9
Through Yuri’s Eyes
(Written by - Helen Snair and Details_)
Magda & Phylo lived a contented #life in a small cottage they built of stone and timbers at the base of the west side of Kimber Mountain. Magda spent her winter days at her loom weaving blankets and shawls from sheep’s wool that Phylo sheared from the sheep they raised in the pasture to the front of the cottage. After shearing was done the pair would gather up the wool and spin it into balls of yarn that they would then dye various colours using the leaves of plants and flowers that they had picked from the forest further up the west side of Kimber. By spring Magda had made dozens of beautiful shawls and blankets and each Saturday through the summer they would load them on the little bucket cart that was pulled by Phylo’s miniature pony, Bay.
Bay was indeed a pony but to Magda & Phylo he was like their child or at the very least like a much beloved dog. Bay slept on a mat just inside the kitchen and would even scratch at the door to go out.
The couple lived a sparse but comfortable #life except for one thing, they longed to have a child of their own. They had been together for over fifteen years when one day Magda awoke feeling very queasy and in fact was sick to her stomach several times that morning. The next morning it was the same thing and the morning after that the same but the couple could not even let themselves dream that she could be with child. How could it be after so many years of trying?
After several weeks the nausea stopped and they went on about their business but despite the attempts to ignore all the tell-tale signs it was soon evident by Magda’s swelling belly that she was most assuredly pregnant. They were over the#moonwith happiness making plans and preparations for the addition which by their closest estimates would arrive sometime in June.
June was drawing to an end when late one evening Magda announced to Phylo, “It’s time, he’s coming.” Phylo asked, “What do you mean he’s coming. How can you be sue it’s a boy?” Magda tried to smile as she said good-naturedly “Because no girl would cause her mother this much pain” and then she waved a hand at Phylo saying, “No more chatter. Boil some water and let’s make ready as our son is anxious to meet us.” The baby may have been anxious to meet them but it still took many hours of agonizing labour before he pushed his way into the world at shortly after 70 AM that beautiful spring morning.
Magda was forty-four years old when Yuri was born and Phylo was almost fifty. Friends and family stopped by to meet the newborn but most of them were curious to see if in fact the child was “normal” as everyone knew that women who have their first child after the age of forty risked having a child that was deformed either physically or more commonly mentally. All Magda and Phylo knew was at long last they had a child and he was perfect. He had all his fingers and toes and by the age of six months it was clear that he was also developing normally mentally too.
Yuri’s early years were spent tagging along with Magda as she went about her daily chores of cleaning their tiny hillside cottage, hauling wood for the big metal cook stove or rolling dough for delicious homemade bread that Phylo loved so much or tramping through the forest looking for herbs that she would grind up into powders to be used as medicinal remedies, some of which she sold at the Saturday market along with the items she had weaved. By the time Yuri was four he had already learned how to read and could count to one hundred. He could even print simple words and phrases and his parents marvelled at their little genius. Magda loved everything about her adorable little boy but what fascinated her most of all was the colour of Yuri’s Eyes. They were the most piercing beryl or aquamarine blue like the colour of a tropical ocean.
Because the nearest school house was over five miles away in Selkirk, it was decided that Magda would home school Yuri. She developed a lesson plan that included reading, writing, mathematics, science, geography and believe it or not she also included shearing, weaving and cooking as part of his weekly curriculum. It had more than once occurred to Magda that she needed to ensure that Yuri was not only book smart but that he had some practical skills too as she knew that she and Phylo would not be around forever and therefore Yuri would need to know how to fend for himself.
Each day when Yuri had finished his lessons and his chores he was allowed some free time to play and explore. Sometimes he would hop on Bay’s back and ride her around the yard and dirt road leading into the village, other times he would head into the forest to explore on his own. At the age of eight Yuri could identify any plant one could show him and how it was best used in a potion or medicine. He had an amazing memory and a gift for knowing what you were going to say before you even said it.
On one of his after-school adventures he headed into the forest and it was nearing suppertime when he emerged from the trees that lined the back of the cottage. He would often be whistling or singing to himself so his parents weren’t overly alarmed when they heard him softly calling out. It wasn’t until Magda opened the back door of the cottage and spotted Yuri crouched down calling to an animal to “Come on boy. Don’t be scared” and to Magda’s horror she looked over Yuri’s head to see a huge grey wolf slowly edging its’ way into the clearing.
