As the song of “Listen To The Blues” fades away, Lucille glances over to the lone standing wolf and asks “You never told me your name?” The wolf takes a few seconds, then stretches out his neck in a very intense manner “I am known as Wicked Willie.” Lucille kept her expressive blue eyes riveted on the wolf. Wicked Willie deliberates for a few more seconds, eyes meandering around. Then he reveals, “My pack is known as Wicked Willie’s.” How should I know you are telling the truth? Lucille asks. Wicked Willie launches into a short story about this pack. He claims they are cloned and heavily dependent on deep learning technology but that several other species are roaming the grounds as well. “I was chosen to be the pack leader due to my expertise ability to decipher information within a milli-second. Each clan member has unique skills they bring to the clan. As a clan, we cross train, share information and execute the mission without any hesitation”. Lucille stood there and pondering this revelation about Wicked Willie and his clan.
What is this mission, you speak about? Lucille asks. “Our Mission is to escort you directly to the leader who we refer as, The Elapid” Wicked Willie says. Lucille reaches into the side pocket of her medium size hiking pack and pulls out a piece of roasted dry beef jerky and waits. She seems jittery. Her hands are shaking. She is backlit by the only available moonlight taking presence in the area. Her eyes dart between Wicked Willie and apparently random points in the locale. Wicked Willie resumes his gait and led Lucille through a winding narrow trail. Before Lucille could say a word, