I Am Not Making This Up

Greetings from Domelandia,

Today (October 28, 2017), at about 5 PM, Scout barked and I looked out the dining room window.  (I have learned over time that when Scout is trying to tell me something, I should listen. He is a Good Dog).  I saw a black cloak clad figure walking fast across the top of the dam. She wore flowing black robes, was stooped a bit, and wearing what looked to be a white hat, creating a somewhat witchy appearance.  She was walking southwards towards Jim Bock's canyon, where the little camping hut stands that Jim built back in the day.  I told Ric something garbled like, "someone is out there!!" and he finally believed me, and jumped into his truck and followed her.

He came back to the house and said, "Call the sheriff.  There's an older lady who appears to be disoriented."  He grabbed his fire department radio and some bread and drove back to where she was.

Ric told me that she opened her hands and told him "I have barter."  She had a few rose hips to offer.  She told him she was pregnant with triplets and was trying to get to Sarcillo Canyon.  She told him he was making her uncomfortable.  He pointed to a small grove of trees a few yards away and said, "That looks like a good place to spend the night."  She said OK and walked over there.  Ric zoomed back to the house and told me to call the sheriff back and tell him to hurry.  It was getting dark and colder as the sun was setting.  He was afraid she'd start walking away up into the woods and was prepared to follow her if he had to.

I called the BonCarbo fire chief (Mary Ann) and she coordinated with some members of our volunteer firefighters who guided the deputies and an ambulance to our place.  I walked outside to see what was happening (I couldn't see them from the house).  Mary Ann showed up and needed to call someone else but wasn't getting cell service so I came back to the house to make the call.  I took some soup and a cup of water over to the lady.  She gulped down the water and drank all the soup.  She told me she was fine, not to be concerned, that she had made her decision.  She wasn't wearing any shoes, and her coat was turned inside out, but her white hair was neatly arranged into a bun and she was clean.  She didn't want me to stay too close so I went back to the truck to wait for help to arrive.  She sat down.

After about an hour, the deputies and EMTs arrived.  They were very patient and approached her slowly and in a non-threatening way.  It took about 20 minutes but they finally convinced her to get into the deputies' car.  She wouldn't allow the EMTs to examine her but did tell the female EMT that she had a place to stay in a 6-sided cabin and would be perfectly safe there.  Ric walked the short distance to Jim's little cabin and sure enough, it looked as if she'd been there.  The trapdoor entrance on the floor of the cabin was open, and you could see the marks in the dirt underneath where she'd scooted on her knees to open the door.  There was an old piece of foam that had been moved from the sleeping loft area down to the floor.

She looked familiar to all of us.  She told us her name is Gale.  The deputies left with her in the back seat.  The next week I saw her standing at the intersection of Main and Commercial streets in Trinidad, and at Wal-Mart, with her coat right side out, and wearing a new pair of boots. We called the sheriff to compliment him on how well his deputies conducted themselves.  He told us that Gale is 'known to law enforcement'.  He called me back several times and we found out that she'd abandoned her vehicle at our neighbors' place and somehow found her way to the little cabin through the woods.  Our neighbor said there was a packed suitcase in the back seat and fire starters.  And used toilet paper all around the car.

We're grateful we were able to help get her back to town.  The Viking later remembered she used to cut meat at Safeway, and ran the store and post office in Hoehne.

The funniest part of this whole thing was me trying to tell our neighbor Yvonne about it.  She thought I was Halloween pranking her and kept hollering at me to stop.