Magda was terrified and screamed at Yuri to “Get away from that thing. It’s a monster, it’ll kill you. Come here boy, quickly.” Yuri turned back to look at Magda saying “Ah Ma, you scared Saber. Now he’s afraid to come home.” Magda was nearing hysteria as she grabbed Yuri by the scruff of the neck,
“What in the world were you thinking child? That thing is a wild beast and it would tear you to shreds in an instant if it had the chance.” Nine year old Yuri looked back at his mother with tears now streaming from his soulful blue eyes, “He’s not a wild animal he’s my friend” and he ran sobbing to his cot in the corner of the kitchen.
Yuri sobbed into his pillow for several minutes while Magda used the time to calm down and then she went over and sitting on the edge of his cot, she stroked the back of his head and neck saying “There, there now. It’s alright. No harm done but you mustn’t try to make friends with the forest animals especially the wolves as they are dangerous.” Yuri sat up and looking into his mother’s worried eyes he tried to explain, “Saber’s not like the other wolves. He might be the scariest looking because he is so big and because of that weird tooth he has but he is really very gentle. He has been my friend since he was a pup.” Magda was incredulous. “What are you saying Yuri?’
Yuri went on to say how over a year before he had found the baby wolf barely breathing and suckling at the teat of its dead mother. Magda was wide-eyed as Yuri went on to explain that he had gone to the forest each day to tend to the tiny wolf pup and how today the now full-grown wolf had followed him as far as the edge of the forest. Yuri delighted in telling his mother how he had taught the wolf many tricks in much the same way one would teach a dog. Saber could sit on command, lie down, come, stay and fetch. He would even howl on command.
It all seemed too incredible to believe but eventually Magda agreed to go to the forest with Yuri the next afternoon and see for herself. Yuri had made a path through the dense brush having tramped through this area a hundred times before so the walking was pretty easy. About a half hour into their hike Yuri stopped at a large bolder and gave a loud whistle. At first there was no response so he did it again. The third time he followed the whistle with a howling noise and then ever so gingerly Saber stepped out from behind a huge redwood tree. Saber made no attempt to move towards the pair but rather just stood staring as if trying to decide what to do. “Wait here Ma” Yuri said as he released his hand from hers and slowly edged his way closer to the frightened animal. Despite her apprehension Magda did as Yuri asked. She cautiously looked around and spotted a large tree branch that she decided she would grab to beat off the animal should it make a move towards her son.
She stood mesmerized as Yuri edged closer and closer to the animal until he was now seated on the ground beside it gently cooing and assuring the animal “It’s alright boy. That there’s my Ma. She won’t hurt ya. She’s just worried you’re going to hurt me but you won’t hurt me will ya boy? We’re buddies aren’t we boy.” And with that last comment the wolf seemed to know that he was not in danger and relaxed resting his head on Yuri’s lap as Yuri stroked his thick silky grey coat. Yuri then urged his Ma to come closer, “But don’t move too suddenly or you’ll scare him” “Scare him” Magda mumbled under her breath but she inched her way the fifteen feet that separated her from her son and the wolf.
Kneeling down beside Yuri, Magda watchfully reached out to stroke the head of the animal that she could now clearly see posed no danger to her or her son. The three sat together for the longest time before Magda said, “Come on Yuri, it’ll be dark soon. We’d better get back. Your father will be worried.” Yuri and Magda stood up and Saber did too but he didn’t seem to know what he should do next. Yuri gave Saber another gentle pat on the head and said “Come on boy, we’re going home” and without any protesting from Magda the three of them made their way back along the path to the cottage. Just before the cottage came in sight the familiar smell of a freshly lit fire hit their nostrils and they smiled knowingly at each other as they knew that meant that Phylo had come home early today.
Phylo was a very hard working man and spent six days a week as a coal miner on the east side of Selkirk Mountain. Each day he would come home from work, herd the sheep into fresh pastures, chop wood for the fire and do any one of a dozen other chores before heading to the tiny closet shower to clean up before supper. Magda and Phylo didn’t have a lot of rules for Yuri as they liked the idea that he was an intelligent, free-spirit, and they encouraged his independence but the one rule they did have was that Yuri must never ever venture to the far side of the mountain as it was extremely dangerous. The east side of the mountain is where the Zurgoff Mine is located.
