, arms stretched out, just barely manage to encircle one for a photographer. Felling a single tree was the work of days. Men could rest and eat their lunches in the shelter of a cut made into a trunk, and not worry for safety or room. They had to cut their own little platforms into the trees many feet off the ground, just so the trunk was a little bit thinner, and thus hours of labor saved. They used those long, flexible two-man saws. And double-bit axes. They worked in the gloom of the shade with old gas lanterns. Once cut down from massive logs thirty feet in diameter, they’d float the logs downhill in sluices, like primitive wooden make-shift water slides. Or they’d haul them down to the nearest river, the logs pulled by donkeys on corduroy roads. They’d lay large amounts of grease on the roads, so the logs would slide easily. You could still smell the grease on the old tools on display in the museum. The bigger towns had streets where the loggers would slide the logs down greased skids all the way down to the sea, where they’d float in big logjams until the mills were ready for processing. They’d call such roads “skid-rows.” Because of all the activity, they’d end up being the worst parts of town. Local citizens wouldn’t want to live there, due to all the stink and noise. They’d be on the other side of the brothels and the opium dens. It would be the sort of place where the destitute and the insane would find themselves when they’d finally lost anything. To this day, “skidrow” remains a euphemism for the part of a city where the homeless encamp.
That was the lore I’d learned as a child. That was my “ancestry” I was supposed to respect and admire, which I did, wholeheartedly. There were things they left out, though. Things that you might have suspected, from a naive perspective, would be perfect for kids, all the folklore that came with the logging industry. The ghost stories, and the tall tales. I would have eaten that up. They do talk about that kind of thing in places far removed from the Pacific Northwest. But I had never heard about any of it. Things like the Hidebehind. No, that I’d have to discover for myself.
There were four of us on those bike adventures. Myself. Ralph, my best friend. A tough guy, the bad boy, the most worldly of us, which is a strange thing to say about an eight-year-old kid. India, an archetypal ‘80s tomboy. She was the coolest person I knew at the time. Looking back, I wonder what her home life was like. I think I remember problematic warning signs that I couldn’t have recognized when I was so young, but now raise flags. Then there was Ben. A goofy kid, a wild mop of hair, coke bottle glasses, type 1 diabetic which seemed to make him both a bit pampered by his mother, who was in charge of all his insulin, diet, and schedule, and conversely a real risk taker when she wasn’t around.
When we first saw it…
No, wait. This was the problem with starting the story. Where does it all begin? I’ll need to talk about my Grandfather as well. I’ve had two different perspectives on my Grandfather, on the man that he was. The first was the healthy able-bodied grandparent I’d known as a young child. Then there was the man, as I learned about him after he had passed.
There was a middle period, from when I was 6 to when I was 16, when I hardly understood him at all, as he was hit with a double whammy of both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer's. His decline into an invalid was both steep and long drawn out. That part didn’t reflect who he was as a person.
What did I know of him when I was little? Well I knew he and my grandmother had a nice big house and some farmland, out in the broad flat valley north of Farmingham. Dairy country. It had been settled by Dutch immigrants back in the homesteading days. His family had been among the first pioneers in the county too. It didn’t register to me then that his surname was Norwegian, not Dutch. I knew he had served in the Navy in World War II, which I was immensely proud of for reasons I didn’t know why. I knew he had a job as a butcher in a nearby rural supermarket. He was a bit of a farmer too, more as a hobby and a side gig. He had a few cattle, but mostly grew and harvested hay to sell to the local dairies. I knew he had turned his garage into a machine shop, and could fix damn near anything. From the flat tires on my bicycle to the old flat-bed truck he’d haul hay with, to an old 1950s riding lawnmower he somehow managed to keep in working order. I knew he could draw a really cool cartoon cowboy, I knew he loved to watch football, and I knew the whiskers on his chin were very pokey, and they’d tickle you when he kissed you on the cheek, and that when you tried to rub the sensation away he’d laugh and laugh and laugh.
Then there were the parts of his life that I’d learn much later. Mostly from odd passing comments from relatives, or things I’d find in the public records. Like how he’d been a better grandfather than a father. Or how his life as I knew it had been a second, better life. He’d been born among the Norwegian settler community, way up in the deep, dark, forest-shrouded hills that rimmed the valley. He’d been a logger in his youth. Technologically he was only a generation or two from the ones I’d learned about in the museum. They’d replaced donkeys with diesel engines and corduroy roads with narrow gauge rail. It was still the same job, though. Dirty, dangerous, dark. Way back into those woods, living in little logging camps, civilization was always a several-day hike out. It became a vulgar sort of profession, filled with violent men, reprobates, and thieves. When my grandfather’s father was murdered on his front porch by a lunatic claiming he’d been wronged somehow, my grandfather hiked out of there, got into town, and joined the Navy. He vowed never to go back. The things he’d seen out in those woods were no good. He’d kept that existence away from me. Anyways…
Tommy Barker was the first of us to go missing. I say ‘us’ as if I knew him personally. I didn’t. He went to Farmingham Middle School, other side of town, and several grades above us. From our perspective, he may as well have been an adult living overseas.
Yet it felt like we got to know him. His face was everywhere, on TV, all over telephone poles. Everybody was talking about him. After he didn’t return from a friend’s house, everybody just sort of assumed, or maybe hoped, that he’d just gotten lost, or was trapped somewhere. They searched all the parks. Backyards, junkyards, refrigerators, trunks. Old-fashioned refrigerators, back before suction seals, had a simple handle with a latch that opened when you pulled on it. It wasn’t a problem when the fridges were in use and filled with food. But by the 80s old broke-down refrigerators started filling up backyards and junkyards, and they became deathtraps for kids playing hide-and-seek. The only opened from the outside. I remember thinking Tommy Barker was a little old to have likely been playing hide-and-seek, but people checked everywhere anyway. They never found him.
That was about the first time we saw the Hidebehind. Ben said he thought he saw somebody following us, looked like, maybe, a kid. We’d just slowly huffed our way up a moderately steep hill, Farmingham is full of them, and when we paused for a breather at the top, Ben said he saw it down the hill, closer to the base. Yet when we turned to look there was nothing there. Ben said he’d just seen it duck behind a car. That wasn’t the sort of behavior of a random kid minding his own business. Yet the slope afforded us a view under the car’s carriage, and except for the four tires, there were no signs of any feet hiding behind the body. At first, we thought he was pulling our leg. When he insisted he wasn’t, we started to tease him a little. He must have been seeing things, on account of his poor vision and thick glasses. The fact that those glasses afforded him vision as good as or better than any of us wasn’t something we considered.
The next person to disappear was Amy Brooks. Fifth-grader. Next elementary school over. I remember it feeling like when you’re traveling down the freeway, and there’s a big thunderstorm way down the road, but it keeps getting closer, and closer. I don’t remember what she looked like. Her face wasn’t plastered everywhere like Tommy’s had been. She was mentioned on the regional news, out of Seattle, her and Tommy together. Two missing kids from the same town in a short amount of time. The implication was as obvious as it was depraved. They didn’t think the kids were getting lost anymore. They didn’t do very much searching of backyards. The narratives changed too. Teachers started talking a lot about stranger danger. Local TV channels started recycling old After School Specials and public service announcements about the subject.
I’m not sure who saw it next. I think it was Ben again. We took him seriously this time though. I think. The one I’m sure I remember was soon after, and that time it was India who first saw it. It’s still crystal clear in my memory, almost forty years later, because that was the time I first saw it too. We were riding through a four-way stop, an Idaho Stop before they called it that, when India slammed to a stop, locking up her coaster brakes and leaving a long black streak of rubber on a dry patch of pavement. We stopped quickly after and asked what the problem was. We could tell by her face she’d seen it. She was still looking at it.
“I see it,” she whispered, unnecessarily. We all followed her gaze. We were looking, I don’t know, ten seconds? Twenty? We believed everything she said, we just couldn’t see it.
“Where?” Ralph asked.
“Four blocks down,” she whispered. “On the left. See the red car? Kinda rusty?” There was indeed a big old Lincoln Continental, looking pretty ratty and worn. I focused on that, still seeing nothing. “Past that, just to its right. See the street light pole? It’s just behind that.”
We also saw the pole she was talking about. Metal. Aluminum, I’d have guessed. It had different color patches, like metallic flakeboard. Like it’d had been melted together out of scrap.
I could see that clearly even from that distance. I saw nothing behind it. I could see plenty of other things in the background, cars, houses, bushes, front lawns, beauty bark landscape.. There was no indication of anything behind that pole.
And then it moved. It had been right there where she said it had been, yet it had somehow perfectly blended into the landscape, a trick of perspective. We didn’t see it at all until it moved, and almost as fast it had disappeared behind that light pole. We only got a hint. Brown in color, about our height in size.
We screamed. Short little startled screams, the involuntary sort that just burst out of you. Then we turned and started to pedal like mad, thoroughly spooked. We made it to the intersection of the next block when it was Ralph who screeched to a halt and shouted, “Wait!”
We slowed down and stopped, perhaps not as eagerly as we’d done when India yelled. Ralph was looking back over his shoulder, looking at that metal pole. “Did anybody see it move again?’ he asked. We all shook our heads in the negative. Ralph didn’t notice, but of course, he didn’t really need an answer, of course we hadn’t been watching.
“If it didn’t move, then it’s still there!” Ralph explained the obvious. It took a second to sink in, despite the obvious. “C’mon!” he shouted, and to our surprise, before we could react, he turned and took off, straight down the road, straight to where that thing had been lurking.
We were incredulous, but something about his order made us all follow hot on his heels. He was a sort of natural leader. I thought it was total foolishness, but I wasn’t going to let him go alone. I think I got out, “Are you crazy?!”
The wind was blowing hard past our faces as we raced as fast as we could, it made it hard to hear. Ralph shouted his response. “If it’s hiding that means its afraid!” That seemed reasonable, if not totally accurate. Lions hide from their prey before they attack. Then again, they don’t wait around when the whole herd charges. Really, the pole was coming up so fast there wasn’t a whole lot of time to argue. “Just blast past and look!” Ralph added. “We’re too fast! It won’t catch us.”
Sure, I thought to myself. Except maybe Ben, who always lagged behind the rest of us in a race. The lion would get Ben if any of us.
We rushed past that pole and all turned our heads to look. “See!” Ralph shouted in triumph. There was simply nothing there. A metal streetlight pole and nothing more. We stopped pedaling yet still sped on. “Hang on,” Ralph said, and at the next intersection he took a fast looping curve that threatened to crash us all, but we managed and curved behind him. We all came to the pole again where we stopped to see up close that there was nothing there, despite what we had seen moments before.
“Maybe it bilocated,” Ben offered. We groaned. We were all thinking it, but I think we were dismissive because it wasn’t as cool a word as ‘teleport.”
“Maybe it just moved when we weren’t looking,” I offered. That hadn’t been long, but that didn’t mean anything if it moved fast. The four of us slowly looked up from the base of the pole to our immediate surroundings. There were bushes. A car in a carport covered by a tarpaulin. The carport itself. Garbage cans. Stumps. Of course the ever-present trees. Whatever it was it could have been hiding behind anything. Maybe it was. We looked. Maybe it would make itself seen. None of us wanted that. “OK, let’s get going,” Ralph said, and we did so.
I got home feeling pretty shaken that afternoon. I felt safe at home. Except for the front room, which had a big bay window looking out onto the street, and the people who lived across it. There were plenty of garbage cans and telephone poles and stumps that a small, fast thing might hide behind. No, I felt more comfortable in my bedroom. There was a window, but a great thick conical cypress tree grew right in front of it, reaching way up over the roof of the house. If anything, it offered ME a place to hide, and peer out onto the street to either side of the tree. It was protective, as good as any heavy blanket.

Hi, I want to get into jump rope but the only space my gym seemingly has is a long roll of artificial field turf. Can I jump on that? It doesn’t seem like the “blades” of grass go very high. Thanks.

So...God has it been this long? Feels like a week but that week was a life time.
So my step dad and mom broke up like a year ago. Mom sold her house and had 80k in the bank. She is bipolar and not very smart. Believes conspiracy nonsense. She latched onto the idea she was being hacked. Would look through the system files on her phone or laptop and think "aha this is proof I'm being hacked," but anyone that's even bothered to look at those things generally knows 90% of it is unimportant stuff. Like a bsod you just kind of look at the error code and work from there but she would, in this hypothetical, microanalyse every number and word and write it down and assume any dumb thing about it.
She was being super schizo and I think got hooked on stimulants. And stimulants and bipolar mania do not mix. She basically was like schizophrenic worse than any schizo I've ever known.
Tuesday I was getting a ride to work with my step dad. The week before I told yall I had the most amazing date with this guy, my bf. I had him over at my house for the first time and it was amazing. I left my house because I was so giddy and...wet and went to brag to my friend and get wine. A taxi driver ran the red and hit me. That was may 19th.
Tuesday last week, again, my step dad was picking me up for work. We stopped back by his house to grab something he needed before leaving. My mom was...shit...omg she was having an episode. And my step dad (who broke up with her) was yelling and she was screaming. It was scary and I just knew "if we don't get them apart they're gonna murder each other :("
My mom blew through that 80k in less than a year and her drug addiction and refusal to take her antipsychotics or whatever bipolar take (mood stabilizers?) Made everyone fed up with her. My step dad broke up with her after 10 years, she moved in with my transphobic as shit grandpa, drove everyone around her crazy.
Recently my sister got a restraining order against her and I thought it would never happen (cause he treats her nicer than anyone) but her dad kicked her out a couple months ago. She was at step dads cause everyone else was so done with her and he is such an amazing family man and empathetic person that even though it was killing him he just couldn't leave her on the street...yet.
After their awful fight I said my step dad "I feel terrible that this has been dumped on you. Everyone else has washed their hands of her and you're stuck with her like this, I feel like I need to help you [because you've helped me so much] if there's anything I can do please let me know. I know nobody else will."
