Sounds of Morning ~ January 24th, 2021

It was an incessant ringing, a clamoring that woke everyone in the village before dawn had even broke.  They stumbled out of their houses, masks tight across their faces, and hands covering their ears.  They tried to speak to each other but, even when yelling directly into another’s ear, their questions could not be heard.  Dogs barked and babies wailed but no one could find the source of the noise to shut it off.  The sun had yet to make its appearance, but the horizon was already showing the early kiss of dawn.

People got angry and began to gather, trying to devise a plan while only speaking in hand gestures.  This proved difficult because their hands were necessary to protect their fragile ears.  Suddenly the ground began to quake.  Everyone feared that this was the moment the sound caused the ground to cave in beneath their feet.  They hunkered down lower, ready to brace themselves, but it never happened.  The ground stayed solid.  Then they looked to the south where a large mountain stood.  They could see the dust starting to kick up and the land starting to move.  Lord help them, they were in for a land slide.   Yet that too did not happen.

The dust rolling down the leeward side of the mountain quickly shifted to rocks and boulders.  Yet instead of creating a massive landslide the mountain seemed to grow taller, and lift upwards reaching for the sky.  The general shape was changing and suddenly a piece, that ran the length of the range, broke free.  It swung forth above the heads of the terrified citizens.  They watched it swing outwards into the distance of the North.  Then suddenly there was silence.  The silence was deafening.  Though really it was just that their ears needed a few moments to recover from the onslaught of sound they had just suffered.  The arm, for that is what it was, then retracted through the sky and came to rest at the side of a massive figure who now sat where the mountain had stood.

He yawned and stretched, moving side to side as though trying to get the kinks out of his back.  Then he looked around and his gaze came to rest on the tiny creatures who looked up at him in complete shock and awe.  He smiled and spoke in a deep, booming voice, that rattled like thunder moving across the sky.  “Good morning! May I…” he was interrupted as he watched the small creatures hunker down covering their ears.  It dawned on him that their fragile forms couldn’t take him at full volume so he leaned down and whispered.  “Good morning!  May I ask what year it is?”

One small form moved forward from the crowed.  The giant could tell that the thing was trying to say something but he couldn’t hear it.  “I’m sorry, but you are too small, your words do not reach me.”  Another creature came jogging up to the first.  He handed off a small object and suddenly a tiny voice rose upwards and the giant could hear.  “It is 2021.”  He nodded, as though impressed with himself.  “My, then I have taken a good nap.  Is there anything special happening?  Anything I should be excited for in 2021?”  He watched as the small people spoke among themselves before the main person once again spoke through the device.  “This past year there was a great pandemic that affected the whole world.  We now have a vaccine but we are still in the process of getting it delivered to everyone.”

The giant frowned.  “That doesn’t sound like too much fun.  I think I will snooze for a couple hundred more years.  Thank you for your time.”  With that the giant reached out once more into the distance.  When he pulled his arm back he again settled into a sleeping position.  He blinked a few times and smiled at the villagers before closing his eyes for good.  His breathing kicked up a gentle wind that rolled across the land and through the village.  As the sun began to crest the horizon the giants form slowly blurred.  Where once the people saw the massive body of a man they once again saw the rock face of the mountains they had known all their lives.  The sun continued to rise and as the rays kissed the lips and cheeks and nose of the giant, those features also blended back into the form of a mountain and the wind died down. The people stood around outside for quite some time following the short spectacle of the morning.  Many were already beginning to forget those few moments of magic, but the children who saw it would remember it much longer.  They would build stories about the mountain and the giant who slept there and those stories would be passed down for generations to come.  Celebrations would be created to honor the sleeping man who would one day rise again to greet those lucky enough to hear the call of his alarm and bid him good morning.