Phylo had just emerged from the shower and was walking past the back door of the cottage when he glanced up to see Magda and Yuri emerging from the woods but then he saw the large wolf that was stalking them and he screamed out a warning that stunned both mother and son. Clad only in a towel Phylo rushed out the back door waving his arms and yelling “Run, wolf, run” and with that Saber stopped in his tracks and just stood staring at Phylo while Yuri and Magda laughed hysterically. “It’s alright Da, it’s just Saber. He’s my friend.”
As Magda and Yuri made their way across the yard, Saber stood staring into Phylo’s eyes refusing to break the gaze, wary that Phylo might lunge at him and he would be forced to defend himself. Saber was as intelligent an animal as you are ever likely to meet and had almost human-like instincts. Seeing Yuri and Magda run to Phylo and embrace him finally caused Saber to relax a little and although he was still reluctant to move forward, he looked from Yuri to Magda as if to ask, “Am I safe.” Yuri encouraged Saber forward with his usual, “Come on boy. It’s alright” and mother, father and son knelt down in the shade of the huge oak tree gently calling to Saber and urging him forward. All Phylo could say was, “Well I’ll be. Would you look at that. Master Yuri has tamed himself a wolf.”
That night Bay slept on her mat just inside the front door to the little cottage and on the little back verandah overlooking the back yard, Saber took up residence. He had an unobstructed view of the tree line which seemed to make him feel safe as he could easily see any possible predators such as badgers, raccoons and yes other wolves should they slip out of the forest to make their way to the pasture where the sheep were left to graze.
It was quite the strange household with a miniature pony wandering in and out of the house like an overgrown dog, a wild wolf traipsing after Yuri like a little puppy, chickens wandering loose in the front yard and the whole Von Kegal family oblivious to how odd this arrangement might appear to strangers. But the family need not worry about strangers as there had not been one uninvited visitor or passerby to these parts since Magda and Phylo built their little cottage and moved in almost twenty-five years ago.
Yuri was getting stronger and taller and more curious by the day and as a boy who would soon be eleven he also grew more adventurous and would often venture much further up the mountain than his parents would have permitted. Each time he did so, he also managed to trek a little further east until one day he found himself staring down into a valley that was clearly on the east side of the mountain. It looked harmless enough but still heeding his parent’s warnings he dared not venture to the bottom of the mountain to explore what looked like a little town of sorts. From his look-out point he could see men coming and going from what appeared to be tiny shacks and he could hear lots of loud grinding and hammering noises. He longed to know what was going on down there but something told him to hang back.
Now that Yuri had beaten down a path to the east side of the mountain he and Saber would sneak off each afternoon to watch the goings on and with each passing day Yuri became more curious as to what the men could be doing. The noises he heard sounded like the noises his Da had talked about, “The incessant banging gives me such terrible headaches” Phylo would often complain but the noises Yuri heard where somehow different. One summer afternoon Yuri could stand the curiosity no longer so he waited until the coast was clear and scooted down the last hundred yards of the mountain criss-crossing from tree to tree to make sure he was undetected. Once again Saber seemed to sense danger and refused to come out of the woods, watching Yuri from a careful distance. No matter how many times Yuri would call out to him, Saber only stared back at him refusing to budge.
By the time Yuri had worked his way to the last possible spot before the open field the sun was starting to go down over the west side of the mountain and Yuri knew that he should turn around and head home but he seemed to be frozen to the spot behind the big oak tree. Just then a man wearing khaki coloured dungarees and a cap stepped into a strange looking contraption and then it suddenly disappeared into the ground. Was Yuri witnessing a miracle? He had to get a closer look but before he could decide what to do next the strange contraption reappeared and this time several men carrying shovels and pick axes and wearing odd helmets, stepped off of it and made their way to the large building in the centre of the compound. Finally Yuri realized that what he was seeing was the miners emerging from the coal mine. A few moments later he was particularly startled to see his father walking across the compound and Yuri’s heart froze. Had his Da seen him and was he coming to drag him home by the ear scolding him all the way for disobeying, but Phylo too headed into the large building and then a short time later all the men emerged carrying only their lunch pails.
