Above them swallows flitted and veered this way and that, up and down, changing direction with incredibly agile, angular maneuvers, seeking to catch the very nourishing fruit flies that bobbed awkwardly along, enjoying the early morning air. Food was a necessary preparation for the rigorous and demanding journey that lay ahead with their eventual migration south. Even though that still seemed far off, the weather could change any minute, being so close to the Canadian border.
For now, though, August offered no respite, and even the hardened Rocky Mountains continued to blur like smudges on a pale blue canvas, with the occasional wisps of stubborn cirrus clouds drifting by like lazy ghosts. Despite the welcoming feel of a slight early morning breeze, a continual haze wafted along the winding, dusty roads. Trees no longer stood tall and firmly planted but slowly merged and melted into the distant horizon, and each day’s air was thickly coated with the scent of ripe, milky corn. The energy of life that had flourished throughout July was slowly draining away. Only the most energetic and hardened of creatures dared to move in the midday sun.
It was early morning when B-Jay left the dusty dryness of the garage. Even at this early hour, he could feel the sun's early morning tendrils as it slowly clawed its way upward through the sky. Although that was a good enough reason to make an early start, it wasn’t his reason for leaving so early. Today’s adventure more or less demanded it. Today he was going to meet his friends for another adventure. Today they were going into town.
It didn’t take long before he arrived at the cottonwood tree, excited once more to spend time with his friends and eager to get the show on the road. As he turned the bend, he caught sight of them all. Aruna, the wise Great Horned Owl; Zippo, the tiny ant; Maxwell, the large St. Bernard dog; Cressida, the proud black cat; and Digger Bo, the tumbling badger, were all eagerly waiting at the side of the hedgerow.
B-Jay wasn’t sure if they could have an adventure as enjoyable or as enlightening as their last one, but it didn’t really matter to him if they did or not; he was just glad to be out in the world, spending more time with his friends.
They all exclaimed pleasantries, then climbed aboard B-Jay, taking their usual positions. Cressida sat by herself up front in the passenger seat. Aruna was perched on the driver’s seat headrest. Zippo climbed upon the dashboard so that he could get a good view, while Digger Bo and Maxwell seated themselves on the back seat.
B-Jay greeted them, saying, "I am so pleased you all came. Today is going to be our best adventure yet! Although I have to say how much I enjoyed our last one. I found myself singing the alphabet song for days." B-Jay’s engine gave a cheerful, rhythmic hum, vibrating the seats for his passengers.
"Have we decided on what we are going to do this time?" asked Cressida in her usual sassy tone while inspecting a single black claw with regal focus, "or are we going to sit here for hours while we wait for the dog to have another idea?"
Maxwell was too tired to offer a response, having just had his breakfast; he just lay there twitching. He was curled up on the back seat with Digger Bo, who was tumbling as usual and who never seemed to get tired, his large tail giving a single, heavy thud against the leather.
"Are we going to play the Alphabet Game again?" Digger Bo inquired. "I really enjoyed learning that game. I have even been practicing my words. Singing the song has definitely helped me to remember the order of the letters, but I think my singing is still as bad as it was." He paused before somersaulting again, his fuzzy badger chin flicking against the light breeze.
"I think B-Jay said this was going to be our best adventure, not our last adventure," retorted Cressida, grimacing as she spoke. "Especially as you weren’t very good at it last time. I don’t think I could bear to hear you speak of elephants and eggs again." She looked away once she had finished her statement, rubbing a wet paw deep into the side of her left ear.
Digger Bo was not fazed by her cutting humor; he was too busy enjoying himself, tumbling over and over. He merely stopped to respond, giving his black-and-white face a quick, energetic shake before doing so. "Oh, but it was fun, nonetheless, maybe if I sing a song about eggs and elephants my singing might improve?" he mentioned rhetorically, not expecting anyone to reply.
