Wesley and the Gneeches

It was late in the summer when Gabby, Wesley, Daisy and Chim Chim went walking out of the tree line and into the meadow.  Well, the children walked but Chim Chim did what most Jack Russells are prone to do and mostly bounced his way into the meadow.  At 10, Gabby took the lead and Wesley followed Daisy, making sure his cousins kept on the trail.  This close to Autumn the flowers in the field had gone back to sleep and that meant the wild onions and strawberries were ready to be picked and that was their mission.

Supper that night was duck and the wild onions were what Pop needed to finish seasoning them.  The strawberries, as small as they were, were full of flavor and would be the topping over the ice cream Grandma had just finished churning.  

It was going to be a new moon that night and they were looking forward to laying in the meadow and watching the Perseids Meteor Shower.  After supper they would bring out quilts and count the meteorites.  

At 8, Daisy was the youngest and skipped down the trail, occasionally bumping into Gabby.  "Can't you watch where you're going?" Gabby turned and said to her.  "Sorry, I was just skipping and thinking about the ice cream" Daisy replied.  "Well, skip a little slower please" Gabby answered.

Just then Wesley said "Did you see that?" Daisy and Gabby both replied "what, i didn't see anything".  Wesley was looking around "I'm not sure, I thought I saw something moving just off my side."The cousins looked around and all they saw was Chim Chim running through grass as high as his shoulders.  "Did Chim Chim scare up a rabbit?" Gabby asked?  "I didn't see one". Daisy answered.  Hearing his name Chim Chim stopped and looked back at the children, wondering what was up..   

Wesley shook his head and said "Let's just keep going, we don't want supper to be cold, or the ice cream warm!" and smiled.

They veered off the path with Wesley going towards the onions and the girls towards the strawberries.  Chim Chim followed Wesley, jumping to see over the grass.

Wesley saw the girls reach the strawberry patch and hoped the rabbits hadn't eaten them first, and knew they hadn't when the girls smiled and bent over to start picking.  

Pop told him he just needed about 10 of the onions so he looked for the largest he could find.  As Wesley bent down to pick the first onion he saw it again, or really he didn't see it.  There was a movement but when he turned to look, nothing was there.  He looked over at the girls and Chim Chim but they didn't seem to have seen anything either.  "Odd", he whispered to himself.  He remember that Pop had told him that the Native Americans considered the onions magical and prayed before picking them.   

"Magical" he said, "I wonder if this field is as magical as Pop seems to think it is."  Then off to the right he thought he saw something.  When he turned his head to look he thought he felt something touch his left shoulder!

Chim Chim barked and ran over to the girls, who were giggling and and tasting the strawberries while they filled their basket.  Wesley called out "are you guys almost ready?"  The yelled back "Yes! are you?"  Wesley realized he wasn't.  He had been distracted and only had one onion.  He quickly found 9 more and carefully dug them up.  Each time he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye but when he looked there was nothing.

He walked over to the girls and called for Chim Chim.  All the way back to the house he kept looking over his shoulder, not sure if they were being watched.  They went into the kitchen and gave Grandma the strawberries and Wesley told Pop about how he thought he saw something and there wasn't anything there.  Wesley said "I'm not sure what was happening, but it seemed, magical".  Pop smiled and told him it was, that the field is magic and has been for a very long time. 

 Pop told him "You see, what you didn't see, are gneeches. Gneeches are those mysterious little things that seem to appear just barely in the corners of your eyesight, just at the boundary of your peripheral vision.  Personally, I have never seen one although I have attempted to do so countless times. These gneeches are quick - - they dart completely out of sight the instant you turn your head to spot them. They must have some sort of sixth or seventh sense because they surely have to "anticipate" that you're trying to see them. What do they look like !? I have no idea, but every now and then they appear just barely out of sight in the corners of my eyes and no matter how fast I turn my head they always disappear!  Gneeches - - I hope one day to see one !

Wesley wasn't sure whether to believe Pop or not but it was supper time and he would ask Grandma later when they were lying back watching the meteorites and eating ice cream with fresh wild strawberries.