Full Circle, part 3 of 3 * 1/6/14

With all this said and set aside, to Martha, it was his energy that set the day apart. Ollie’s that is. Sure he came with an entourage of support folks, quiet in the hall with soft voices and courtesy. But when Ollie first arrived, he decidedly passed Martha and went directly to Sid. Without delay he asked Sid for a favor; “come out today, for just awhile.” By his suddenness Ollie’s request was rewarded. And with a decisiveness that neither Sid nor Martha were familiar with they were whisked off by Ollie’s friends. First by helping hands, then wheel chairs to a waiting van, then curbside service out into the park, escorted along side by side. The speed of this occurrence made it all seem rehearsed as if this was a bank job and they were the valuables to be precisely dealt with each step of the way. And though it was happening all too fast for either of them to gather their thoughts into any kind of surmise, it all came to a sudden halt with them front circle to a crowd already attentive to the happening. A street show. It had stories with characters, changes of clothes and sudden appearances. it had high voices and low voices. it had mime and mimicry. it had a funny clown and jokes and amusement.  it had a magician who was very mystifying. All, in a timeless way, one thing to another. People became less the audience. More would see themselves in passage and reflect this in their laughter and applause. It ended as a campground fire, in the woods as if in the night.  All were shared embers to each other. they took their subdued fire with them. a kind of kindling within. Having shared a common of their own lives without words being passed among them. It was community and life amongst its members. Sid and Martha saw this and knew it was true. Even as others turned to go Sid and Martha’s eyes met like they hadn’t in years. They said all there was to say about life and love and living and passage. Each to each other at the same time in that somewhat electric way that people convey their beings to each other when need and circumstance demand it to happen.

Well somewhere in this electric passage, there was a realization for Sid about Ollie. For Ollie was the storyteller and Ollie was the clown. Ollie was the mime, the magician and Ollie was all these things to all these people. And for Sid, Ollie was now the policeman. The cop that Sid had always wanted. Sid knew it in his soul without understanding how it happened. He would later that day explain to Martha what it all meant. About tradition, about changing times, about service to his people, about his stubbornness and his loyalty, about his dad and his sons. Sid saw it; a perfectly scripted circular of life. His dream had come true.

Ollie knew it that day as if it was his first day as himself many years earlier, But now he knew it that day from inside, from inside his tradition, his loyalty, his caring for his people. For times had truly changed and for Ollie, defending his people had been replaced with connecting his people. Instead of administering rules and regulations, Ollie cajoled and communed people into their sense of self-community right before their very eyes. Same intentions as for generations but different means. Same caring but different styles. Sid’s dream complete, Ollie’s joy.