"Oh yes!" exclaimed B-Jay, giving a quick toot of his horn. "I have thought of an adventure. I thought we could go into town today to see the shops." B-Jay figured that they had never been into town. He had never seen any animals there when his owner occasionally visited the shops, and he thought they might find it quite exciting. His engine hummed joyfully waiting to depart.
"Is that why we are here so early this morning?" asked Zippo, placing his tiny hands on his hips and tilting his baseball cap forward, certain that their last adventure had started a lot later in the day. "Not that I mind; I am an ant, after all. Ants love the heat and the dryness."
"I think it is wise to go into town early," responded Aruna, rotating his head completely around before stretching out an irritated wing. "I am sure that Zippo would not enjoy crowds. I suspect that being small, ants don’t fare too well in crowds. Plus, if we left at midday, I fear that Maxwell would get so hot he might sleep his way through the whole adventure, missing all the fun."
"Never a truer word said," echoed Cressida stretching, her claws lightly gripping the front seat.
"I agree," Zippo replied. "It could prove awkward trying to navigate a crowd. I had an aunt, a great-uncle, and several cousins that were squished a few years ago in the park." As he said this, he fell dramatically downward, lying motionless on the dashboard as if squashed into some contorted puddle, his hat pulled over his face to suggest his subsequent demise.
"Could you spare us the gory details and maybe save them for a nighttime adventure?" pleaded Aruna, who seemed eager to set off. "I feel we should focus on the matter at hand. Especially as I have never been to town; I have flown over it a few times, but mostly in the dark of night."
"What a great idea!" said Zippo, spinning his baseball hat around on his finger before flipping it onto his head. "We could all tell scary stories on our nighttime adventure—Whoooooooooo!" He ended the conversation walking across the dashboard like a monster with his arms outstretched. His continuous use of theatrics was infectious, and everyone found themselves grinning happily.
Once they had all calmed down, B-Jay pulled away. Despite accelerating slowly, Zippo hadn’t quite got his footing secure and fell over with a tumble that even Digger Bo would have been proud of. They all laughed uncontrollably at his mishap, including Zippo himself, seemingly unhurt by the event. It seemed to B-Jay that Zippo was an endless source of amusement.
As they drove toward the center of town, everyone fell silent, anticipating what town may be like, giving B-Jay time to consider how much more he had learned about his friends. Zippo was obviously full of life and didn’t mind being the center of attention. He seemed to enjoy making everyone laugh with all manner of theatrical performances and was always looking for new ones to add to his repertoire. Aruna was very wise and extremely knowledgeable with a sensibility that might be needed if things turned problematic. He also had a calm way of speaking that kept any shenanigans from escalating too far.
Digger Bo was an energetic and amiable tumble-loving acrobat who just seemed to enjoy being a part of things. Maxwell, when he wasn’t sleeping, seemed pleasant, if not a little goofy, with moments that showed he had experience of things, if not the knowledge to understand them.
And then there was Cressida sitting next to him, the wind hardly ruffling her sleek black fur. He wasn’t sure yet what to make of her other than the obvious value that she placed on self-care, especially her coat hygiene. She possessed a very quixotic and sassy wit that somehow was sharpened when aimed at Maxwell. It seemed apparent from what he had observed so far that cats and dogs enjoyed to joust in a way to suggest there was a competition for superiority. Her aloofness, though, was something that kept her as more of an enigma that, he expected, might be resolved over time.
A few minutes later, the landscape around them changed, and it wasn’t long before they came to the start of Main Street. The air in town felt slightly different. It was a lot more humid, even at this early hour. A mixture of warm tarmac sprinkled with the smell of wet grass; with the latter rising from the green sidewalks, after an early morning soak from the whip-whip-whip of eager sprinklers.
Main Street was quiet and sleepy, draped in long, slow puddles that ran the length of the gutters, before oozing downwards into the occasional drain. Store tenders flitted at the store fronts, raising their shutters, pulling down their canopies, before disappearing back inside, turning their signs to ‘open’ in anticipation of the upcoming shoppers.