The sun was sinking lower in the sky and streaks of lighting signaled a storm was brewing and Yuri knew that he would never make it home through the woods before his father, who would take the gravel road (the direct route) that ran around the base of the mountain. As soon as he saw his father disappear from view down the dirt road Yuri turned to head back along the mountain path for home but suddenly he heard a horrendous bang like the loudest clap of thunder the young boy had ever heard. He thought how the storm had come up suddenly even though he had spotted lightning in the distance. He turned towards the noise and before he could focus on where it was coming from there was another loud explosion and the earth shook and Yuri stood looking at the spot where the contraption had gone down into the earth but now instead he saw flames shooting up into the sky along with rock and ash and a moment later there was another earth shaking boom and then things went silent for Yuri.
All the little huts were flattened and in the spot where moments before Yuri had seen men emerging from the large tool shed, now was a deep pit with smoke and ash and flames shooting out of it. Several more smaller explosions would occur but Yuri would not hear them, could not hear them. Trees that had stood for dozens of years were uprooted and now leaned haphazardly against more solidly rooted trees; whole boulders had been lifted and dropped in a different spot and still Yuri lay silent on the ground beneath what had now become a canopy of trees that were uprooted but had no room to actually fully fall to the ground.
Saber stared on helplessly at his friend who was now unconscious and quite possibly dying. Saber began licking Yuri’s face but this did not rouse him. His head and bare arms were bloody and Saber began licking at Yuri’s wounds but still he did not waken. Night had now fallen and despite the ruckus over by the mine entrances or what used to be the mine entrances, Saber simply laid down next to Yuri. Miners who were on their way home having heard the explosions had run back to the mine to look for fellow miners but miraculously everyone had made it out of the shafts and the tool shed. The men were thankful that this disaster had not claimed any lives or even injured anyone. At least not any of the miners but how could they know that just a few hundred feet away lay a small boy barely hanging to his young #life.
Back at Yuri’s home his parents had been frantic. Attempts to find Yuri in his usual play spots had come up empty. For several days they searched, they cried, they called his name but Yuri was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile beneath the canopy of fallen and falling trees Yuri lay helpless. Saber had continued to lick his face and ears and eyes and finally after almost forty-eight hours Yuri managed to blindly reach out to Saber. Saber licked his hand and whimpered softly, relieved that Yuri was regaining consciousness. By the third day Yuri was able to pull himself up to a sitting position and lean his back against the redwood tree that towered over him but he realized that there was something very wrong with his hearing and with his sight. When Yuri felt around the ground near him, his hand came upon a pile of berries and he soon realized that Saber had placed them there. Cautiously Yuri lifted a berry to his nose and then he pressed it against his lips, and then into his mouth where he rolled it around for a minute before biting down and releasing the delicious sweet juice of the hawthorn berry.
Yuri gave little thought as to how a wild animal would be able to gather and place these berries at his side, he was too busy ravenously devouring the berries. After a few minutes Yuri tried to stand but as soon as he put weight on his right ankle it was evident that he had sustained an injury to his right leg. Unable to see Yuri could only feel around with his hands to try and determine the nature of his injuries. A sickening feeling came up in his throat and almost caused him to throw up the berries he had just eaten when he realized that the sharp point he had felt between his two hands was in fact his shin bone protruding through his skin. Now on top of being deaf and blind, he also had a broken leg. Yuri was a brave young man but this knowledge was more than he could bear and he sank back against the tree trunk and sobbed. Saber laid down beside him as if to try and console him.
Night fell and sadly Yuri did not hear the searchers as they now made their way around the mountain calling his name. Saber tried to lick Yuri’s face to waken him but Yuri just pushed him away. The next day searchers combed the area again and were just about to give up when something caught Phylo’s eye. Recognizing Phylo’s voice Saber bounded from the canopy where he had been curled up next to Yuri and upon seeing him from a distance Phylo called out to him but Saber wouldn’t come to Phylo. Instead he would run forward a little and then run back towards the treeline and base of the mountain. Finally Phylo realized that Saber was trying to get him to follow him.