The day came. Thursday. He said she has a flight Saturday and he has been working on fixing his buddies boat to take out on memorial day weekend. He asked me to take her.
I had plans with my boyfriend Friday and I explained everything and apologized profusely. He was understanding (he is such a great guy so far.)
I had to venture to stay with my transphobic grandfather. Step.dad told him "I won't let her stay at my house while I'm gone and im locking it up," and I guess grandpa could tolerate it for the weekend. I showed up and said I'm helping her move and will be gone tomorrow.
I got put through absolute fucking hell this weekend. And I stood up for myself constantly. My brother, who says I am his best friend and he mine, was not there. He was stuck a town over with his gf. If he had been not only would the time have flown by but also he would have stuck up for me but I am glad i said the things I did. I remember when one of them said "you're making a mistake," and I quickly and coldly told them "you dumped your pregnant girlfriend you cheated on your wife with," with a scowl and his face went pale and everyone in the room became silent.
All you shameful sacks of shit
I eventually retired to my brother's room to be alone Friday night. So ready to take my mom to the airport Saturday and be home.
Oh boy
I was playing world of warceaft when I got a super inflamed huge welt below my wrist. I saw a mosquito hawk when i entered the room and all over the garage. I thought "damn that mosquito got my ass for sure." But I kept getting them on the underside of my right arm. And I thought this pattern...no...
I jumped up and looked at the bedding and saw bedbugs
I fucking yelled at everyone. To the point the boy voice came out and my throat/voice was fucked all weekend. "This is all I have," "I was homeless for a year and now I have to risk taking this shit home," etc. People and their fucking pride. Istg. Nobody wants to admit to having them. The fact nobody told me was an evil thing. Truly despicable. Because they want to pretend to be perfect but at the end of the day they're just shit. And not just because of the bugs but omitting it. Fucking idiot morons
I eventually relented. And began the process of taking apart my laptop to bathe in ethanol. You can't clean electronics. I've had bed bugs 2 times as a minor and experimented with a litany of chemicals and poisons. I found with 91% isopropyl they sort of ooze blood and die, I assume they're vomiting or something. And it's conveniently the only safe way to wash electronics.
I out my clothes in the wash and grabbed some random clothes out of storage in the hot ass attic. Bed bugs hate heat and would probably die in a summer attic. Thankfully they don't have carpet, because fabrics is hownrhey travel. I went to the most secluded bedroom upstairs in their like 6 bedroom house. I was paranoid the whole weekend. I washed my clothes 5 times. And even ran then dry in the dryer several times then bagged them up in a trash bag. I bathed my laptop in ethanol.
The whole time I'm telling my boyfriend about this and so upset. I was being strong on the outside but inside I was distraught.
He was so affirming. This guy is literally so affirming and romantic that any woman--cis or trans--would be lucky to have him. He kept me company as I avoided my family as much as I could.
I've been having an issue with wet dreams lately. Sometimes while I'm awake even. Overwhelming, powerful fantasies that five me tunnel vision and nearly convulse. I have multiple orgasms without touching myself, asleep. They half way wake me up but only for a moment to senselessly roll my eyes around in a blur like an amusement park ride.
I have been open with this problem with him. I just fuckin leak pre-cum/lubricant when aroused now. From what I understand this is normal because the prostate behaves like the schenes gland (the female homologue of the prostate responsible for lubricating things.) But warned him I ruin my blankets and clothes. These things are out of my control and have been sort of a miserable/confusing but also tantalizing thing to experience. This will be relevant in a second.
My mom Saturday was so unprepared. She wanted to constantly repack all of her shit. She has more clothes and shoes and garbage than most people. Just shit she blew her money on. She told me "if I ever come into money I'll help you," bitch you had almost a 100k in the bank the whole time I was homeless and I never asked for a dime and I never gave a shit so yea go on about how much you care about your kids.
She got into a dui and was leaving the state. If she stayed shenhad to get a breathalyzer in the car and blah blah blah. She realized talking to step dad that she couldn't take the car and nobody would let her park it in their yard indefinitely. Her giving me the car seems less like thoughtful thing than just something that made since given mine was destroyed and nobody else would indulge her a single bit.
So for me im helping my step dad cause what I saw Tuesday was terrible. My brother thinks she will kill herself when she is broke. The last of her money is like 2.2k and she has it in cash. But we both think she is gonna fly out to California and go broke then try to come back and want to be taken care of (get a fucking job you lazy--!) She's always relied on her good looks (oh and she got BA so she can't talk shit about me wanting surgeries tho sometimes she tries and I bring that up) and manipulation and social skills to rely on men she entraps. But she is around or almost 50 now it's apparent now that's a dwindling or nonexistent option for her.
So Saturday sh fought me trying to fit her entire over sized wardrobe into 2 suit cases until like 40 minutes until her flight. I basically speeded where i could but we missed her flight by like 5 minutes. She began to talk about "maybe I'm just not meant to go." And tried ti act cute about it and shit. I tried to tell her "if you fuck this up you have nothing and nobody." She angrily always tried to twist the subject and try to make me into the villain for helping her.
Her flight was rescheduled for Monday.
The whole time I'm just...pouring it out for my boyfriend. I'm so fucking upset about this situation I'm stuck in. And you know how I know this guy is great? He was so empathetic and read every word of it. And he made this living hell bearable for me. I could almost cry.
In fact I bragged on him when I could. Yes I like dick. I came out as gay to you despicable shit heads when I was like a preteen. They act like I everything I do is wrong. How they can feel superior to me with so many skeletons in their closet is infuriating. One of them literally molested someone but is trying to tell me I'm fucked in the head. You should go back to prison and be sterilized! You fuckin maniacs.
Every night I would talk to my bf. I love the way I'm small and atrophied and 5'6 and see more of myself in the mirror. I'm so happy random strangers clock me as a woman. And the little things he says or does are so fuckin special it could bring me to tears.
Finally, Monday came. Step dad was on his way back to help me ensure she got on her flight. She tried not to several times and was anxious and panicked. But we got her out the door and I got her to the airport 50 minutes early. Which is good because they say to arrive 45 minutes early for luggage check.
I'm wearing fucking pajama pants and a thin shirt. My tits, my crotch, my ass, God if I wasn't so determined to see this through I wouldn't have degraded myself to this.
I hugged her and said good by. Got into my new car. Went to Walmart and bought bombs and poison. And got back to grandpa's by like maybe 9:30 pm. And I didn't fuck around. I took all Mt stuff I've cleaned over and over. I doused my whip (car) in poison and then went inside. He tries talking to me and dead named me. I just stepped past him into the garage with a thousand mile stare. I sprayed all of my things with poison. I showered and changed into my poison soaked clothes. Literally my clothes (which I washed and dried over and over and over) were soaking wet in poison. Drenched. I threw the remaining shit into my car and bombed it. I left as soon as the fog cleared.
I was so happy texting my boyfriend. Everything that could wrong and the mental turmoil...God all of it. My bf wanted to do something sweet for me. Wanted to bring me food. I felt bad turning him down. I told him i just needed this time. I pulled up to the gas station my good friend works at and talked to my bf on the phone for a while. I got out and went in and talked to Mt friend. He said when he saw me Saturday he could tell it was catastrophically bad. I had offered to bring him food (they don't get lunch breaks) Saturday and was giving me a hard time (in a friendly joking way,) and I told him I'd do it but not tonight. I'm so done tonight. Got a bottle of wine and left.
I got home and locked my car. Got into my house and just fuckin cried for a minute.
I texted my boyfriend until late at night.
I am going to see him in a few hours. I'm bringing food and we are going to hangout before he goes to work. I sent him videos of my boobs and ass cheeks. I really like that my hips look so much more round now. Especially from the back like doggy style. He really wanted to come over. I suppose I teased him. We were both drunk. Saturday I had an involuntary wet dream and told him about it. It woke me up and I rubbed my legs together and sort of grinded while i came then went back to sleep. Trust me I didn't want want have this dream or to do that. I feel like the hormones are beating me down or controlling me in some way that almost scares me.
It reminds me too much of amab puberty where masturbating felt involuntary and was the only way to make it go away. It's different but gets eerily close to my dysphoria remembering that.
I could hardly sleep. I think the physical effects of the stress are persisting on a physical or biological level. Physiological?
All I ever wanted was a man like this. One that wants to love me. Treats me like a woman and the way I want to be treated. I prayed for so long.
When I was homeless i would drink sometimes and climb into my back seat. I would take my only pillow and wrap it around me and feel the warmth inside of me and imagine a man was holding me.
Early transition I prayed to be pretty. I asked God for so much. While some degree of youthfulness and beauty has been afforded to me it has not come without consequences and new challenges. Then I prayed to God for a boyfriend and dated several men and moped about miserably on apps. And on here.
I feel incredibly fortunate and humbled. Transition for me has been hard. There was a person I did almost find myself with at one time but certain factors made it impossible to be together.
With this car and my own place and boyfriend. I feel like...like my life is normal. I said that too, to my mom. She tried to say "I can't wait to see you one day when stuff like that (family intentionally and hatefully disrespecting and dead naming me) just rolls off you like water on a ducks back." I told her I won't tolerate that from them and ultimately what she is asking of me is to just be ok with them treating me that way. I told her about my boyfriend and the way he treats me or the way my brother treats and respects me by introducing me as his sister and always gendering me correctly: "IT MAKES ME FEEL NORMAL, IT MAKES ME HAPPY."
I was always like this inside. And im so happy that so many people can see it outside.
When I was leaving the airport and paying my parking the parking attendant, a man, said in a jovial tone "how can I help you today, young lady?" It doesn't even have to be flattering. That little bit of validation in a pit of despair made me feel so good.
Today I have my second laser appointment. And i have a date with my boyfriend in a few hours. I am about to get ready to leave. This is the life I want for myself. This one. Not that chaos and misery those morons pretend is normal. Not the way they treat me. Not the way they treat each other and pretend it's OK because "were family." That doesn't men shit to me coming from them. They abandoned me young and I left home at 14. I've basically raised myself and I'm emotionally and socially stunted because of it but I feel like flower that has blossomed into something beautiful. I am Jennifer and I love it.
If you made it this far. Thanks for reading. I'm going to brush my teeth and start my day. I have a date and laser and then a date with world of warcraft to play with my friends. After typing this I feel over all that other nonsense. So over.
If you are out there and reading this I want this (the good) for you too. Don't let those people take this from you when we have already gave up so much.

It will be a few more days until we can play again so I thought I would tell a tale.
A little backstory. When my wife and I started dating I was a senior in high school and she had just graduated the year before. I would play Diablo 1 and she would come over and watch me haggle with Wirt and adventure into the dungeons. She eventually started her own character, a sorcerer, and on school nights my parents would head to bed at about 10 and I would head to bed around 11. She would play for a little bit and let herself out. A couple occasions she heard my Mom's alarm that was set for 5am and hadn't realized the time that had gone by, she would sneak out as quietly as she could and was never caught.
Years later when D2 came out we were a young married family. Played D2 for hours into the evening and just enjoyed being able to play in the same game together instead of sharing the account and computer time. We eventually started playing Vanilla Wow and made it into a top raiding guild on the server we were on. My wife enjoyed questing more than raiding but I was proud of her for keeping up with the other players in the guild. Got into new guilds and met new people when The Burning Crusade came around and played through the early raids in WoTLK before eventually just not playing enough to justify the account membership.
When D3 came out I was excited but we didn't own a PC that could run the game. I pre-ordered the game on my Xbox and figured it would be a decent compromise to couch co-op. I had another friend who's wife was going to play too so I figured we would have a nice dungeon group. My wife attempted to play on controller and gave up before level 7 saying she needed the ability to just click the M1 button and sling the spells she was choosing on the keyboard and that the controller was too complicated to enjoy the game. I gave up trying and just enjoyed D3 and the expansion with her spectating the game, although she seemed less interested in D3 than the previous 2 games. Was I losing my Diablo Dungeon buddy? Was Facebook poisoning her screen time?
So D4 beta comes along and I talk my wife into giving it a shot since last year I helped my son build his own PC. She was able to sit and point and click like she enjoyed. She was definitely rusty and the first boss had her actually anxious since she was on her own in there. We took turns playing and leveling on the first beta. The server shuts down and she said she enjoyed her time. I ordered her a gaming laptop the next week. None of my 3 kids seem interested in playing Diablo, but my middle child did say it was great to see us gaming and having fun together.
Once that arrived we decided to play D2 Resurrected and have had fun running through Sanctuary again on the higher graphics. Assassin for me and Sorcerer for her.
So then Server Slam is announced. I roll a Twisted Blades rogue and my wife rolled a sorcerer. We played and got to level 20. We decided to level another set of characters. This time she chose Necromancer and I tried a Barbarian. I didn't stick with mine past level 10 but she enjoyed Necromancer enough that is the class she is going to play at launch.
Mothers day comes around and I woke up around 8 am and look into trying to attempt Ashava. I had never even made it over to the area that she spawned in. I knew she was coming at 9 am and I walked my character over just in case I could get a chance to attempt her. I went to the armorer and leveled all my gear up. My wife woke up around 8:30 and asked what I was up to and I said "Well... we could try to take on this world boss that is coming in about 25 minutes" she said OK and while she got out of bed I got her character logged in and teleported over to where Ashava spawns. I had watched a quick YouTube video explaining the tips and tricks to the fight so I wasn't totally unprepared. I explained to my wife to try her best to stay under the backside of her during the fight and stay out of the puddles.