As they approached the first of the stores they were greeted by the rhythmic swish-swish sound as a man wearing an apron attended to the dust outside of a hardware store. He paid them no mind as he swept the dust from the sidewalk, into the awaiting dustpan. Then, wiping his hands up and down his apron twice, he picked up the dustpan, before strolling back inside.
No one spoke, each one leaning hard against the doors, staring intently at the sights before them, only the occasional twitch, scratch and head flick, disturbed their concentration. Along Main Street, the shops, old and new, stood side-by-side. Some of the older ones that stood grander, more solid looking, bore the dates of their construction.
On one side stood the Elmwood town library, built of heavy gray stone with tall, arched windows that allowed the books to be seen, tempting people inside. Its wide steps were worn smooth in the middle, from over a hundred years of footsteps that bore witness to the effectiveness of their leatherbound calling. At the center of the doors was a hastily posted list of upcoming events.
Opposite stood a newer, shinier building made of bright glass and smooth, silver metal that caught the morning light and bounced it around like a mirror. The sign above read ‘Coffee & Cake’.
Further down the block, the older brick shops were coated in faded red paint, their tired wooden signs creaking softly in the breeze. Tucked between them, every so often was a more modern, newer establishment, like the toystore that was painted sunflower yellow in an effort to stick out. It had wide, large window displays that tempted children with kites, bikes and skateboards. Everywhere, for now was relatively calm and silent, but pretty soon the town would wake up and the streets would be teeming with life.
"Why have we stopped?" asked Maxwell suddenly, turning his attention away from sidewalk before turning it back again. "Can’t we get any closer? They look so enticing!" He stood on his hind legs leaning as far forward as possible, almost falling out of the seat.
"Traffic lights," answered B-Jay, waiting patiently for the lights to change. His engine idled quietly as he sat there in neutral.
"Traffic lights?" questioned Zippo, craning his neck to look up. "What is a traffic light?"
"Traffic lights are the colored lights that help to direct the cars. They tell us when to stop and when to go by shining in different colors," answered B-Jay. "They make traveling safer,” he said, revving his engine, eager to continue.
"But why do we have to stop?" asked Zippo, who was as confused as Digger Bo was. They both looked at each other perplexed, before practicing a secret handshake to pass the time.
"The town is not normally as quiet as this. That is why we met early today. I didn’t want us to get stuck in lots of traffic," said B-Jay, before looking at his fuel gauge, satisfied that they had enough gas to last the day. "The lights are what stop cars from crashing into each other,” he explained.
"So when can we move again?" asked Aruna, his head bobbing up and down impatiently before scanning in all directions. He began to get nervous as well as impatient.
"We can go when the light changes to green," said B-Jay, shifting back into drive. "It is red at the moment, which means we have to stop. When it is yellow, it means take caution and go slow, then when it turns to green, it means we can go."
“Will it happen today?” asked Cressida, who was tired of doing nothing in a stationary car, shifting restlessly on the leather seat.
Just as she finished her sarcastic retort, the lights changed to green, and they proceeded again along Main Street. B-Jay went slowly so that they could all get the chance to see everything. Every head in the car flitted left to right and not always in the same sequence as they had so much to look at.
"Can we go in the shops?" asked Zippo, who hadn’t forgotten their last adventure. "I am sure we just passed a clothes shop. I could go in and get a magical painter's outfit. The one that Aruna spoke about in our alphabet game. The one that will let me paint magical pictures using words."
Aruna laughed, stretched his wings the complete width of the car, blinking twice, very quickly. "I think you will find that a magician and a painter are two different things," Aruna replied. "Sorry if that disappoints you."
