Maracatte

[Mushy]

The air was fresh, cool, and crisp, but not without humidity. Razel thought it was the perfect day to take his young son Tristan out for a walk and play with him. They traveled through town towards the great woods, not without Razel giving a few winks to the young women that passed him by on the street. The sky wasn’t clear, but Razel had predicted that only a light rain would disturb them for a few hours. That was fine with him; he could stand rain but he had a sensativity to the sun.

Razel always hoped for days like this, so he could watch his young son in person rather than from a window, and they could travel through the woods for a while, until the woods started to become marshes. At that point, the water would still be shallow but there would be plenty of tadpoles to occupy little Tristan, who was carrying a glass jar just for that purpose, but not too deep to put the boy in danger. The young boy proudly trotted next to his Papa, knowing the reason he was wearing his mud boots along with his shorts and collared cotton short-sleeved shirt. The materials were made of stretchy materials so if his son started to get wanderlust, the boy could easily be snatched up by his clothing.

Overalls would have been more appropriate, but Razel had been lazy about washing their clothes, and they had gathered in an empty basin at the cottage.

I don’t always set the best example for Tristan when I do that, Razel thought to himself with a slight chuckle. Tristan looked up innocently when he heard his Papa chuckle, and Razel reached over and patted him on the head affectionately.

[bobby]

Tristan skipped alongside his Father, chattering excitedly about all the tadpoles he intended to catch in his jar. "I'm going to get a hun'red tadpoles, Papa," the little boy said. He reached back to tug on the seat of his shorts, in the manner of all little boys whose chubby little bottoms filled out their short pants.

"And you know what, Papa, I'm going to give them all names. The big ones will be Papa Razel and the little one will be Tristan." Tristan took his father's hand and swung on it. "Bend you arm, Papa," Tristan instructed, and when Razel patiently did so, the little boy put both arms on it and swung lifting his chubby legs from the ground.

Then Tristan let go and just took hold of his Father's hand. "Papa, you know what? I love you this much." Tristan spread his arms and grinned up at his father, two little dimples creasing on both sides of his mouth. The little boy pushed one hand through his thick blond hair, the bangs of which hung over his eyes. It had been a long time since Razel had sat a squirming Tristan on the kitchen stool and cut his hair.

"Papa, when we get to the marsh, are you gonna look for tadpoles with me, and can we
go 'sploring into the woods. How come you never let me go into the woods by myself. I'm big," the six year old said stoutly.

[Mushy]

Razel listened to his son's chattering intently, often resonding with a reassuring or encouranging squeeze on his hand, a hand ruffling his soft hair, or lifting the boy off the ground with his strong arm like the boy often wanted to do. He knew Tristan loved to swing off the ground by his father's arm.

"Can you really come up with a hundred names? I think that's only two," Razel mused when his son went on about naming the tadpoles after them. "Besides, you'll have to let them all go back afterwards..."

The boy was now mentioning how much he loved his Papa, and Razel grinned affectionately, squeezing his son's hand warmly.

The boy's blond hair needed badly cut.

Otherwise it will be as long as mine! Razel thought with an amusing grin. After all, his hair was past his shoulders to the point he had to tie it back. Little boys didn't have long hair however. Razel...just didn't want to cut it. He'll squirm and fuss and cry about it.

As they were walking along, Tristan presented a new question that caused Razel some concern. Tristan often asked why he couldn't do things, and gave reasons why he should.

"Yes, you are very big," Razel said softly. "However, you're still little enough that your papa is protective, because the marshes are wet and little boys like you could slip and fall. And Papa's not to catch you wandering off on our trip, or we'll march straight home..." He sighed. He hated to threaten the boy, but it was his son - his only, precious son - and he wasn't going to have him hurt because of disobedience. "Remember the last time you ran off and we went home, Tristan?"

He brought his son closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, bending over and kissing him on the forehead.

"Papa spanked you, didn't he? So remember that. Just catch tadpoles with Papa, listen to what I say, and I'll let you ride home on my shoulders when we're done."

[bobby]

Like all little boys, Tristan found the mention, or reference, to punishments horribly embarrassing. When his Papa said, "Remember the last time you ran off and we went home, Tristan? Papa spanked you, didn't he?" Tristan's blushed hotly and looked down at his feet. He remembered that Papa had spanked him, but his memory of those things was brief. However, it had left an impression of something he would like to avoid, so the little boy focused on his Father's positive words instead, "Can I really ride home on your shoulders, Papa. Yay!" Tristan danced around again.

When they got to the marsh, the little boy looked eagerly about. He loved the wetland with the tall rushes and cat tails rising from the water. Tristan often wanted to gather fistfuls and bring them home, but the rushes that grew in the swamp could not be picked; they faded and seemed to slip away like mist once they were removed from the water.

Tristan looked past the swamp to the forbidden woods. There always seemed to be little lights that glimmered there so entrancingly.

"Daddy," the little boy said, bending down so that the seat of his shorts were actually dipping into the marsh water, "what are the lights in the wood?"

[Mushy]

"Well, if you look closely, it's actually not in the woods," Razel said, with a grin. "There's a lot of water on the ground, and that's a will-o'-the-wisp."

He didn't give further explanation to his son, because of all the folklore surrounding it. Such a thing might scare the little child.

"So young one, are we going to catch the tadpoles yet? Papa's anxious to see how many you catch this time."

He dug into his pocket and produced a small net.

"Remember, put plenty of water in that jar and put them straight in. You don't want to hurt the little guys," Razel told his son, handing the net to his boy. As soon as Tristan had the handle, he put his hand on his head and ruffled his hair.

As soon as he straightened back up, he put his hand in his pocket again, and produced matches and a case of kreteks. Pulling out one of the dark kreteks and putting it to his lips, he lit it.