Our group was ahead of the timer for the kill and I don't think I died until after we got her less than 50% I was hitting my marks and I feel like I was doing well on DPS for the group. And at this point my kids come downstairs for their Mother's Day gift presentation all excited to surprise their mom. I said "Not great timing here" They were like "Oh? What are you doing?" I'm mashing buttons here what does it look like!? They ended up getting to spectate and eventually my one son was calling out potions for my wife and my middle child was letting me know when I needed to dash out from the straight back claw attack. All three were now part of the team in this attempt to slay the demon. No one in our group of 10 or so players were reviving, I had no idea you could do that I was just just trying to stay on task. My wife ends up having to run to town at about 15% to repair. She makes it back to the fight and I die again and have to run to town with like 5% left and the timer very close to ending. As I am running over to the armorer I trip on a post outside the house and get stuck. Get to the armorer and my youngest starts counting the timer out loud "15 14 13 ..." I hit repair all and run back to the portal "7 6 5 ...". I get in and dash over to try and hit Ashava just as the timer runs out. And I think "Shit I was so close" as Ashava turns toward her spawn and someone, maybe even my wife, lands the killing blow. I see the beast collapse and the game announce "World Boss Defeated: Ashava the Pestilent."
My kids jump up and cheer I stand up and start throwing high-fives to everyone. I kiss and hug my wife and we all have a great family moment together, playing a game. It will be a Mother's Day event we will remember for years to come.

girlie is a little late today, but here are the rankings! junwon has surpassed jaemin in views, and taeseon jumped up by 7 spots! top 3 is still the top 3, and the highest view count in each group is still the same:)
also, i find it cute how the japanese line (minus hayato :/) are back to back on the rankings! (6th - 8th place :0) 1. Santa - 123 822 🛑 (-) 2. K-soul - 120 341 🛑 (-) 3. Hong Sungmin - 102 986 🛑 (-) 4. Yu Junwon - 95 385 (🔺1) 5. Hwang Jaemin - 91 149 (🔻1) 6. Hikaru - 51 783 🛑 (-) 7. Hikari - 35 250 (🔺3) 8. Yuma - 33 557 (🔺6) 9. Moon Hyunbin - 32 452 (🔻1) 10. Kim Wooseok - 29 666 🛑 (🔻3) 11. Kang Minseo - 28 723 (🔺1) 12. Lee Hanbin - 27 273 🛑 (🔻3) 13. Taeseon - 26 219 (🔺7) 14. Ling Qi - 24 027 (🔺4) 15. Oh Hyuntae - 23 794 🛑 (🔻4) 16. Kang Hyunwoo - 23 231 🛑 (🔻3) 17. Kang Daehyeon - 21 830 (🔺4) 18. Ha Seokhee - 21 597 🛑 (🔻3) 19. Keum Jinho - 20 600 🛑 (🔻3) 20. Kim Gyurae - 20 374 🛑 (🔻3) 21. Kaedan - 18 505 (🔺1) 22. Hayato - 18 152 🛑 (🔻3) 23. Jin Myungjae - 15 862 (🔺1) 24. Park Hyunggun - 12 551 (🔺1) 25. Kang Irang - 10 623 🛑 (🔻2) 26. Nam Seunghyun - 9432 (🔺1) 27. Kim Daehui - 7229 🛑 (🔻1) 28. Kim Beomjun - 6130 (-)
just curious, if you had the power to, who would you give the benefits to and why? mine would be hikaru, but maybe i’m being a little biased…

Oh, my beloved's wonderfully beautiful house, we found it empty From humans, even from empty ghosts Where did they leave and where did they go? There is no one here Even ask him about them except the remnants of their stuff I stood by their hearth and the ashes of their fire Maybe they will answer my question But she is deaf even if she speaks to them with signs Dumb don't speak and don't care about my condition I turned around, towards my sweetheart's room And water them with pure tears Harsh does not understand the lover's words They are like envious hearts The soul is desperate here around his house I call out loud why the beloved changed his home How do I find my soul mate? And circuits I can't cheat on I can't help it I sat watching and the spectrum came waving to me Like a mirage, I see it and it has no shadow Shows its color and body But I saw her braid when I took off her veil I stood up to him and he approached me and greeted him Hello, hello, where are you my dear How can you leave me without a mark, my love? You are my world and all my life She looked at me with eyes that were gazelles Tears fell like a string of pearls and overflowed She said: Don't blame me for a moment I have never paid attention to others, and the heart has no entrance to others Be patient, may God have mercy on you And after the distance that was between us, you will feel close to my arrival I told her that my patience ran out and my life What's my trick, it's been a long time to leave you? And you're in my heart, how could you not know that? And the fire in my heart burns and glows My eyes do not rest for an hour at night - Tell me when the darkness of the night will pass Then she looked at the Southern Star and offered him sympathy Because he is also a lover And I said, O Star of the South, there you are, like me This chandelier faces north My love also left our homes Don't blame me, spectrum, she's my love After her, I feel the spirit rising He smiled sweetly about the eight pearls They emit a glow and scatter their mirages high And his spectrum disappeared from the moment of my eyes He missed his imagination and got carried away a lot I stood up to say something that crossed my mind A dream my eyes saw or something I imagined for me I wiped my eyes and saw nothing but those remnants of their belongings And the dust hid under it everything they left I cried and cried knowing that crying does not work But crying over him sometimes lightens the burden for me I walked with my eyes behind her whims And the eye hopes to see it again And every step I take, the heart wants her home So that his house became shady, warm and cool And if a vile or envious person passes me by, he will blame me They said compensation or someone else's role in place of your lover I nodded and didn't want to talk to him until he leaves He thinks I'm crazy He doesn't know how much I love Sarah She is life, soul and all my hopes Sarah, my life and death without her I don't care if I see her with blood on my clothes They mentioned that she lives in the winter in the desert The desert is very wide From Dumat Al-Jandal to the North Mountains From the Jordan Junction in the south to Wadi Ramadi As for the country of Raqqa, its sun shines with heat My dear brother: whenever I see lightning, I am happy At Kohla I said lightning makes me happy My dear brother: When my chest gets tired of my world I sing in a sad voice of my fears I'm still young, but my hair has turned white I don't know why luck has become a sieve Even my buddies. They started to move away from me And when I come to them, they don't care about me Maybe I think when their minds are petty - I have never been stingy. I disobey myself if you ask me to They shorten the words of benefit so that I do not hear Their love for my enemy became more Solitude has become more beautiful and delicious in the wilderness And I answered his wolf and howled over the hills I said to him: O wolf, your voice comforts me Come close to me, you are my friend You left behind your loved ones and so did I And your worries and fears have a loud voice Our loved ones are having a good winter in this beautiful country May they be healthy and their country fertile When they get close, good news for you I will give you from God's gifts of elite what I have You and I made a vow of purity and purity And what we wish for you is my hope Let you play with deer and antelope And drink water after thirst from pure water Even your fangs are beautiful, don't eat carrion with them And do not snipe from the weak catch - And what do you say about the days that reverse the trend? Bad days, cutting chains and cables His ribs trembled and his chest ached His voice echoed from the countryside and hills And the wild pigeons heard the echo of my complaint to the wolf Then the pigeons wailed from a thin tree branch Birds of prey fluttered to him Even the broken winged one took pity on me Then the birds migrated south and rose into the sky Even the slender bird has become a migratory They returned after about a year and then went to Russia They want a spring and drink earthquake water They said we saw him a year ago This is a wolf companion in an empty nomadic wilderness It tolerates heat and winter frosts He only wears shabby clothes Then the birds headed with the liver of the sky towards the star of Capricorn After we cut my heart Death has become with my life together I think death is more beautiful than life - He did not despair of the mercy of the living God who never sleeps He is a surety if he wants to cherish me or humiliate me If he wants to send happiness to my heart And it makes the world beautiful in my eyes This is the appreciation of God Almighty, and He is above the Great Throne God knows what covered my chest and what he said Oh God, I ask you, Taiz Karim, I miss him You are generous and giving My brother is still physically and existentially alone in my heart When I visit him, he makes my situation with him generous His right is greater than mine, and I cannot fulfill his right For the duration of his absence, I cut off my letters from him May my life and my time bring us together And the eyes rejoice after crying And the dark days stop oppressing its people After the gloom, life becomes beautiful and cloudless I would be glad to see him if he came to me in my dreams So how about my eyes if I saw him before me My brother, when he sits in the council, adorns him with etiquette and good manners He has a stature and learner from the lives of the apostles - Lover of the book of God and the biography of his prophet What has changed by nature is still generous When the white flags of thanks went up It has a white flag with a high mountain peak And the miser who closes his door is miserly The doors of his house are always open and no doors are closed He meets you and greets you and you can see the fun on his face And the smell of coffee, saffron and cardamom, coffee workers He always honors guests as he honors himself A decent man always has guests in his house I remember him when a gentle western breeze comes I called him by his name and one of my sons was named after him I have waited and hoped that my dream would come true Neither my uncle nor my uncle compensated me for that And as I climbed to the top of Mt The world narrowed down and the carefree walks beside me Separation of a brother cuts the veins of my heart The wound is not treated unless it is near me I'm not with living in the world in happiness I ask forgiveness from God if I say that death is more merciful to my condition - Oh God, forgive my slip and my sin You know what's going on Man's luck is helpless He runs and does not catch up with bare feet Because the world has managed him Like the fearful when fear befalls him Just like scattering flour with the wind It is necessary to collect it, but the wind shakes the flour When night comes and people enter their homes They sleep now, but I stay up with my worries The night is like a stingy person collecting his money in a treasury Gather my worries hard and leave no burden but bring it It's like I'm on coals turning on the night of the fire Seconds became long in this darkness He no longer walks, but something is pulling him You have eaten me In winter, cold flutes are heard Blue and black clouds covered my eyes And the wind squeezed his lightning and it disappeared Her thunder resounded like the beating of a drum - And they descended the valleys and tributaries with their pebbles A roaring water shouted noise If I put my palms in front of me, I will not see them My mind narrowed until I touched its tip I'm waiting for the harbinger of dawn However, the sky became cold and its star was clear The ice melted and my limbs froze Even my lips weren't able to say oh brother The twilight color in my eyes is fading Missed from last night The morning came and completed what was missing from the worries of the night And the sun at noon automatically with its warmth My blood ran through my veins I cried the cry of an old man who had lost his only child At the top of a tall mountain then began to weep My eyes looked from west to east And differentiate between right and left I shed tears like embers on my cheeks I hope that, I hope it heals me Lump in my throat and shortness of breath And over my eyes a thick cloud covering me - I no longer find myself between the valleys and the mountain And if I read the letter K, I told him the letter D I asked for my freedom, I tasted the obvious injustice I insisted on ordering it, and I feel sorry for her You have redeemed freedom with soul, blood and body I have never been lazy But it pushes me away into alien land and over the edge And my heart goes out to the family homes and loved ones to care for them I want to be close to them, I want to be near them, I want to support them And these are their songs, and I don't want to live alone I am not an arrogant person And I didn't run like tails like artists But she obeys only the humiliated and submissive And lead them without pulling the ropes Don't take advantage and deny making it known Deny the love of the generosity of the preferred benefactor And if she is responsible for her prestige and money I stood up and was aware of all the scammers What happened to a prisoner without fault struck me, too And whatever grievances reached his chest, you came to me I want liberation, not a slave to the world And the spirit frees her few lovers Patience is patience for time and time Men and even children cried at him as he turned gray - hanging from the roof of the sky
https://aqelayash.blogspot.com/search?q=%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84+

​
Oh, my beloved's wonderfully beautiful house, we found it empty
From humans, even from empty ghosts
Where did they leave and where did they go?
There is no one here
Even ask him about them except the remnants of their stuff
I stood by their hearth and the ashes of their fire
Maybe they will answer my question
But she is deaf even if she speaks to them with signs
Dumb don't speak and don't care about my condition
I turned around, towards my sweetheart's room
And water them with pure tears
Harsh does not understand the lover's words
They are like envious hearts
The soul is desperate here
around his house
I call out loud why the beloved changed his home
How do I find my soul mate?
And circuits I can't cheat on
I can't help it
I sat watching and the spectrum came waving to me
Like a mirage, I see it and it has no shadow
Shows its color and body
But I saw her braid when I took off her veil
I stood up to him and he approached me and greeted him
Hello, hello, where are you my dear
How can you leave me without a mark, my love?
You are my world and all my life
She looked at me with eyes that were gazelles
Tears fell like a string of pearls and overflowed
She said: Don't blame me for a moment
I have never paid attention to others, and the heart has no entrance to others
Be patient, may God have mercy on you
And after the distance that was between us, you will feel close to my arrival
I told her that my patience ran out and my life
What's my trick, it's been a long time to leave you?
And you're in my heart, how could you not know that?
And the fire in my heart burns and glows
My eyes do not rest for an hour at night
-
Tell me when the darkness of the night will pass
Then she looked at the Southern Star and offered him sympathy
Because he is also a lover
And I said, O Star of the South, there you are, like me
This chandelier faces north
My love also left our homes
Don't blame me, spectrum, she's my love
After her, I feel the spirit rising
He smiled sweetly about the eight pearls
They emit a glow and scatter their mirages high
And his spectrum disappeared from the moment of my eyes
He missed his imagination and got carried away a lot
I stood up to say something that crossed my mind
A dream my eyes saw or something I imagined for me
I wiped my eyes and saw nothing but those remnants of their belongings
And the dust hid under it everything they left
I cried and cried knowing that crying does not work
But crying over him sometimes lightens the burden for me
I walked with my eyes behind her whims
And the eye hopes to see it again
And every step I take, the heart wants her home
So that his house became shady, warm and cool
And if a vile or envious person passes me by, he will blame me
They said compensation or someone else's role in place of your lover
I nodded and didn't want to talk to him
until he leaves
He thinks I'm crazy
He doesn't know how much I love Sarah
She is life, soul and all my hopes
Sarah, my life and death without her
I don't care if I see her with blood on my clothes
They mentioned that she lives in the winter in the desert
The desert is very wide
From Dumat Al-Jandal to the North Mountains
From the Jordan Junction in the south to Wadi Ramadi
As for the country of Raqqa, its sun shines with heat
My dear brother: whenever I see lightning, I am happy
At Kohla I said lightning makes me happy
My dear brother: When my chest gets tired of my world
I sing in a sad voice of my fears
I'm still young, but my hair has turned white
I don't know why luck has become a sieve
Even my buddies. They started to move away from me
And when I come to them, they don't care about me
Maybe I think when their minds are petty
-
I have never been stingy. I disobey myself if you ask me to
They shorten the words of benefit so that I do not hear
Their love for my enemy became more
Solitude has become more beautiful and delicious in the wilderness
And I answered his wolf and howled over the hills
I said to him: O wolf, your voice comforts me
Come close to me, you are my friend
You left behind your loved ones and so did I
And your worries and fears have a loud voice
Our loved ones are having a good winter in this beautiful country
May they be healthy and their country fertile
When they get close, good news for you
I will give you from God's gifts of elite what I have
You and I made a vow of purity and purity
And what we wish for you is my hope
Let you play with deer and antelope
And drink water after thirst from pure water
Even your fangs are beautiful, don't eat carrion with them
And do not snipe from the weak catch
-
And what do you say about the days that reverse the trend?
