Monday, June 30, 2014

Finished Templates and Molds

     I finished the templates and molds for the classical guitar I'm building for my friend Michael.  Here are a few pictures of everything except the acrylic templates.  We will hopefully be ordering the wood this week.  Then I will begin with the neck and bending the sides.  Should be fun and maybe not too frustrating.


     And here is chapter six.

Chapter Six
The Dark Woods

     “Where are they, Polly?”  cried Keona.  “Are they going to be alright?”
     “The last I could see of them, they were floating down stream on the barge.  I’m sure that they’ll eventually get off and be fine.”  Polly said, quite unsure of that fact.
     “But, how will they find us?  The woods are too thick for us to find them and I don’t know how they would find their way back to us.”  she said, frightened by the thought.
     “You are right about the woods.  We have been separated and the best thing for us to do is to head to the Dillieyard’s village and hope that they will be there when we arrive.”  Polly said.
     “But, what if they’re not there?  How can they find their way without the map?”  Keona said, anxiously.
     “They know to head due North when they cross the river.  Mr. Popper is very resourceful and I’m sure between his knowledge of the woods, and Bon Bon’s sense of direction they will be just fine.”  she said, matter-of-factly.
     “I don’t want to go in the dark woods!”  shouted Thea.
     “I know it is scary, but we have each other and we will be strong as long as we’re together.”  said Polly, trying to comfort the situation.
     “I won’t go!  You can’t make me!”  Thea yelled, and with that she became very serious.
     “Uh oh.” said Polly.  “Please don’t be too serious Thea, it will upset Una.”
     But it was too late.  The more Thea thought about not going into the woods, the more she couldn’t be moved.  The more she couldn’t be moved, the more serious she became.  The more serious she became, the more her powers began to show.  At first she started to change color, from her usual rosy complexion, to a dull gray.  She became duller and grayer, as she began to grow.  As she began to grow her shape changed.  She went from the shape of a little girl, until she was round.  She got grayer and rounder and bigger, until she had become a huge boulder, sitting on the river bank.
     “We’ll never be able to get her in to the woods now!” cried Keona.  “What will we do Polly?”  
     Then it started.  Una had taken one look at her sister, who had turned into a giant rock, and started to whimper.  Her mouth turned into a frown, and her eyes began to fill with tears.
     “Here it comes.”  said Keona, putting her hands over her ears.
     Una began to cry, but this was no ordinary crying.  It sounded like thunderbolts from the heavens, mixed with a thousand people dragging their fingernails across a chalk board, all at the same time.  The sound of car alarms, and fighter jets; of jack hammers and train whistles; of smoke detectors and cell phone ring tones.  
     Polly calmly looked at Una and said,  “Don’t cry.  It will be alright.  I shall sing you a song to make it all better.”   and without a thought, she began to sing the magic song, that only she could sing.
     She held up her hands to form a circle, “Here’s the ball for baby.  Big and soft and round.  Here’s the baby’s hammer.  See how she can pound.”  she sang, as she lightly pounded her open palm with her fist.  “Here’s the baby’s music.  Clapping, clapping so.  Here’s the baby soldiers standing in a row.”  she sang, holding up her ten fingers.  
     Una had started to quiet down slightly, and now only sounded like a rocket ship on lift off.
     “Here’s the way the baby plays, Peak-a Peak-a boo!”   Polly chanted, covering her face and then uncovering it quickly when she shouted “boo”! 
     With that Una started to giggle and smile, although she tried hard not to.  Her crying had calmed to almost the sound of a fog horn.
     “Here’s the baby’s trumpet.  Toot too too too toot.”   Polly hummed, holding her thumb to her mouth and waving her fingers as if they were trumpet valves.  Then she put the index finger of her right hand under the palm of her open left hand and sang,  “Here’s the baby’s parasol to keep the baby dry.  Here’s the baby’s cradle.  Rock a bye.”  Now she had begun to bring her voice down to almost a whisper.  “Rock a bye.”  She sang, gesturing as if she had a baby in her arms.  “Don’t you cry.  Go to sleep.  Baby bye.”  she finished, slowing to a stop.  
     It was quiet.  She looked and Una was asleep.  She felt something on her lap.  Thea had turned back into her self and was sitting on Polly’s lap.
     “How did you sing the magic song, without the Music Water?”  Keona asked, rather puzzled.
     “Well, I don’t know.  I just started singing, because it’s what I always do to calm down Una.  I wasn’t thinking, that without the Music Water, I shouldn’t be able to.”  Polly replied,  quite confused.  And then she had an idea.  “Keona.  Try to sing a little song for me.”
     “But I can’t.  No one can, because the Tigers have taken the Music Water.”  she said, acting as if Polly should have known this.
     “Just try for me please.”  pleaded Polly
     So, Keona opened her mouth and began, but nothing came out.  “I told you.  I can’t sing.”  she said, frustratedly.      
     “Now go over and have a drink of water from my water bottle, and then try again.”  Polly asked.
     Keona drank from the bottle and then opened her mouth.  “Moses supposes his toes they are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.”  she sang, much to her surprise.  She began to dance and sing over and over again, “Moses supposes his toes they are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.”  When she finally stopped she asked, “But, how is it possible, Polly.”
     “Get me the map, please.  I think I know.”  Polly said, with confidence.
     Keona brought her the map and she unrolled it and laid it out flat.  “Just as I thought!”  she exclaimed.  “We are here.”  she said pointing to the edge of the Tuffaluktee river next to the dark woods.  “See here, the river goes around these woods, which the Dilleyards live in.  Up here,”  she said pointing to the land upriver from the dark woods.  “is Bear Lake.  It is in a land the local tribesmen call, Little Canada.  I believe this must be where the Tigers live.  They must have put a drop, or more, of the Music Water into Bear Lake.  The Great Tuffaluktee flows in and out of it, and would carry the diluted Music Water all the way here.  My water bottle was empty and I filled it in the river just now!”  she said, excitedly.  “Not only do we have some Water Music for our journey, but we have a good idea where to find the Tigers.  We must fill all our water bottles, but we will save mine to use only if we should need the Music.”  she said.