"Two different things? That is awesome," Zippo exclaimed clicking his fingers. "Now I must go back to the clothes shop. Quick B-Jay, about-turn, we have a mission to complete," Zippo said, dreaming about two new outfits for his theatrical wardrobe. "That deserves a whole new dance move." At which point he did a double backflip, landing in such a way as to point to B-Jay where they should be heading.
"Oh yes!" interjected Maxwell, shaking his head so sharply that his spittle flicked left and right, narrowly missing Digger Bo, who seemed to tumble expertly through it. "I could do with a new bone! And maybe a spare dog bowl. Never know when you might need a spare dog bowl."
"I think you used the right word for once, Maxwell," interceded Cressida, who was also thinking how nice it might be to have a stiff brush and maybe a vanity mirror. "The word ‘never’ was perfectly used."
"I don’t think that would be a good idea," responded Aruna with a snap from his beak. "We don’t want any of us to get lost, and the high street seems to be getting crowded.” His eyes remained wide as his head flicked sharply in the direction of the people who were starting to enter the shops around him.
"Aruna is right," said B-Jay as they finally came towards the end of Main Street. "We should really head home soon, it is starting to get busy. There seem to be a lot more cars heading this way now." He gave a cautious toot of his horn as a pedestrian crossed the street.
They turned around, traveling back the way they came, and for a few minutes, all was quiet again as they once more savored the colorful displays in each shop window. A multitude of clothes shops, another toy store, this one featuring a working train that traveled in a circle around the store front window. A hairdresser and Spa, that was full of bustling women sitting underneath strange looking, domed hats. A pet store with aquariums full of fish. An old book store aptly titled ‘Page, Turner and Reid’ and a Cell Phone shop where they seemingly misspelled the word Sell. Even an antique store with old chairs and tables, littering the sidewalk passed them by as they made their way back along Main Street.
Then came a butcher's shop with a window full of delicious looking meat, called Main St. Meats. The slogan scribed into the window read ‘pleased to meet you, meat to please you’.
Aruna carefully distracted Maxwell as that shop approached, fearful that he may just leap out of the car. Thankfully it was still too early for the fast food shops and restaurants to be open, so the air was crisp and fresh, hinting only of freshly brewed coffee and not yet subject to the delicious smells of the usual variety of cooked foods.
"I know a song we can sing on the way home," declared B-Jay, trying to maintain the positive mood as the shops faded into his rearview mirror. He tooted his horn a few times, clearing his throat. Trying to find his best singing voice, and once he had practiced a few notes, he began:
"Red light, Yellow light, Green light... Oh! These are the traffic signals we now know. Red means stop and Yellow means slow, But if the light is Green, then GO, GO, GO!"
Digger Bo thought it was a great song, and he tumbled in tune to the melody. Aruna flapped his wings melodically while Maxwell wagged his tail side to side with much enthusiasm, whacking the seat with every wag. Zippo started breakdancing on the dashboard, spinning his baseball hat with both hands and both feet, practicing some new moves he had been working on.
For a second, it seemed that even Cressida was impressed. She had stopped her grooming and was, it seemed, paying attention to the words of the song. Mind you, it was only for a few seconds, and then she continued with her regular cleaning routine.
Once B-Jay had sung the chorus twice, everyone started to sing:
"Red light, Yellow light, Green light... Oh! These are the traffic signals we now know. Red means stop and Yellow means slow, But if the light is Green, then GO, GO, GO!"
Their voices grew louder and louder each time they repeated the chorus. By the time they arrived back at the cottonwood tree, B-Jay was tooting his horn and flashing his lights, literally scaring the feathers off every bird they passed along the way.
B-Jay sadly said goodbye to his friends. They all agreed that it had been another worthwhile adventure. Aruna was the last to leave and made him promise that the next adventure would be a nighttime adventure before launching from the headrest back up into the boughs of the cottonwood. B-Jay agreed. He did not mind what time of day they met – as long as they would be together, that was what made him happy.
He smiled to himself as he closed the garage door, the heat from his engine a warm reminder of the day.