Bad days, cutting chains and cables
His ribs trembled and his chest ached
His voice echoed from the countryside and hills
And the wild pigeons heard the echo of my complaint to the wolf
Then the pigeons wailed from a thin tree branch
Birds of prey fluttered to him
Even the broken winged one took pity on me
Then the birds migrated south and rose into the sky
Even the slender bird has become a migratory
They returned after about a year and then went to Russia
They want a spring and drink earthquake water
They said we saw him a year ago
This is a wolf companion in an empty nomadic wilderness
It tolerates heat and winter frosts
He only wears shabby clothes
Then the birds headed with the liver of the sky towards the star of Capricorn
After we cut my heart
Death has become with my life together
I think death is more beautiful than life
-
He did not despair of the mercy of the living God who never sleeps
He is a surety if he wants to cherish me or humiliate me
If he wants to send happiness to my heart
And it makes the world beautiful in my eyes
This is the appreciation of God Almighty, and He is above the Great Throne
God knows what covered my chest and what he said
Oh God, I ask you, Taiz Karim, I miss him
You are generous and giving
My brother is still physically and existentially alone in my heart
When I visit him, he makes my situation with him generous
His right is greater than mine, and I cannot fulfill his right
For the duration of his absence, I cut off my letters from him
May my life and my time bring us together
And the eyes rejoice after crying
And the dark days stop oppressing its people
After the gloom, life becomes beautiful and cloudless
I would be glad to see him if he came to me in my dreams
So how about my eyes if I saw him before me
My brother, when he sits in the council, adorns him with etiquette and good manners
He has a stature and learner from the lives of the apostles
-
Lover of the book of God and the biography of his prophet
What has changed by nature is still generous
When the white flags of thanks went up
It has a white flag with a high mountain peak
And the miser who closes his door is miserly
The doors of his house are always open and no doors are closed
He meets you and greets you and you can see the fun on his face
And the smell of coffee, saffron and cardamom, coffee workers
He always honors guests as he honors himself
A decent man always has guests in his house
I remember him when a gentle western breeze comes
I called him by his name and one of my sons was named after him
I have waited and hoped that my dream would come true
Neither my uncle nor my uncle compensated me for that
And as I climbed to the top of Mt
The world narrowed down and the carefree walks beside me
Separation of a brother cuts the veins of my heart
The wound is not treated unless it is near me
I'm not with living in the world in happiness
I ask forgiveness from God if I say that death is more merciful to my condition
-
Oh God, forgive my slip and my sin
You know what's going on
Man's luck is helpless
He runs and does not catch up with bare feet
Because the world has managed him
Like the fearful when fear befalls him
Just like scattering flour with the wind
It is necessary to collect it, but the wind shakes the flour
When night comes and people enter their homes
They sleep now, but I stay up with my worries
The night is like a stingy person collecting his money in a treasury
Gather my worries hard and leave no burden but bring it
It's like I'm on coals turning on the night of the fire
Seconds became long in this darkness
He no longer walks, but something is pulling him
You have eaten me
In winter, cold flutes are heard
Blue and black clouds covered my eyes
And the wind squeezed his lightning and it disappeared
Her thunder resounded like the beating of a drum
-
And they descended the valleys and tributaries with their pebbles
A roaring water shouted noise
If I put my palms in front of me, I will not see them
My mind narrowed until I touched its tip
I'm waiting for the harbinger of dawn
However, the sky became cold and its star was clear
The ice melted and my limbs froze
Even my lips weren't able to say oh brother
The twilight color in my eyes is fading
Missed from last night
The morning came and completed what was missing from the worries of the night
And the sun at noon automatically with its warmth
My blood ran through my veins
I cried the cry of an old man who had lost his only child
At the top of a tall mountain then began to weep
My eyes looked from west to east
And differentiate between right and left
I shed tears like embers on my cheeks
I hope that, I hope it heals me
Lump in my throat and shortness of breath
And over my eyes a thick cloud covering me
-
I no longer find myself between the valleys and the mountain
And if I read the letter K, I told him the letter D
I asked for my freedom, I tasted the obvious injustice
I insisted on ordering it, and I feel sorry for her
You have redeemed freedom with soul, blood and body
I have never been lazy
But it pushes me away into alien land and over the edge
And my heart goes out to the family homes and loved ones to care for them
I want to be close to them, I want to be near them, I want to support them
And these are their songs, and I don't want to live alone
I am not an arrogant person
And I didn't run like tails like artists
But she obeys only the humiliated and submissive
And lead them without pulling the ropes
Don't take advantage and deny making it known
Deny the love of the generosity of the preferred benefactor
And if she is responsible for her prestige and money
I stood up and was aware of all the scammers
What happened to a prisoner without fault struck me, too
And whatever grievances reached his chest, you came to me
I want liberation, not a slave to the world
And the spirit frees her few lovers
Patience is patience for time and time
Men and even children cried at him as he turned gray
-
hanging from the roof of the sky
https://aqelayash.blogspot.com/search?q=%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84+

​
Oh, my beloved's wonderfully beautiful house, we found it empty
From humans, even from empty ghosts
Where did they leave and where did they go?
There is no one here
Even ask him about them except the remnants of their stuff
I stood by their hearth and the ashes of their fire
Maybe they will answer my question
But she is deaf even if she speaks to them with signs
Dumb don't speak and don't care about my condition
I turned around, towards my sweetheart's room
And water them with pure tears
Harsh does not understand the lover's words
They are like envious hearts
The soul is desperate here
around his house
I call out loud why the beloved changed his home
How do I find my soul mate?
And circuits I can't cheat on
I can't help it
I sat watching and the spectrum came waving to me
Like a mirage, I see it and it has no shadow
Shows its color and body
But I saw her braid when I took off her veil
I stood up to him and he approached me and greeted him
Hello, hello, where are you my dear
How can you leave me without a mark, my love?
You are my world and all my life
She looked at me with eyes that were gazelles
Tears fell like a string of pearls and overflowed
She said: Don't blame me for a moment
I have never paid attention to others, and the heart has no entrance to others
Be patient, may God have mercy on you
And after the distance that was between us, you will feel close to my arrival
I told her that my patience ran out and my life
What's my trick, it's been a long time to leave you?
And you're in my heart, how could you not know that?
And the fire in my heart burns and glows
My eyes do not rest for an hour at night
-
Tell me when the darkness of the night will pass
Then she looked at the Southern Star and offered him sympathy
Because he is also a lover
And I said, O Star of the South, there you are, like me
This chandelier faces north
My love also left our homes
Don't blame me, spectrum, she's my love
After her, I feel the spirit rising
He smiled sweetly about the eight pearls
They emit a glow and scatter their mirages high
And his spectrum disappeared from the moment of my eyes
He missed his imagination and got carried away a lot
I stood up to say something that crossed my mind
A dream my eyes saw or something I imagined for me
I wiped my eyes and saw nothing but those remnants of their belongings
And the dust hid under it everything they left
I cried and cried knowing that crying does not work
But crying over him sometimes lightens the burden for me
I walked with my eyes behind her whims
And the eye hopes to see it again
And every step I take, the heart wants her home
So that his house became shady, warm and cool
And if a vile or envious person passes me by, he will blame me
They said compensation or someone else's role in place of your lover
I nodded and didn't want to talk to him
until he leaves
He thinks I'm crazy
He doesn't know how much I love Sarah
She is life, soul and all my hopes
Sarah, my life and death without her
I don't care if I see her with blood on my clothes
They mentioned that she lives in the winter in the desert
The desert is very wide
From Dumat Al-Jandal to the North Mountains
From the Jordan Junction in the south to Wadi Ramadi
As for the country of Raqqa, its sun shines with heat
My dear brother: whenever I see lightning, I am happy
At Kohla I said lightning makes me happy
My dear brother: When my chest gets tired of my world
I sing in a sad voice of my fears
I'm still young, but my hair has turned white
I don't know why luck has become a sieve
Even my buddies. They started to move away from me
And when I come to them, they don't care about me
Maybe I think when their minds are petty
-
I have never been stingy. I disobey myself if you ask me to
They shorten the words of benefit so that I do not hear
Their love for my enemy became more
Solitude has become more beautiful and delicious in the wilderness
And I answered his wolf and howled over the hills
I said to him: O wolf, your voice comforts me
Come close to me, you are my friend
You left behind your loved ones and so did I
And your worries and fears have a loud voice
Our loved ones are having a good winter in this beautiful country
May they be healthy and their country fertile
When they get close, good news for you
I will give you from God's gifts of elite what I have
You and I made a vow of purity and purity
And what we wish for you is my hope
Let you play with deer and antelope
And drink water after thirst from pure water
Even your fangs are beautiful, don't eat carrion with them
And do not snipe from the weak catch
-
And what do you say about the days that reverse the trend?
Bad days, cutting chains and cables
His ribs trembled and his chest ached
His voice echoed from the countryside and hills
And the wild pigeons heard the echo of my complaint to the wolf
Then the pigeons wailed from a thin tree branch
Birds of prey fluttered to him
Even the broken winged one took pity on me
Then the birds migrated south and rose into the sky
Even the slender bird has become a migratory
They returned after about a year and then went to Russia
They want a spring and drink earthquake water
They said we saw him a year ago
This is a wolf companion in an empty nomadic wilderness
It tolerates heat and winter frosts
He only wears shabby clothes
Then the birds headed with the liver of the sky towards the star of Capricorn
After we cut my heart
Death has become with my life together
I think death is more beautiful than life
-
He did not despair of the mercy of the living God who never sleeps
He is a surety if he wants to cherish me or humiliate me
If he wants to send happiness to my heart
And it makes the world beautiful in my eyes
This is the appreciation of God Almighty, and He is above the Great Throne
God knows what covered my chest and what he said
Oh God, I ask you, Taiz Karim, I miss him
You are generous and giving
My brother is still physically and existentially alone in my heart
When I visit him, he makes my situation with him generous
His right is greater than mine, and I cannot fulfill his right
For the duration of his absence, I cut off my letters from him
May my life and my time bring us together
And the eyes rejoice after crying
And the dark days stop oppressing its people
After the gloom, life becomes beautiful and cloudless
I would be glad to see him if he came to me in my dreams
So how about my eyes if I saw him before me
My brother, when he sits in the council, adorns him with etiquette and good manners
He has a stature and learner from the lives of the apostles
-
Lover of the book of God and the biography of his prophet
What has changed by nature is still generous
When the white flags of thanks went up
It has a white flag with a high mountain peak
And the miser who closes his door is miserly
The doors of his house are always open and no doors are closed
He meets you and greets you and you can see the fun on his face
And the smell of coffee, saffron and cardamom, coffee workers
He always honors guests as he honors himself
A decent man always has guests in his house
I remember him when a gentle western breeze comes
I called him by his name and one of my sons was named after him
I have waited and hoped that my dream would come true
Neither my uncle nor my uncle compensated me for that
And as I climbed to the top of Mt
The world narrowed down and the carefree walks beside me
Separation of a brother cuts the veins of my heart
The wound is not treated unless it is near me
I'm not with living in the world in happiness
I ask forgiveness from God if I say that death is more merciful to my condition
-
Oh God, forgive my slip and my sin
You know what's going on
Man's luck is helpless
He runs and does not catch up with bare feet
Because the world has managed him
Like the fearful when fear befalls him
Just like scattering flour with the wind
It is necessary to collect it, but the wind shakes the flour
When night comes and people enter their homes
They sleep now, but I stay up with my worries
The night is like a stingy person collecting his money in a treasury
Gather my worries hard and leave no burden but bring it
It's like I'm on coals turning on the night of the fire
Seconds became long in this darkness
He no longer walks, but something is pulling him
You have eaten me
In winter, cold flutes are heard
Blue and black clouds covered my eyes
And the wind squeezed his lightning and it disappeared
Her thunder resounded like the beating of a drum
-
And they descended the valleys and tributaries with their pebbles
A roaring water shouted noise
If I put my palms in front of me, I will not see them
My mind narrowed until I touched its tip
I'm waiting for the harbinger of dawn
However, the sky became cold and its star was clear
The ice melted and my limbs froze
Even my lips weren't able to say oh brother
The twilight color in my eyes is fading
Missed from last night
The morning came and completed what was missing from the worries of the night
And the sun at noon automatically with its warmth
My blood ran through my veins
I cried the cry of an old man who had lost his only child
At the top of a tall mountain then began to weep
My eyes looked from west to east
And differentiate between right and left
I shed tears like embers on my cheeks
I hope that, I hope it heals me
Lump in my throat and shortness of breath
And over my eyes a thick cloud covering me
-
I no longer find myself between the valleys and the mountain
And if I read the letter K, I told him the letter D
I asked for my freedom, I tasted the obvious injustice
I insisted on ordering it, and I feel sorry for her
You have redeemed freedom with soul, blood and body
I have never been lazy
But it pushes me away into alien land and over the edge
And my heart goes out to the family homes and loved ones to care for them
I want to be close to them, I want to be near them, I want to support them
And these are their songs, and I don't want to live alone
I am not an arrogant person
And I didn't run like tails like artists
But she obeys only the humiliated and submissive
And lead them without pulling the ropes
Don't take advantage and deny making it known
Deny the love of the generosity of the preferred benefactor
And if she is responsible for her prestige and money
I stood up and was aware of all the scammers
What happened to a prisoner without fault struck me, too
And whatever grievances reached his chest, you came to me
I want liberation, not a slave to the world
And the spirit frees her few lovers
Patience is patience for time and time
Men and even children cried at him as he turned gray
-
hanging from the roof of the sky
https://aqelayash.blogspot.com/search?q=%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84+

​
Oh, my beloved's wonderfully beautiful house, we found it empty
From humans, even from empty ghosts
Where did they leave and where did they go?
