The badger and the fouled river.
- joneworlds@mailbox.org

In  the summer  after  the brewery  shut down  for
good,  the water  from  the taps  turned sour  and
yellow. It  smelt of illness,  and was not  fit to
consume. The  pump-house drew from the  river, but
there was nothing they could do for it. 

One day, I  went to the river's  edge, and smelled
the  foul water  there.   A badger  came out  from
between  the  reeds,  and  cocked its  head  in  a
knowing way. It spoke to me in a soft voice.

"Up the  valley, at the confluence,  there is work
you must do."

And so I drove all day  up the highway in my white
car, only for it to break down by evening. It took
me a week to walk home.

The  badger lent  me a  red car.   I drove  up the
valley for a second time, only to break down again
nigh on the same spot as before.  And another week
it took for me to walk home.

And then I stole a black car, and for a third time
I  drove up  the  valley.  This  time,  I made  my
journey at night.  By morning, the highway crossed
over near  the confluence of the  rivers.  There I
stopped,  and  down on  the  rocky  bank I  saw  a
strange  hut. I  got out  of the  black car,  went
down, and entered it.

There in the  hut sat an old woman,  as ancient as
the  earth.  Beside her  was  a  cauldron full  of
something awful, from which  a siphon hose drew it
into the river, fouling it.

And the old woman laughed at me unkindly, and said
to me, "Can you keep your door closed, Jone?"  And
I  stared at  her for  a  time, and  my shame  was
great, for I knew I had failed. I left the hut.

I returned to the hut  a second time the following
morning.   The  old  woman   had  changed  into  a
beautiful young woman. She  smiled at me, and said
to me, "Can you keep your door closed, Jone?"  And
I  stared at  her for  a  time, and  my shame  was
great, for  I knew I  had failed a second  time. I
left the hut.

I  entered  the hut  a  third  time the  following
morning. The woman was  now changed into a warrior
with  a   helmet.   She  was  dressed   in  kevlar
armor. She stared at me evenly, and said, "Can you
keep your door closed, Jone?"

An hour passed,  as we stared at  each other.  And
then she crossed her arms.

A  second  hour  passed,  as  we  stared  at  each
other. And then I put my hands on my hips.

A third hour passed, and  we stared at each other.
And  then, we  went to  the cauldron  and together
spilled its  contents upon the rocks  and into the
earth. The siphon hose  drained out, and the river
started to run  clean. The warrior and  I, hand in
hand, came back to the black car, and we went away
from that place.

Though  we search  each day,  never again  have we
found that badger by the river.