Who is that behind the raspberries.
The woods around the farm were large. I had been to every part of the 100 acres at least once including a log of land around the farm. Some places a lot more. However, at the bottom of the hill, there was a swamp and that swamp had a lot of brier bushes and I didn't own boots that were good for that. The only time I went to that area was during raspberry harvest.
The raspberries growing in the swamp were about 1 inch each and the field extended about 5 acres and I was the only one who knew about it. I would get orders from the neighbors for pints of raspberries. I could then use that money to buy comic books. It was a good deal but it meant wading into the swamp and into the briers. I couldn't take down the briers because those are where the barriers grow. To cut those down would eliminate the reason I was there. So there was no getting around it. I was alone in a swamp surrounded by briers, but I was happy because I was making sweet comic book money and had lots of berries to eat.
I am 4 quarts into my latest order when I hear a stick break at the edge of the patch. I am the only one who knows about this patch and there are only 2 other people who explore these woods and we all know each other. I suspect deer. I didn't even look. 6 quarts in and I am almost done when I casually glance in the direction the sounds had come from and see a face disappear into the brush. What?
I call out hello? It looked like a woman's face, long dark hair, but no one who explores these woods is a long-haired woman. I got no response. So I started that direction to find out who just found out about my secret berry patch. I call out, "Hello""Who's there" "Hi" "Want a berry". No response and walking through a swamp in Briers is slow and noisy. It took me nearly 20 min of slup gugh slup gush and pushing a path through to get to the spot I saw someone. Only when I got there I saw no one. I also didn't see any tracks or pushed-over bushes. So I just assume I am crazy which is good because I really didn't want anyone to know where these berries were. Then I hear a snap again and look back to where I had been and see the same face disappear into the briers behind where I had been.
No amount of yelling calling out or questions got a response. No other sounds either. Just the movement of the bushes when the face disappeared and stillness. I go back to where I had been. There is a path now since I had to push the bushes out of my way the first time. The swamp is just as unforgiving as the first time though. Slup gugh. Slup gugh. I am motivated though and make much better time. Again no one was there when I arrived. No tracks.
I look around to try to figure it out. I hear a snap again in a different direction. I don't see a person but I see the bushes move. So away I go Slup gugh Slup gush push push Slup gugh. I get there. No response to any calls or anything to see except a single footprint sunken into the swamp mud. Nothing around it and no bushes pushed aside.
If I want this comic book money I need to finish the order and I have just wasted an hour chasing this ... whatever it was. I finish up and take my order to it's waiting customer and keep the swap encounter to myself mostly to keep the berry patch secret. I assume I will figure it out sometime. I have never figured it out. This year I hope to make it back to the patch to see if the berries are still there after 40 years or anything else.