There is no one here
Even ask him about them except the remnants of their stuff
I stood by their hearth and the ashes of their fire
Maybe they will answer my question
But she is deaf even if she speaks to them with signs
Dumb don't speak and don't care about my condition
I turned around, towards my sweetheart's room
And water them with pure tears
Harsh does not understand the lover's words
They are like envious hearts
The soul is desperate here
around his house
I call out loud why the beloved changed his home
How do I find my soul mate?
And circuits I can't cheat on
I can't help it
I sat watching and the spectrum came waving to me
Like a mirage, I see it and it has no shadow
Shows its color and body
But I saw her braid when I took off her veil
I stood up to him and he approached me and greeted him
Hello, hello, where are you my dear
How can you leave me without a mark, my love?
You are my world and all my life
She looked at me with eyes that were gazelles
Tears fell like a string of pearls and overflowed
She said: Don't blame me for a moment
I have never paid attention to others, and the heart has no entrance to others
Be patient, may God have mercy on you
And after the distance that was between us, you will feel close to my arrival
I told her that my patience ran out and my life
What's my trick, it's been a long time to leave you?
And you're in my heart, how could you not know that?
And the fire in my heart burns and glows
My eyes do not rest for an hour at night
-
Tell me when the darkness of the night will pass
Then she looked at the Southern Star and offered him sympathy
Because he is also a lover
And I said, O Star of the South, there you are, like me
This chandelier faces north
My love also left our homes
Don't blame me, spectrum, she's my love
After her, I feel the spirit rising
He smiled sweetly about the eight pearls
They emit a glow and scatter their mirages high
And his spectrum disappeared from the moment of my eyes
He missed his imagination and got carried away a lot
I stood up to say something that crossed my mind
A dream my eyes saw or something I imagined for me
I wiped my eyes and saw nothing but those remnants of their belongings
And the dust hid under it everything they left
I cried and cried knowing that crying does not work
But crying over him sometimes lightens the burden for me
I walked with my eyes behind her whims
And the eye hopes to see it again
And every step I take, the heart wants her home
So that his house became shady, warm and cool
And if a vile or envious person passes me by, he will blame me
They said compensation or someone else's role in place of your lover
I nodded and didn't want to talk to him
until he leaves
He thinks I'm crazy
He doesn't know how much I love Sarah
She is life, soul and all my hopes
Sarah, my life and death without her
I don't care if I see her with blood on my clothes
They mentioned that she lives in the winter in the desert
The desert is very wide
From Dumat Al-Jandal to the North Mountains
From the Jordan Junction in the south to Wadi Ramadi
As for the country of Raqqa, its sun shines with heat
My dear brother: whenever I see lightning, I am happy
At Kohla I said lightning makes me happy
My dear brother: When my chest gets tired of my world
I sing in a sad voice of my fears
I'm still young, but my hair has turned white
I don't know why luck has become a sieve
Even my buddies. They started to move away from me
And when I come to them, they don't care about me
Maybe I think when their minds are petty
-
I have never been stingy. I disobey myself if you ask me to
They shorten the words of benefit so that I do not hear
Their love for my enemy became more
Solitude has become more beautiful and delicious in the wilderness
And I answered his wolf and howled over the hills
I said to him: O wolf, your voice comforts me
Come close to me, you are my friend
You left behind your loved ones and so did I
And your worries and fears have a loud voice
Our loved ones are having a good winter in this beautiful country
May they be healthy and their country fertile
When they get close, good news for you
I will give you from God's gifts of elite what I have
You and I made a vow of purity and purity
And what we wish for you is my hope
Let you play with deer and antelope
And drink water after thirst from pure water
Even your fangs are beautiful, don't eat carrion with them
And do not snipe from the weak catch
-
And what do you say about the days that reverse the trend?
Bad days, cutting chains and cables
His ribs trembled and his chest ached
His voice echoed from the countryside and hills
And the wild pigeons heard the echo of my complaint to the wolf
Then the pigeons wailed from a thin tree branch
Birds of prey fluttered to him
Even the broken winged one took pity on me
Then the birds migrated south and rose into the sky
Even the slender bird has become a migratory
They returned after about a year and then went to Russia
They want a spring and drink earthquake water
They said we saw him a year ago
This is a wolf companion in an empty nomadic wilderness
It tolerates heat and winter frosts
He only wears shabby clothes
Then the birds headed with the liver of the sky towards the star of Capricorn
After we cut my heart
Death has become with my life together
I think death is more beautiful than life
-
He did not despair of the mercy of the living God who never sleeps
He is a surety if he wants to cherish me or humiliate me
If he wants to send happiness to my heart
And it makes the world beautiful in my eyes
This is the appreciation of God Almighty, and He is above the Great Throne
God knows what covered my chest and what he said
Oh God, I ask you, Taiz Karim, I miss him
You are generous and giving
My brother is still physically and existentially alone in my heart
When I visit him, he makes my situation with him generous
His right is greater than mine, and I cannot fulfill his right
For the duration of his absence, I cut off my letters from him
May my life and my time bring us together
And the eyes rejoice after crying
And the dark days stop oppressing its people
After the gloom, life becomes beautiful and cloudless
I would be glad to see him if he came to me in my dreams
So how about my eyes if I saw him before me
My brother, when he sits in the council, adorns him with etiquette and good manners
He has a stature and learner from the lives of the apostles
-
Lover of the book of God and the biography of his prophet
What has changed by nature is still generous
When the white flags of thanks went up
It has a white flag with a high mountain peak
And the miser who closes his door is miserly
The doors of his house are always open and no doors are closed
He meets you and greets you and you can see the fun on his face
And the smell of coffee, saffron and cardamom, coffee workers
He always honors guests as he honors himself
A decent man always has guests in his house
I remember him when a gentle western breeze comes
I called him by his name and one of my sons was named after him
I have waited and hoped that my dream would come true
Neither my uncle nor my uncle compensated me for that
And as I climbed to the top of Mt
The world narrowed down and the carefree walks beside me
Separation of a brother cuts the veins of my heart
The wound is not treated unless it is near me
I'm not with living in the world in happiness
I ask forgiveness from God if I say that death is more merciful to my condition
-
Oh God, forgive my slip and my sin
You know what's going on
Man's luck is helpless
He runs and does not catch up with bare feet
Because the world has managed him
Like the fearful when fear befalls him
Just like scattering flour with the wind
It is necessary to collect it, but the wind shakes the flour
When night comes and people enter their homes
They sleep now, but I stay up with my worries
The night is like a stingy person collecting his money in a treasury
Gather my worries hard and leave no burden but bring it
It's like I'm on coals turning on the night of the fire
Seconds became long in this darkness
He no longer walks, but something is pulling him
You have eaten me
In winter, cold flutes are heard
Blue and black clouds covered my eyes
And the wind squeezed his lightning and it disappeared
Her thunder resounded like the beating of a drum
-
And they descended the valleys and tributaries with their pebbles
A roaring water shouted noise
If I put my palms in front of me, I will not see them
My mind narrowed until I touched its tip
I'm waiting for the harbinger of dawn
However, the sky became cold and its star was clear
The ice melted and my limbs froze
Even my lips weren't able to say oh brother
The twilight color in my eyes is fading
Missed from last night
The morning came and completed what was missing from the worries of the night
And the sun at noon automatically with its warmth
My blood ran through my veins
I cried the cry of an old man who had lost his only child
At the top of a tall mountain then began to weep
My eyes looked from west to east
And differentiate between right and left
I shed tears like embers on my cheeks
I hope that, I hope it heals me
Lump in my throat and shortness of breath
And over my eyes a thick cloud covering me
-
I no longer find myself between the valleys and the mountain
And if I read the letter K, I told him the letter D
I asked for my freedom, I tasted the obvious injustice
I insisted on ordering it, and I feel sorry for her
You have redeemed freedom with soul, blood and body
I have never been lazy
But it pushes me away into alien land and over the edge
And my heart goes out to the family homes and loved ones to care for them
I want to be close to them, I want to be near them, I want to support them
And these are their songs, and I don't want to live alone
I am not an arrogant person
And I didn't run like tails like artists
But she obeys only the humiliated and submissive
And lead them without pulling the ropes
Don't take advantage and deny making it known
Deny the love of the generosity of the preferred benefactor
And if she is responsible for her prestige and money
I stood up and was aware of all the scammers
What happened to a prisoner without fault struck me, too
And whatever grievances reached his chest, you came to me
I want liberation, not a slave to the world
And the spirit frees her few lovers
Patience is patience for time and time
Men and even children cried at him as he turned gray
-
hanging from the roof of the sky
https://aqelayash.blogspot.com/search?q=%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84+

​
Oh, my beloved's wonderfully beautiful house, we found it empty
From humans, even from empty ghosts
Where did they leave and where did they go?
There is no one here
Even ask him about them except the remnants of their stuff
I stood by their hearth and the ashes of their fire
Maybe they will answer my question
But she is deaf even if she speaks to them with signs
Dumb don't speak and don't care about my condition
I turned around, towards my sweetheart's room
And water them with pure tears
Harsh does not understand the lover's words
They are like envious hearts
The soul is desperate here
around his house
I call out loud why the beloved changed his home
How do I find my soul mate?
And circuits I can't cheat on
I can't help it
I sat watching and the spectrum came waving to me
Like a mirage, I see it and it has no shadow
Shows its color and body
But I saw her braid when I took off her veil
I stood up to him and he approached me and greeted him
Hello, hello, where are you my dear
How can you leave me without a mark, my love?
You are my world and all my life
She looked at me with eyes that were gazelles
Tears fell like a string of pearls and overflowed
She said: Don't blame me for a moment
I have never paid attention to others, and the heart has no entrance to others
Be patient, may God have mercy on you
And after the distance that was between us, you will feel close to my arrival
I told her that my patience ran out and my life
What's my trick, it's been a long time to leave you?
And you're in my heart, how could you not know that?
And the fire in my heart burns and glows
My eyes do not rest for an hour at night
-
Tell me when the darkness of the night will pass
Then she looked at the Southern Star and offered him sympathy
Because he is also a lover
And I said, O Star of the South, there you are, like me
This chandelier faces north
My love also left our homes
Don't blame me, spectrum, she's my love
After her, I feel the spirit rising
He smiled sweetly about the eight pearls
They emit a glow and scatter their mirages high
And his spectrum disappeared from the moment of my eyes
He missed his imagination and got carried away a lot
I stood up to say something that crossed my mind
A dream my eyes saw or something I imagined for me
I wiped my eyes and saw nothing but those remnants of their belongings
And the dust hid under it everything they left
I cried and cried knowing that crying does not work
But crying over him sometimes lightens the burden for me
I walked with my eyes behind her whims
And the eye hopes to see it again
And every step I take, the heart wants her home
So that his house became shady, warm and cool
And if a vile or envious person passes me by, he will blame me
They said compensation or someone else's role in place of your lover
I nodded and didn't want to talk to him
until he leaves
He thinks I'm crazy
He doesn't know how much I love Sarah
She is life, soul and all my hopes
Sarah, my life and death without her
I don't care if I see her with blood on my clothes
They mentioned that she lives in the winter in the desert
The desert is very wide
From Dumat Al-Jandal to the North Mountains
From the Jordan Junction in the south to Wadi Ramadi
As for the country of Raqqa, its sun shines with heat
My dear brother: whenever I see lightning, I am happy
At Kohla I said lightning makes me happy
My dear brother: When my chest gets tired of my world
I sing in a sad voice of my fears
I'm still young, but my hair has turned white
I don't know why luck has become a sieve
Even my buddies. They started to move away from me
And when I come to them, they don't care about me
Maybe I think when their minds are petty
-
I have never been stingy. I disobey myself if you ask me to
They shorten the words of benefit so that I do not hear
Their love for my enemy became more
Solitude has become more beautiful and delicious in the wilderness
And I answered his wolf and howled over the hills
I said to him: O wolf, your voice comforts me
Come close to me, you are my friend
You left behind your loved ones and so did I
And your worries and fears have a loud voice
Our loved ones are having a good winter in this beautiful country
May they be healthy and their country fertile
When they get close, good news for you
I will give you from God's gifts of elite what I have
You and I made a vow of purity and purity
And what we wish for you is my hope
Let you play with deer and antelope
And drink water after thirst from pure water
Even your fangs are beautiful, don't eat carrion with them
And do not snipe from the weak catch
-
And what do you say about the days that reverse the trend?