     After all the excitement, they had a nice cup of tea, and Donkeyhotie ate some tall grass that grew near the river bank.
     “It is time for us to head north through the dark woods.  We must try to gain several miles and set up camp before dark.”  Polly said.
     And so, they entered the dark woods.  The sky couldn’t be seen and the trail was small and overgrown.  It was quiet, of course.  No bird song, or peepers.  No crickers chirping, or bugs buzzing.  Without the Music Water it was deathly quiet.
     “Polly, why haven’t the birds and bugs drank from the river.  If they had it should be noisy with all the life in the woods?”  Thea asked.
     “The animals only drink from the ponds, lakes, and streams.  They are afraid of the Knotty Heads and Hellbenders, and so, won’t go near the river, unless they have to.”  Polly explained.  “I should think that, before the Tigers stole the Music Water, it was probably very noisy in here.”
     They traveled for several hours, deeper and deeper into the dark woods.  The compass would give them direction when they came to a fork in the trail.  It was beginning to get on towards night when Polly stopped them and said, “I think we should set up camp in that clearing.  We can camp next to that large lone tree.”  She pointed to an area that was mostly tall grass, with a few rocks, and one enormous pine tree in the midst.  In this plot of land, they could see the sky.
     Everyone was very tired and so, were thankful to rest and have some supper.  
     “I shall set up the kitchen and cook our supper here by the tree, and we should set up our hammocks on those trees over there in the dark woods.  she said, as she pointed to the woods on her left.  “That way our food won’t attract animals to where we will sleep, and we won’t be bothered by mice and opossums, and such, when we lay down tonight.”
     The girls got their hammocks out of Donkeyhotie’s saddle bags and began to set them up, when they heard a stick snap in the woods.  
     “Shhh.”  whispered Keona.  “Did you here that?”
     “Dak woos!” said Una.
     “I heard it.”  Thea said.  “There’s something out there.”  she said, with a start.
     “Polly.”  Keona whispered.  “There’s something in the dark woods.”
     Polly turned from her camp stove just in time to see four of the biggest panthers she had ever seen.  Two were pure black like night time, with bright yellow eyes.  The other two were reddish brown, with black rings around their tails and snow white paws.  They all had razor sharp, metallic claws and huge ivory teeth.
     “Back slowly over here by me.”  Polly said, trying to stay calm.  “Don’t make any sudden moves, and don’t run.  Keona, reach into the saddle bag and hand me the matches.”  she said, as the panthers drew closer.  
     Keona did as she was told and put the matches into Polly’s hand.
     “This large tree that we are camped by is called a burning tree.  They grow by themselves and stay very dry.  Panthers don’t like fire, and with this match I should be able to... “  Polly said, as she lit the match and touched it to a single needle on the tree.
     There was a huge roar as the whole tree burst into flames.  With that, the panthers jumped back and Keona ran for the water bottle with the Water Music in it.  She took a long drink and then began to dance a silly dance around the burning tree, laughing loudly as she went.  The panthers looked on, not sure what to make of her.
     “Panthers you are not so bad.  You look to me, a little sad.”  she sang, with all her might, as she continued to dance the most silly of all dances.  “It seems to me you’ve been a sittin, and now you need to dance like kittens.”
     With that, the panthers stood up on their hind feet and began to follow her around the burning tree, doing the most silly dancing you have ever seen a large feline do.  As they danced, they began to laugh.  As they laughed, they got smaller.  As they got smaller, they got cuter, until the mighty, fierce panthers turned into kittens.
     “Panthers, now you look so nice, maybe we could dance with mice.”  she sang, and as the words left her lips, several field mice jumped into the chorus line and began to dance along.
     She sang, “As we dance this little jig, we need some help from the wild pigs.”
     Once again, out from the dark woods came a herd of wild pigs.  Black and pink, with sharp tusks and curly tails.  They ran in just like the others and stood on their hind feet also, but they danced the silliest dance of all.  Laughing, snorting, and farting all at the same time.
     “Don’t just stand around and stare.  What we need are dancing bears.”  she sang, in such a silly voice, that the pigs had tears running down their faces from laughing so hard.
     Out from the woods came five big fat brown bears.  They stood on their hind feet and began dancing.  One of them took Polly’s hand, one took Thea’s, and one took Una’s, and lead them on to the dance floor.  Not wanting to be left alone, Donkeyhotie joined in shaking his backside and swishing his tail to the song.
     They danced for hours as the night grew dark and the stars came out.  The burning tree continued to burn.  Finally the dancers were spent.  
     “I shall fix us some supper.”  said Polly.  “I hope you are all hungry.  Now I have a few things to cook.  If you would all bring me what you have, I’ll make my magnificent stew.”
     All the animals went scurrying about gathering what they liked to eat.  Polly put a large pot on the fire.  To it she added potatoes, onions, turnips, carrots, celery, acorns, berries, roots, and tall grass, that Donkeyhotie had gotten.  When it was finished she ladled each of them a bowl full and added some catnip to the kittens’ bowls.  They all ate until they could eat no more and lay down to sleep.      
     Polly looked around, as the girls and all the creatures lay sleeping.  She looked up at the bright stars in the dark sky and said a prayer, that Mr.Popper and his troop were resting well tonight and that they would all see each other soon.  Then she leaned over and blew out the burning tree, which looked exactly as if it had never caught fire.  She laid down in her hammock and fell fast asleep.










































 

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