"Okay," he said after exhaling the smoke. "Which direction do you think you'll have the best chance of catching those tadpoles? I'll take you there. Just not to far, remember that."

[bobby]

Tristan, like many little boys, was absolutely fascinated with everything his Father did. When Razel told his son that the little lights were called "will-o'-the-wisp," Tristan repeated the name in a semi-whisper, and bent down to see if he could see them any clearer.

However, the boy was distracted from the alluring lights by the small net his Papa gave him. "Oh, you better watch out, Daddy, or I'll catch YOU in my net," Tristan giggled and he mischieviously flipped the net over one of Razel's hands.

Then the little boy bent over and carefully let water into his jar. "Is this good?" he asked his Father after he had filled the jar halfway. He watched Razel light his kretek and wondered when he would be old enough to smoke. He was sure that he could do it now if Papa let him, but when Razel said, "Okay, which direction do you think you'll have the best chance of catching those tadpoles?" Tristan forgot about smoking and grabbed his Father's free hand.

"Let's go over there!" the little boy said, pointing to the part of the marsh that was closest to the edge of the wood. "I'll be the tadpoles all go over that way."

The little boy tugged his Father's hand and then stopped...."Look, PAPA! There's three of them!" Sure enough, three tiny tadpole were moving through a little pool of water at Razel's and Tristan's feet. "Ssh, Daddy. I'm gonna get 'em all."

The little boy bent down, resting one hand on his chubby bare knee and swung the net. "They got away! Hey! No fair, tadpoles." The little boy hurried after the departing tads.

[Mushy]

Watching his little son try to catch the tiny tadpoles, Razel let out a hearty chuckle. Such was the way with boys and small creatures - animals were always sensative, especially in water.

"Tristan, if you splash around the water too much, you'll scare them off. Stand still, little one, and the water will calm. Soon they won't know you're there, and you can sweep them up with your net. Make sure to put the next in the water," Razel wrapped a strong arm around his son's waist still holding his lit kretek carefully away and took Tristan's wrist with his free hand, guiding the net into water. "Okay, be still and very quiet."

Soon the tadpoles felt safe enough to come out of their hiding spots, and Razel flicked Tristan's wrist, snatching one up into the net. He stood up and straightened.

"Okay, put it in the jar, and you can catch the rest on your own now that you know the technique!"

Razel grinned and took a long drag of his kretek, watching Tristan try his best, with lots of concentration, on catching his own tadpoles.

[bobby]

Tristan was able to be much more quiet with his Father holding him close and guiding his hand. However, he forgot his intentions to be still when the tadpole was actually caught. The little boy whooped and put his prize in his jar. "I've got one Daddy. See. I've got one." Tristan stared into the jar and said, "It's a pretty big one, so his name is Razel."

While his Father peacefully smoked, Tristan tried to stand still on his own and was quiet enough to finally catch a much smaller tadpole. "Ha!" the little boy squeeled. "Now I've got a Tristan. In you go little one," the child said, trying to immitate his Father, "and you better be a good little tadpole or your Papa will give you a good spanking. Right, Daddy?" Tristan asked. Razel grinned, puffing on his kretek and nodded.

Tristan walked a little further toward the forest, looking back to see if his Papa was okay with it. The little boy spotted a cluster of tadpoles and bent at the waist to see them. The ends of his blond bangs floated in the water and then something twinkled in the liquid. The little boy looked up and saw the tiny lights.....what were they called again...."Oh yes, the Will Wisp," Tristan said. He looked back and saw that his Papa was closing his eyes and slowly drawing on his smoke.

Bitting his lower lip a little apprehensively, the small child tip toed toward the lights, turning his head every few seconds to see if his Father was watching.

[Mushy]

When Tristan suggested that the small tadpole was the son, and the large one was the father, named after the two boys themselves, Razel tried not to laugh, and nodded along with the idea. After all, the boy was just being silly - he knew that tadpoles were young frogs! Tristan was always such a very affectionate boy, and admired Razel very much.

I'll never know why! Razel thought with an amused grin, taking in a large drag of his kretek. The only good thing to come of that is that he'll be an amazing lady killer when he's older!

Razel stretched out his back, wrapping his arms over his head, cigarette still in his left hand.

Then he straightened up. And looked around.

"Tristan, where have you gone?" Razel said softly, when he realized the little boy wasn't right by him at the moment. He looked around and finally saw a disappearing young figure heading towards the will-o'-the-wisps. He sighed.

"Oh, Tristan, I told you to stay nearby!" He scolded even though the boy was not there. He put out his kretek carefully, putting the rest of it back in his case for later, as his feet took quick strides in the direction of the boy.

Thankfully he's too fascinated by little things that are around him and keeps stopping...that water will get deeper! With that, Razel took off at a run, and it wasn't but a few seconds before he reached his son, where he snatched him up by the arm.

"What did I tell you about wandering off?" Razel scolded, tempted to whack his son across the seat of his shorts. If I did that, he'd drop the tadpole jar...

[bobby]

Tristan was electrified with anxiety when his Father suddenly brabbed his arm. The little boy was pulled up on tip toe and his free left hand automatically went to shield his bottom, this palm facing out. Tears flew into the surprised little boy's eyes as his Father said, "What did I tell you about wandering off?"

"I...I just wanted to see the Will Wisp, Papa," Tristan said, dancing a bit, as his Father continued to hold him turned slightly with his bottom available.

"It was okay, Daddy. I wasn't in trouble," the little boy said quickly, still dancing on tip toe. "I'm not afraid of the Will Wisp; it's just a light, right? And there are more tadpoles here. I saw about a hun'red of them. Can't we go into the forest? You go with me, then it will be okay. Okay, Daddy. Okay?"