Bad days, cutting chains and cables
His ribs trembled and his chest ached
His voice echoed from the countryside and hills
And the wild pigeons heard the echo of my complaint to the wolf
Then the pigeons wailed from a thin tree branch
Birds of prey fluttered to him
Even the broken winged one took pity on me
Then the birds migrated south and rose into the sky
Even the slender bird has become a migratory
They returned after about a year and then went to Russia
They want a spring and drink earthquake water
They said we saw him a year ago
This is a wolf companion in an empty nomadic wilderness
It tolerates heat and winter frosts
He only wears shabby clothes
Then the birds headed with the liver of the sky towards the star of Capricorn
After we cut my heart
Death has become with my life together
I think death is more beautiful than life
-
He did not despair of the mercy of the living God who never sleeps
He is a surety if he wants to cherish me or humiliate me
If he wants to send happiness to my heart
And it makes the world beautiful in my eyes
This is the appreciation of God Almighty, and He is above the Great Throne
God knows what covered my chest and what he said
Oh God, I ask you, Taiz Karim, I miss him
You are generous and giving
My brother is still physically and existentially alone in my heart
When I visit him, he makes my situation with him generous
His right is greater than mine, and I cannot fulfill his right
For the duration of his absence, I cut off my letters from him
May my life and my time bring us together
And the eyes rejoice after crying
And the dark days stop oppressing its people
After the gloom, life becomes beautiful and cloudless
I would be glad to see him if he came to me in my dreams
So how about my eyes if I saw him before me
My brother, when he sits in the council, adorns him with etiquette and good manners
He has a stature and learner from the lives of the apostles
-
Lover of the book of God and the biography of his prophet
What has changed by nature is still generous
When the white flags of thanks went up
It has a white flag with a high mountain peak
And the miser who closes his door is miserly
The doors of his house are always open and no doors are closed
He meets you and greets you and you can see the fun on his face
And the smell of coffee, saffron and cardamom, coffee workers
He always honors guests as he honors himself
A decent man always has guests in his house
I remember him when a gentle western breeze comes
I called him by his name and one of my sons was named after him
I have waited and hoped that my dream would come true
Neither my uncle nor my uncle compensated me for that
And as I climbed to the top of Mt
The world narrowed down and the carefree walks beside me
Separation of a brother cuts the veins of my heart
The wound is not treated unless it is near me
I'm not with living in the world in happiness
I ask forgiveness from God if I say that death is more merciful to my condition
-
Oh God, forgive my slip and my sin
You know what's going on
Man's luck is helpless
He runs and does not catch up with bare feet
Because the world has managed him
Like the fearful when fear befalls him
Just like scattering flour with the wind
It is necessary to collect it, but the wind shakes the flour
When night comes and people enter their homes
They sleep now, but I stay up with my worries
The night is like a stingy person collecting his money in a treasury
Gather my worries hard and leave no burden but bring it
It's like I'm on coals turning on the night of the fire
Seconds became long in this darkness
He no longer walks, but something is pulling him
You have eaten me
In winter, cold flutes are heard
Blue and black clouds covered my eyes
And the wind squeezed his lightning and it disappeared
Her thunder resounded like the beating of a drum
-
And they descended the valleys and tributaries with their pebbles
A roaring water shouted noise
If I put my palms in front of me, I will not see them
My mind narrowed until I touched its tip
I'm waiting for the harbinger of dawn
However, the sky became cold and its star was clear
The ice melted and my limbs froze
Even my lips weren't able to say oh brother
The twilight color in my eyes is fading
Missed from last night
The morning came and completed what was missing from the worries of the night
And the sun at noon automatically with its warmth
My blood ran through my veins
I cried the cry of an old man who had lost his only child
At the top of a tall mountain then began to weep
My eyes looked from west to east
And differentiate between right and left
I shed tears like embers on my cheeks
I hope that, I hope it heals me
Lump in my throat and shortness of breath
And over my eyes a thick cloud covering me
-
I no longer find myself between the valleys and the mountain
And if I read the letter K, I told him the letter D
I asked for my freedom, I tasted the obvious injustice
I insisted on ordering it, and I feel sorry for her
You have redeemed freedom with soul, blood and body
I have never been lazy
But it pushes me away into alien land and over the edge
And my heart goes out to the family homes and loved ones to care for them
I want to be close to them, I want to be near them, I want to support them
And these are their songs, and I don't want to live alone
I am not an arrogant person
And I didn't run like tails like artists
But she obeys only the humiliated and submissive
And lead them without pulling the ropes
Don't take advantage and deny making it known
Deny the love of the generosity of the preferred benefactor
And if she is responsible for her prestige and money
I stood up and was aware of all the scammers
What happened to a prisoner without fault struck me, too
And whatever grievances reached his chest, you came to me
I want liberation, not a slave to the world
And the spirit frees her few lovers
Patience is patience for time and time
Men and even children cried at him as he turned gray
-
hanging from the roof of the sky
https://aqelayash.blogspot.com/search?q=%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84+

​
Oh, my beloved's wonderfully beautiful house, we found it empty
From humans, even from empty ghosts
Where did they leave and where did they go?
There is no one here
Even ask him about them except the remnants of their stuff
I stood by their hearth and the ashes of their fire
Maybe they will answer my question
But she is deaf even if she speaks to them with signs
Dumb don't speak and don't care about my condition
I turned around, towards my sweetheart's room
And water them with pure tears
Harsh does not understand the lover's words
They are like envious hearts
The soul is desperate here
around his house
I call out loud why the beloved changed his home
How do I find my soul mate?
And circuits I can't cheat on
I can't help it
I sat watching and the spectrum came waving to me
Like a mirage, I see it and it has no shadow
Shows its color and body
But I saw her braid when I took off her veil
I stood up to him and he approached me and greeted him
Hello, hello, where are you my dear
How can you leave me without a mark, my love?
You are my world and all my life
She looked at me with eyes that were gazelles
Tears fell like a string of pearls and overflowed
She said: Don't blame me for a moment
I have never paid attention to others, and the heart has no entrance to others
Be patient, may God have mercy on you
And after the distance that was between us, you will feel close to my arrival
I told her that my patience ran out and my life
What's my trick, it's been a long time to leave you?
And you're in my heart, how could you not know that?
And the fire in my heart burns and glows
My eyes do not rest for an hour at night
-
Tell me when the darkness of the night will pass
Then she looked at the Southern Star and offered him sympathy
Because he is also a lover
And I said, O Star of the South, there you are, like me
This chandelier faces north
My love also left our homes
Don't blame me, spectrum, she's my love
After her, I feel the spirit rising
He smiled sweetly about the eight pearls
They emit a glow and scatter their mirages high
And his spectrum disappeared from the moment of my eyes
He missed his imagination and got carried away a lot
I stood up to say something that crossed my mind
A dream my eyes saw or something I imagined for me
I wiped my eyes and saw nothing but those remnants of their belongings
And the dust hid under it everything they left
I cried and cried knowing that crying does not work
But crying over him sometimes lightens the burden for me
I walked with my eyes behind her whims
And the eye hopes to see it again
And every step I take, the heart wants her home
So that his house became shady, warm and cool
And if a vile or envious person passes me by, he will blame me
They said compensation or someone else's role in place of your lover
I nodded and didn't want to talk to him
until he leaves
He thinks I'm crazy
He doesn't know how much I love Sarah
She is life, soul and all my hopes
Sarah, my life and death without her
I don't care if I see her with blood on my clothes
They mentioned that she lives in the winter in the desert
The desert is very wide
From Dumat Al-Jandal to the North Mountains
From the Jordan Junction in the south to Wadi Ramadi
As for the country of Raqqa, its sun shines with heat
My dear brother: whenever I see lightning, I am happy
At Kohla I said lightning makes me happy
My dear brother: When my chest gets tired of my world
I sing in a sad voice of my fears
I'm still young, but my hair has turned white
I don't know why luck has become a sieve
Even my buddies. They started to move away from me
And when I come to them, they don't care about me
Maybe I think when their minds are petty
-
I have never been stingy. I disobey myself if you ask me to
They shorten the words of benefit so that I do not hear
Their love for my enemy became more
Solitude has become more beautiful and delicious in the wilderness
And I answered his wolf and howled over the hills
I said to him: O wolf, your voice comforts me
Come close to me, you are my friend
You left behind your loved ones and so did I
And your worries and fears have a loud voice
Our loved ones are having a good winter in this beautiful country
May they be healthy and their country fertile
When they get close, good news for you
I will give you from God's gifts of elite what I have
You and I made a vow of purity and purity
And what we wish for you is my hope
Let you play with deer and antelope
And drink water after thirst from pure water
Even your fangs are beautiful, don't eat carrion with them
And do not snipe from the weak catch
-
And what do you say about the days that reverse the trend?
Bad days, cutting chains and cables
His ribs trembled and his chest ached
His voice echoed from the countryside and hills
And the wild pigeons heard the echo of my complaint to the wolf
Then the pigeons wailed from a thin tree branch
Birds of prey fluttered to him
Even the broken winged one took pity on me
Then the birds migrated south and rose into the sky
Even the slender bird has become a migratory
They returned after about a year and then went to Russia
They want a spring and drink earthquake water
They said we saw him a year ago
This is a wolf companion in an empty nomadic wilderness
It tolerates heat and winter frosts
He only wears shabby clothes
Then the birds headed with the liver of the sky towards the star of Capricorn
After we cut my heart
Death has become with my life together
I think death is more beautiful than life
-
He did not despair of the mercy of the living God who never sleeps
He is a surety if he wants to cherish me or humiliate me
If he wants to send happiness to my heart
And it makes the world beautiful in my eyes
This is the appreciation of God Almighty, and He is above the Great Throne
God knows what covered my chest and what he said
Oh God, I ask you, Taiz Karim, I miss him
You are generous and giving
My brother is still physically and existentially alone in my heart
When I visit him, he makes my situation with him generous
His right is greater than mine, and I cannot fulfill his right
For the duration of his absence, I cut off my letters from him
May my life and my time bring us together
And the eyes rejoice after crying
And the dark days stop oppressing its people
After the gloom, life becomes beautiful and cloudless
I would be glad to see him if he came to me in my dreams
So how about my eyes if I saw him before me
My brother, when he sits in the council, adorns him with etiquette and good manners
He has a stature and learner from the lives of the apostles
-
Lover of the book of God and the biography of his prophet
What has changed by nature is still generous
When the white flags of thanks went up
It has a white flag with a high mountain peak
And the miser who closes his door is miserly
The doors of his house are always open and no doors are closed
He meets you and greets you and you can see the fun on his face
And the smell of coffee, saffron and cardamom, coffee workers
He always honors guests as he honors himself
A decent man always has guests in his house
I remember him when a gentle western breeze comes
I called him by his name and one of my sons was named after him
I have waited and hoped that my dream would come true
Neither my uncle nor my uncle compensated me for that
And as I climbed to the top of Mt
The world narrowed down and the carefree walks beside me
Separation of a brother cuts the veins of my heart
The wound is not treated unless it is near me
I'm not with living in the world in happiness
I ask forgiveness from God if I say that death is more merciful to my condition
-
Oh God, forgive my slip and my sin
You know what's going on
Man's luck is helpless
He runs and does not catch up with bare feet
Because the world has managed him
Like the fearful when fear befalls him
Just like scattering flour with the wind
It is necessary to collect it, but the wind shakes the flour
When night comes and people enter their homes
They sleep now, but I stay up with my worries
The night is like a stingy person collecting his money in a treasury
Gather my worries hard and leave no burden but bring it
It's like I'm on coals turning on the night of the fire
Seconds became long in this darkness
He no longer walks, but something is pulling him
You have eaten me
In winter, cold flutes are heard
Blue and black clouds covered my eyes
And the wind squeezed his lightning and it disappeared
Her thunder resounded like the beating of a drum
-
And they descended the valleys and tributaries with their pebbles
A roaring water shouted noise
If I put my palms in front of me, I will not see them
My mind narrowed until I touched its tip
I'm waiting for the harbinger of dawn
However, the sky became cold and its star was clear
The ice melted and my limbs froze
Even my lips weren't able to say oh brother
The twilight color in my eyes is fading
Missed from last night
The morning came and completed what was missing from the worries of the night
And the sun at noon automatically with its warmth
My blood ran through my veins
I cried the cry of an old man who had lost his only child
At the top of a tall mountain then began to weep
My eyes looked from west to east
And differentiate between right and left
I shed tears like embers on my cheeks
I hope that, I hope it heals me
Lump in my throat and shortness of breath
And over my eyes a thick cloud covering me
-
I no longer find myself between the valleys and the mountain
And if I read the letter K, I told him the letter D
I asked for my freedom, I tasted the obvious injustice
I insisted on ordering it, and I feel sorry for her
You have redeemed freedom with soul, blood and body
I have never been lazy
But it pushes me away into alien land and over the edge
And my heart goes out to the family homes and loved ones to care for them
I want to be close to them, I want to be near them, I want to support them
And these are their songs, and I don't want to live alone
I am not an arrogant person
And I didn't run like tails like artists
But she obeys only the humiliated and submissive
And lead them without pulling the ropes
Don't take advantage and deny making it known
Deny the love of the generosity of the preferred benefactor
And if she is responsible for her prestige and money
I stood up and was aware of all the scammers
What happened to a prisoner without fault struck me, too
And whatever grievances reached his chest, you came to me
I want liberation, not a slave to the world
And the spirit frees her few lovers
Patience is patience for time and time
Men and even children cried at him as he turned gray
-
hanging from the roof of the sky
https://aqelayash.blogspot.com/search?q=%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84+

​
Oh, my beloved's wonderfully beautiful house, we found it empty
From humans, even from empty ghosts
Where did they leave and where did they go?
There is no one here
Even ask him about them except the remnants of their stuff
I stood by their hearth and the ashes of their fire
Maybe they will answer my question
But she is deaf even if she speaks to them with signs
Dumb don't speak and don't care about my condition
I turned around, towards my sweetheart's room
And water them with pure tears
Harsh does not understand the lover's words
They are like envious hearts
The soul is desperate here
around his house
I call out loud why the beloved changed his home
How do I find my soul mate?
And circuits I can't cheat on
I can't help it
I sat watching and the spectrum came waving to me
Like a mirage, I see it and it has no shadow
Shows its color and body
But I saw her braid when I took off her veil
I stood up to him and he approached me and greeted him
Hello, hello, where are you my dear
How can you leave me without a mark, my love?