Phylo followed Saber and at first he thought he was seeing things when he peered into the canopy but then he heard a moan and realized that his darling boy was alive, badly injured, but alive. As Phylo looked down at his son he soon realized that he could not move him alone as his injuries were too severe but in a few moments the whistling noise he had been making brought other rescuers to his side and fashioning a stretcher out of several jackets tied to two long tree limbs they gently carried Yuri home. Upon seeing the men coming and carrying Yuri, Magda’s heart stopped. Was he dead? “He’s alive Magda. He’s alive.” Phylo called out to Magda who was now running full speed across the pasture to see her sweet boy. As she looked down at his broken body she vowed that she would make him whole again. The men carried Yuri in and then gently, oh so gently lifted him from the make-shift stretcher to his cot.
Magda looked down upon her little boy and tears fell from her red and swollen eyes. “Oh Yuri, Yuri. What happened my love? What happened?” Her warm tears dropped on his swollen and bruised cheeks and then in a whisper she heard his frightened voice “Mama?” he asked. “Yes darling. You’re going to be alright.” But poor Yuri could not hear his mother’s voice so he asked again “Mama? Is that you Mama?” and she leaned in and brushed her cheek to his murmuring words of solace, unaware that Yuri could not hear her. Yuri reached up to touch her face and tearfully said “Mama I can’t hear you. Why can’t I hear you and why is everything black. Is it night Mama? Why can’t I see you? My leg hurts Mama, can you fix it?” It was only then that Magda realized that Yuri must have been on the mountain at the time of the massive explosions in the mines. No one knew for certain what had caused the accident, some speculated that lightning must have triggered a build up of methane gas deep below the surface but how did the lightning bolt make it down the shaft? All everyone marveled at is the fact that it happened only minutes after the last miner had come up from the shaft. An hour earlier and hundreds of men would have been killed or trapped beneath the ruble.
Magda kissed Yuri’s eyelids and soon he fell off to sleep so Phylo covered him with one of Magda’s beautiful quilts and sat down on the edge of the cot stroking Yuri’s hair and trying to assess the extent of his injuries. It was now obvious that Yuri could neither hear nor see and his leg was obviously broken below the knee but he was pretty banged up with cuts and scratches on his head and arms too. Magda prepared a basin of warm water and wash cloth to Phylo who began gently washing away the dirt and dried blood and after several minutes they both concluded that all the other injuries were relatively minor in nature and would likely heal within a few days.
After they cleaned Yuri up, Phylo went out to the old shed out back and found a flat board that he would use to help Magda make a splint for Yuri’s broken leg. While Phylo cleaned and sanded the piece of wood Magda began boiling herbs and using a mortar and pestle to grind up leaves to make a poultice to lay over the large cut on Yuri’s shin where the bone had broken through. Magda also made a special tea and before she began setting the broken leg she helped Yuri sit up to sip the honey and herb concoction. Valerian was one of the herbs that was known to help induce sleep and as a medicinal herb, comfrey was so prized that it was called "knitbone" and "bruisewort" as a tribute to its miraculous healing powers and white willow bark contains aspirin-like compounds said to help alleviate pain. Magda knew all the plants and herbs that would help her son.
When Yuri had finally finished sipping the last of the tea and drifted into a deep sleep, Magda and Phylo quickly cleaned the wound on Yuri’s shin, applied a poultice and with the swiftness and efficiency of any modern day emergency room doctor, they lined up the fractured bones and set his leg using the flat board from the shed and bandages Magda had fashioned from torn up strips of bedding.
Using her mortar and pestle Magda went to work grinding leaves into an oil mixture that she strained through a thin cloth adding a half teaspoon of warm water she squeezed a few drops into each of Yuri’s ears. She boiled coriander seeds for washing Yuri’s eyes with the cooled mix of water and seeds Over the coming days she would also try eyebright herb, elderberry blossom tea, and aloe vera juice which all work as eyewash, reducing inflammation in the eyes.
After working on Yuri for several hours Magda and Phylo finally sat down at the wooden kitchen table and instinctively reached for each other’s hand. They were exhausted and hadn’t eaten but neither seemed to have an appetite and neither could seem to take their gaze from the child who was sound asleep on the cot across the room. Finally Phylo insisted that Magda get some rest. He would watch...