You are my world and all my life
She looked at me with eyes that were gazelles
Tears fell like a string of pearls and overflowed
She said: Don't blame me for a moment
I have never paid attention to others, and the heart has no entrance to others
Be patient, may God have mercy on you
And after the distance that was between us, you will feel close to my arrival
I told her that my patience ran out and my life
What's my trick, it's been a long time to leave you?
And you're in my heart, how could you not know that?
And the fire in my heart burns and glows
My eyes do not rest for an hour at night
-
Tell me when the darkness of the night will pass
Then she looked at the Southern Star and offered him sympathy
Because he is also a lover
And I said, O Star of the South, there you are, like me
This chandelier faces north
My love also left our homes
Don't blame me, spectrum, she's my love
After her, I feel the spirit rising
He smiled sweetly about the eight pearls
They emit a glow and scatter their mirages high
And his spectrum disappeared from the moment of my eyes
He missed his imagination and got carried away a lot
I stood up to say something that crossed my mind
A dream my eyes saw or something I imagined for me
I wiped my eyes and saw nothing but those remnants of their belongings
And the dust hid under it everything they left
I cried and cried knowing that crying does not work
But crying over him sometimes lightens the burden for me
I walked with my eyes behind her whims
And the eye hopes to see it again
And every step I take, the heart wants her home
So that his house became shady, warm and cool
And if a vile or envious person passes me by, he will blame me
They said compensation or someone else's role in place of your lover
I nodded and didn't want to talk to him
until he leaves
He thinks I'm crazy
He doesn't know how much I love Sarah
She is life, soul and all my hopes
Sarah, my life and death without her
I don't care if I see her with blood on my clothes
They mentioned that she lives in the winter in the desert
The desert is very wide
From Dumat Al-Jandal to the North Mountains
From the Jordan Junction in the south to Wadi Ramadi
As for the country of Raqqa, its sun shines with heat
My dear brother: whenever I see lightning, I am happy
At Kohla I said lightning makes me happy
My dear brother: When my chest gets tired of my world
I sing in a sad voice of my fears
I'm still young, but my hair has turned white
I don't know why luck has become a sieve
Even my buddies. They started to move away from me
And when I come to them, they don't care about me
Maybe I think when their minds are petty
-
I have never been stingy. I disobey myself if you ask me to
They shorten the words of benefit so that I do not hear
Their love for my enemy became more
Solitude has become more beautiful and delicious in the wilderness
And I answered his wolf and howled over the hills
I said to him: O wolf, your voice comforts me
Come close to me, you are my friend
You left behind your loved ones and so did I
And your worries and fears have a loud voice
Our loved ones are having a good winter in this beautiful country
May they be healthy and their country fertile
When they get close, good news for you
I will give you from God's gifts of elite what I have
You and I made a vow of purity and purity
And what we wish for you is my hope
Let you play with deer and antelope
And drink water after thirst from pure water
Even your fangs are beautiful, don't eat carrion with them
And do not snipe from the weak catch
-
And what do you say about the days that reverse the trend?
Bad days, cutting chains and cables
His ribs trembled and his chest ached
His voice echoed from the countryside and hills
And the wild pigeons heard the echo of my complaint to the wolf
Then the pigeons wailed from a thin tree branch
Birds of prey fluttered to him
Even the broken winged one took pity on me
Then the birds migrated south and rose into the sky
Even the slender bird has become a migratory
They returned after about a year and then went to Russia
They want a spring and drink earthquake water
They said we saw him a year ago
This is a wolf companion in an empty nomadic wilderness
It tolerates heat and winter frosts
He only wears shabby clothes
Then the birds headed with the liver of the sky towards the star of Capricorn
After we cut my heart
Death has become with my life together
I think death is more beautiful than life
-
He did not despair of the mercy of the living God who never sleeps
He is a surety if he wants to cherish me or humiliate me
If he wants to send happiness to my heart
And it makes the world beautiful in my eyes
This is the appreciation of God Almighty, and He is above the Great Throne
God knows what covered my chest and what he said
Oh God, I ask you, Taiz Karim, I miss him
You are generous and giving
My brother is still physically and existentially alone in my heart
When I visit him, he makes my situation with him generous
His right is greater than mine, and I cannot fulfill his right
For the duration of his absence, I cut off my letters from him
May my life and my time bring us together
And the eyes rejoice after crying
And the dark days stop oppressing its people
After the gloom, life becomes beautiful and cloudless
I would be glad to see him if he came to me in my dreams
So how about my eyes if I saw him before me
My brother, when he sits in the council, adorns him with etiquette and good manners
He has a stature and learner from the lives of the apostles
-
Lover of the book of God and the biography of his prophet
What has changed by nature is still generous
When the white flags of thanks went up
It has a white flag with a high mountain peak
And the miser who closes his door is miserly
The doors of his house are always open and no doors are closed
He meets you and greets you and you can see the fun on his face
And the smell of coffee, saffron and cardamom, coffee workers
He always honors guests as he honors himself
A decent man always has guests in his house
I remember him when a gentle western breeze comes
I called him by his name and one of my sons was named after him
I have waited and hoped that my dream would come true
Neither my uncle nor my uncle compensated me for that
And as I climbed to the top of Mt
The world narrowed down and the carefree walks beside me
Separation of a brother cuts the veins of my heart
The wound is not treated unless it is near me
I'm not with living in the world in happiness
I ask forgiveness from God if I say that death is more merciful to my condition
-
Oh God, forgive my slip and my sin
You know what's going on
Man's luck is helpless
He runs and does not catch up with bare feet
Because the world has managed him
Like the fearful when fear befalls him
Just like scattering flour with the wind
It is necessary to collect it, but the wind shakes the flour
When night comes and people enter their homes
They sleep now, but I stay up with my worries
The night is like a stingy person collecting his money in a treasury
Gather my worries hard and leave no burden but bring it
It's like I'm on coals turning on the night of the fire
Seconds became long in this darkness
He no longer walks, but something is pulling him
You have eaten me
In winter, cold flutes are heard
Blue and black clouds covered my eyes
And the wind squeezed his lightning and it disappeared
Her thunder resounded like the beating of a drum
-
And they descended the valleys and tributaries with their pebbles
A roaring water shouted noise
If I put my palms in front of me, I will not see them
My mind narrowed until I touched its tip
I'm waiting for the harbinger of dawn
However, the sky became cold and its star was clear
The ice melted and my limbs froze
Even my lips weren't able to say oh brother
The twilight color in my eyes is fading
Missed from last night
The morning came and completed what was missing from the worries of the night
And the sun at noon automatically with its warmth
My blood ran through my veins
I cried the cry of an old man who had lost his only child
At the top of a tall mountain then began to weep
My eyes looked from west to east
And differentiate between right and left
I shed tears like embers on my cheeks
I hope that, I hope it heals me
Lump in my throat and shortness of breath
And over my eyes a thick cloud covering me
-
I no longer find myself between the valleys and the mountain
And if I read the letter K, I told him the letter D
I asked for my freedom, I tasted the obvious injustice
I insisted on ordering it, and I feel sorry for her
You have redeemed freedom with soul, blood and body
I have never been lazy
But it pushes me away into alien land and over the edge
And my heart goes out to the family homes and loved ones to care for them
I want to be close to them, I want to be near them, I want to support them
And these are their songs, and I don't want to live alone
I am not an arrogant person
And I didn't run like tails like artists
But she obeys only the humiliated and submissive
And lead them without pulling the ropes
Don't take advantage and deny making it known
Deny the love of the generosity of the preferred benefactor
And if she is responsible for her prestige and money
I stood up and was aware of all the scammers
What happened to a prisoner without fault struck me, too
And whatever grievances reached his chest, you came to me
I want liberation, not a slave to the world
And the spirit frees her few lovers
Patience is patience for time and time
Men and even children cried at him as he turned gray
-
hanging from the roof of the sky
https://aqelayash.blogspot.com/search?q=%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84+

Oh, my beloved's wonderfully beautiful house, we found it empty
From humans, even from empty ghosts
Where did they leave and where did they go?
There is no one here
Even ask him about them except the remnants of their stuff
I stood by their hearth and the ashes of their fire
Maybe they will answer my question
But she is deaf even if she speaks to them with signs
Dumb don't speak and don't care about my condition
I turned around, towards my sweetheart's room
And water them with pure tears
Harsh does not understand the lover's words
They are like envious hearts
The soul is desperate here
around his house
I call out loud why the beloved changed his home
How do I find my soul mate?
And circuits I can't cheat on
I can't help it
I sat watching and the spectrum came waving to me
Like a mirage, I see it and it has no shadow
Shows its color and body
But I saw her braid when I took off her veil
I stood up to him and he approached me and greeted him
Hello, hello, where are you my dear
How can you leave me without a mark, my love?
You are my world and all my life
She looked at me with eyes that were gazelles
Tears fell like a string of pearls and overflowed
She said: Don't blame me for a moment
I have never paid attention to others, and the heart has no entrance to others
Be patient, may God have mercy on you
And after the distance that was between us, you will feel close to my arrival
I told her that my patience ran out and my life
What's my trick, it's been a long time to leave you?
And you're in my heart, how could you not know that?
And the fire in my heart burns and glows
My eyes do not rest for an hour at night
-
Tell me when the darkness of the night will pass
Then she looked at the Southern Star and offered him sympathy
Because he is also a lover
And I said, O Star of the South, there you are, like me
This chandelier faces north
My love also left our homes
Don't blame me, spectrum, she's my love
After her, I feel the spirit rising
He smiled sweetly about the eight pearls
They emit a glow and scatter their mirages high
And his spectrum disappeared from the moment of my eyes
He missed his imagination and got carried away a lot
I stood up to say something that crossed my mind
A dream my eyes saw or something I imagined for me
I wiped my eyes and saw nothing but those remnants of their belongings
And the dust hid under it everything they left
I cried and cried knowing that crying does not work
But crying over him sometimes lightens the burden for me
I walked with my eyes behind her whims
And the eye hopes to see it again
And every step I take, the heart wants her home
So that his house became shady, warm and cool
And if a vile or envious person passes me by, he will blame me
They said compensation or someone else's role in place of your lover
I nodded and didn't want to talk to him
until he leaves
He thinks I'm crazy
He doesn't know how much I love Sarah
She is life, soul and all my hopes
Sarah, my life and death without her
I don't care if I see her with blood on my clothes
They mentioned that she lives in the winter in the desert
The desert is very wide
From Dumat Al-Jandal to the North Mountains
From the Jordan Junction in the south to Wadi Ramadi
As for the country of Raqqa, its sun shines with heat
My dear brother: whenever I see lightning, I am happy
At Kohla I said lightning makes me happy
My dear brother: When my chest gets tired of my world
I sing in a sad voice of my fears
I'm still young, but my hair has turned white
I don't know why luck has become a sieve
Even my buddies. They started to move away from me
And when I come to them, they don't care about me
Maybe I think when their minds are petty
-
I have never been stingy. I disobey myself if you ask me to
They shorten the words of benefit so that I do not hear
Their love for my enemy became more
Solitude has become more beautiful and delicious in the wilderness
And I answered his wolf and howled over the hills
I said to him: O wolf, your voice comforts me
Come close to me, you are my friend
You left behind your loved ones and so did I
And your worries and fears have a loud voice
Our loved ones are having a good winter in this beautiful country
May they be healthy and their country fertile
When they get close, good news for you
I will give you from God's gifts of elite what I have
You and I made a vow of purity and purity
And what we wish for you is my hope
Let you play with deer and antelope
And drink water after thirst from pure water
Even your fangs are beautiful, don't eat carrion with them
And do not snipe from the weak catch
-
And what do you say about the days that reverse the trend?
Bad days, cutting chains and cables
His ribs trembled and his chest ached
His voice echoed from the countryside and hills
And the wild pigeons heard the echo of my complaint to the wolf
Then the pigeons wailed from a thin tree branch
Birds of prey fluttered to him
Even the broken winged one took pity on me
Then the birds migrated south and rose into the sky
Even the slender bird has become a migratory
They returned after about a year and then went to Russia
They want a spring and drink earthquake water
They said we saw him a year ago
This is a wolf companion in an empty nomadic wilderness
It tolerates heat and winter frosts
He only wears shabby clothes
Then the birds headed with the liver of the sky towards the star of Capricorn
After we cut my heart
Death has become with my life together
I think death is more beautiful than life
-
He did not despair of the mercy of the living God who never sleeps
He is a surety if he wants to cherish me or humiliate me
If he wants to send happiness to my heart
And it makes the world beautiful in my eyes
This is the appreciation of God Almighty, and He is above the Great Throne
God knows what covered my chest and what he said
Oh God, I ask you, Taiz Karim, I miss him
You are generous and giving
My brother is still physically and existentially alone in my heart
When I visit him, he makes my situation with him generous
His right is greater than mine, and I cannot fulfill his right
For the duration of his absence, I cut off my letters from him
May my life and my time bring us together
And the eyes rejoice after crying
And the dark days stop oppressing its people
After the gloom, life becomes beautiful and cloudless
I would be glad to see him if he came to me in my dreams
So how about my eyes if I saw him before me
My brother, when he sits in the council, adorns him with etiquette and good manners
He has a stature and learner from the lives of the apostles
-
Lover of the book of God and the biography of his prophet
What has changed by nature is still generous
When the white flags of thanks went up
It has a white flag with a high mountain peak
And the miser who closes his door is miserly
The doors of his house are always open and no doors are closed
He meets you and greets you and you can see the fun on his face
And the smell of coffee, saffron and cardamom, coffee workers
He always honors guests as he honors himself
A decent man always has guests in his house
I remember him when a gentle western breeze comes
I called him by his name and one of my sons was named after him
I have waited and hoped that my dream would come true
Neither my uncle nor my uncle compensated me for that
And as I climbed to the top of Mt
The world narrowed down and the carefree walks beside me
Separation of a brother cuts the veins of my heart
The wound is not treated unless it is near me
I'm not with living in the world in happiness
I ask forgiveness from God if I say that death is more merciful to my condition
-
Oh God, forgive my slip and my sin
You know what's going on
Man's luck is helpless
He runs and does not catch up with bare feet
Because the world has managed him
Like the fearful when fear befalls him
Just like scattering flour with the wind
It is necessary to collect it, but the wind shakes the flour
When night comes and people enter their homes
They sleep now, but I stay up with my worries
The night is like a stingy person collecting his money in a treasury
Gather my worries hard and leave no burden but bring it
It's like I'm on coals turning on the night of the fire
Seconds became long in this darkness
He no longer walks, but something is pulling him
You have eaten me
In winter, cold flutes are heard
Blue and black clouds covered my eyes
And the wind squeezed his lightning and it disappeared
Her thunder resounded like the beating of a drum
-
And they descended the valleys and tributaries with their pebbles
A roaring water shouted noise
If I put my palms in front of me, I will not see them
My mind narrowed until I touched its tip
I'm waiting for the harbinger of dawn
However, the sky became cold and its star was clear
The ice melted and my limbs froze
Even my lips weren't able to say oh brother
The twilight color in my eyes is fading
Missed from last night
The morning came and completed what was missing from the worries of the night
And the sun at noon automatically with its warmth
My blood ran through my veins
I cried the cry of an old man who had lost his only child
At the top of a tall mountain then began to weep
My eyes looked from west to east
And differentiate between right and left
I shed tears like embers on my cheeks
I hope that, I hope it heals me
Lump in my throat and shortness of breath
And over my eyes a thick cloud covering me
-
I no longer find myself between the valleys and the mountain
And if I read the letter K, I told him the letter D
I asked for my freedom, I tasted the obvious injustice
I insisted on ordering it, and I feel sorry for her
You have redeemed freedom with soul, blood and body
I have never been lazy
But it pushes me away into alien land and over the edge
And my heart goes out to the family homes and loved ones to care for them
I want to be close to them, I want to be near them, I want to support them
And these are their songs, and I don't want to live alone
I am not an arrogant person
And I didn't run like tails like artists
But she obeys only the humiliated and submissive
And lead them without pulling the ropes
Don't take advantage and deny making it known
Deny the love of the generosity of the preferred benefactor
And if she is responsible for her prestige and money
I stood up and was aware of all the scammers
What happened to a prisoner without fault struck me, too
And whatever grievances reached his chest, you came to me
I want liberation, not a slave to the world
And the spirit frees her few lovers
Patience is patience for time and time
Men and even children cried at him as he turned gray
-
hanging from the roof of the sky
https://aqelayash.blogspot.com/search?q=%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%84+

Where memories fade, love's essence ignites.
A car crash into a pine tree shatters the facade of a once seemingly blissful marriage. Jack's desperate attempts to bring down the tree with a chainsaw leave his wife, Hazel, wondering what has become of their bond. Is he still the same man she fell in love with three decades ago? As Hazel battles her fears, "Journey to the Treetop" invites readers on an emotional ride through the tumultuous landscape of a mind affected by memory loss.
CABIN ROAD is the gateway to paradise.
But why does this feel like a path to hell?
I smash into a tall pine tree that stands in the middle of the otherwise straight gravel road. I've gone around it hundreds of times before. But now, my fingers are firmly gripped on the steering wheel, disregarding all my commands. Have I become paralyzed?
A potato is wobbling on the dashboard, having obviously leaped out of the potato crates in the back seat. Jack gets out and strides to the front bumper. His lips press into a thin line as he appraises the destruction and cost of fixing it. Nothing should hold him back from swearing. But he maintains his composure, anger simmering just beneath the surface.
The memory of thirty years of marriage fills my mind. I question whether this man has drugged me. A fleeting thought that he might have crashed the car surfaces, but it seems too much of a stretch. I take a deep breath and try to clear my head.
In the rear-view mirror, Jack gets an axe from the trunk. He comes and gazes at me from my window, his eyes looking heavy and weary—like two precious pearls inside their oyster-like shells. I straighten and open the window:
“Thank goodness it wasn't worse.”
“I'll chop it down.”
“That’s a pretty big tree, Jack.”
Jack blinks several times.
“I do have a chainsaw...”
“Yes.” I wonder what stories this tree has witnessed during its lifetime. Will we see the marks of our journey on its rings? There’s always something that gets squeezed in tighter, begging to be unraveled.
“I'll drive you to the cabin and grab the chainsaw,” Jack says. “Prepare some coffee while I'm gone.”
Our short passage to the cabin around the bend is like shifting through the fog of memory. I'm in the kitchen. My fingers clench around the coffee tin can and spoon. Bewilderment engulfs my brain. I spot Jack with his saw. He slips around the corner, the curve of his bottom visible through his tight work trousers. I feel anxious about the crash. Did I deliberately hit the tree?
The measuring spoon slips from my hand. It drops onto the floor along with the tin can. I clean up the mess. Could someone drive into a tree on purpose? Accidents do happen after all. It's fascinating to see him take on this role of being so chivalrous. Far away from his academic duties.
As the chainsaw outside whines, I scroll through social media on my phone. People arguing about something or other makes me tired. I pick up a copy of Science magazine from the coffee table and scan through an article titled “Quantum Communication Across Interstellar Space,” authored by Jack. As usual, the details go right over my head. I like to amuse myself with the idea that it speaks about communicating with individuals who have passed away.
Billy's message pops up. He asks for money for a fishing trip with his buddies somewhere in Lapland. I am more than happy to support him since he’s enlisting in the army soon in July. My big boy.
I tell him about the car crash, and he gives me advice about a car repair store. Jack comes back earlier than expected. He plops into his seat, sweat beading on his forehead and the smell of resin emanating from him. He seems disappointed.
I pour coffee to the brim.
“Did the saw get stuck?”
Jack shakes his head and adds sugar to his mug.
“It got shattered under the tree. I stumbled...”
Silence descends slowly, like dust.
“My helmet cracked.”
“Do you want me to buy new parts when I go to the store?”
“No need.”
“But there's pruning and cutting to do first.”
Jack takes a bite out of a cinnamon bun.
“I can sharpen the axe.”
“Ask the neighbors for help, that's what they're for. You can also mow the lawn while I'm away.”
“The grass is already short— it'll die off.”
“You don't want ticks taking over! Think about your mother's joint pain. She would roll in her grave if—”
“Cremated?’
“Yes!” My answer is like a flyswatter, leaving no room for further discussion or quantum physics.
Jack is busy chewing on the bun. His regular coffee breaks, which have become part of his daily routine in his sixties, have honed impressive jowls.
We enjoy our coffee and stare at the lake. Calm as a mirror. I have a feeling Jack will soon suggest fishing. As I gather my things to leave, I call to him:
“Don't hurt yourself. Should I bring more buns?”
“I was thinking of skipping the sugar and wheat...”
I simply smile in reply.
“Can you refuel the car?” Jack asks.
I'm already off. The door slams shut in the middle of his sentence, but Jack knows better than to expect a response.
I jump into the driver's seat and immediately notice forgotten potato baskets in the back seat, but my mind drifts away before I can do anything about it. As I pass by our old well, I remember that we need to discuss connecting the cabin to a new water source. No matter what it costs, it needs to be done. Why should I agree to be responsible for our running water anymore?
I collide with something hard. Airbags abruptly inflate around me, disorienting me as my vision blurs. Struggling to escape from the tangled mess of seatbelts and inflatable bags, it feels like I'm an old person trying to climb out of a bouncy castle.
My gaze rests on the scene before me, but my thoughts can't understand it. I have plowed into a tree stump. The tree stretches over the ditch. Nearby the chainsaw lies crushed. The cutting chain is nowhere to be found.
I get back in the car. Should I phone Jack for an urgent call? Inhaling slowly helps me stay calm. Why didn’t he mention the tree stump?
Someone taps on my window
I jump and my neck stiffens up. I reach for the window switch.
“I should have told you about...” Jack says.
“The stump?”
“Didn't you see the tree on the ground?”
“I'm sorry. I was daydreaming.”
“Great galaxy, Hazel! You're burning through our last savings as if money grew on trees!”
Jack is being truly authentic with me. I stare back at him like some big-eyed exotic species from Madagascar that I can't identify in all this chaos.
Jack opens the door and starts to put the cushion back in its place. We turn on the engine, giving the accelerator a test ride.
“Let's go to a repair shop. I'm sure our insurance will cover this,” Jack suggests. “We can say that we had an accident with a reindeer.”
“You're supposed to report it to the police or game warden if you hit an animal,” I reply.
Jack pauses for a moment. He then reverses and drives forward again, but when he looks into the rear-view mirror, he slams on the brakes.
“I have a better plan.”
He retrieves an orange towing strap from the trunk, a burst of determination on his face. He connects the stump and the tow hook.
“Get ready. We’re going to take a quantum leap here.”
We buckle our seat belts with a single click as we prepare for the inevitable disaster. We had already made so many mistakes together, starting with raising our children—though sometimes failing was just part of parenting.
Jack revs up the engine. A sudden lurch forward, then Jack howls in pain as the stump smashes through the rear window, clambering through the seats and lodging itself onto the gearbox, trapping Jack's hand. He veers off toward the ditch.
The Milky Way spins around us, potatoes fly in the air and suddenly, all is quiet. We find ourselves upside down—surrounded by earthy potatoes and broken glass.
I try to break the silence:
“I just remembered: Billy's friend can repair cars at the vocational school much cheaper.”
Jack looks so pale, his face almost white. I guess he’s contemplating the next step.
Through the cracked windshield, I see the chainsaw chain lying in the ditch. How did it come to be rusting away? Maybe everything will go back to normal if we sit here and wait.
It feels almost as if we are flying in outer space, my nerves slowly calming down. But then a sudden stillness strikes that is anything but soothing.
“Jack, I’m feeling a bit dizzy…”
No answer.
“Jack...”
I snap open my eyes and the scene in front of me has changed drastically. It’s like I’ve been sucked into some kind of surreal void.
I hear a tapping noise on the window. An apology and then a loud thud; a huge rock has been hurled through the glass. A stench of strong aftershave ferments around me. A burly arm reaches across to release the seatbelt. An elderly man growls something crude, nothing like Jack's usual scout-like words.
My eyes close as I'm being cradled away, and visions of Jack's mathematics and symbols flicker around in my mind. Is the soul truly free when there is no force of gravity to pull us down?
I don't know who my savior is, but I can sense his worry as his face reddens. He is in military garb.
I come to as I feel my head thudding against the rubble. Instantly, I yearn to run away, contemplating that perhaps this experience is only a dream, and I'm back in the cabin chamber, tucked securely underneath a cosy blanket. A blanket that grants me the power to perform heroic acts like disappearing in a puff of smoke.
“Are you okay?” he speaks in a familiar voice.
Fingers brush over my clothes, picking out pieces of glass. My pocket contains an odd bulge—a potato? Suddenly, everything clicks: an aged Billy, wearing a major's rank insignia. How could he have achieved that rank so fast?
“Son, what are you doing on this tree ring?”
Billy peers at me from across the way, accompanied by a mysterious female figure.
“We came to check on how you're doing,” Billy says. “Do you remember what happened?”
I raise my head and look around. There's nobody in the driver's seat of the car.
“Where is Jack?” I manage.
Billy furrows his brows like a detective would when weighing evidence. An image of the classic TV show Columbo flashes through my mind—he could lull suspects into a false sense of security before dropping the hammer of his sharp intellect on their inconsistencies. But I'm not hiding anything here. Though why are modern shows so bad? That's another mystery entirely.
“Mom, what were you doing out here? The road is an absolute disaster zone, with the car smashed up in the ditch.”
My thoughts swim haphazardly as Billy reads something from my expression, then casts his eyes towards his new girlfriend for assistance.
I try to get up but it hurts too much. Instead, I reach into my pocket and feel a sandy-sharp potato there. Maybe I can still wash it off.
“I’m fine,” I reply. “I need to get back to plowing the field... baking buns for Jack... buying a chainsaw...”
The darkness returns and I feel my body shiver. I'm in the car, traveling down bumps I've known for quite some time. Soon, I’m settled inside the cabin's living room on the couch. The coffee maker is gurgling in the corner of the room. Billy is on a call with a doctor about how to deal with grief and coping alone; it seems someone had died while cutting down a tree last year. He gets furious and threatens to take away the keys from the person he's talking to. It might be a good idea; many people have too many keys that they don't use anyway.
My head is spinning with thoughts about Jack's absence. Where did he go?
Someone runs water over potatoes while a pot clatters on the stovetop. My temper rises as I wait for Jack's return. I won't stay here by myself without an explanation from him. I call out for Jack until there's no sound left but my coughing voice.
I crave sausage soup, and I know I must go to the store. As I try to move forward, I am wading through tar. They guide me to the coffee table. According to Jack, time runs faster the more hunched your back becomes. Let it be and let us sit here, motionless, gazing at the tips of our shoes. Surely, time has slowed down in this moment.
Billy reaches out and takes my hand. A handsome, greying gentleman. His girlfriend also places her hand on top of the pile. Her name is Ewa. A beautiful name, something familiar about her.
But did I hear her calling me mother?
In the yard, a squirrel hops with a cone in its mouth. It freezes and stares at me. I avert my gaze. My hands suddenly look wrinkled. I summon the inner strength that I've been striving to find for an eternity:
“Do we have to leave now?”
Billy exchanges glances with Ewa and then looks outside.
“You don't have to walk this path alone, Mother.”
We finish our coffee without saying another word. The wind sweeps across the lake. A pair of swans take flight, and a duet of gentle honks echo across the water.
A shivering cold envelops me. Billy and Ewa take me to the car. The potatoes can wait.
The sun blazes brightly above us as we travel the cabin road; shapeless clouds dot the horizon and suddenly I sense a presence—as if someone is waving to me.
I surrender.
I believe I will be warmly welcomed.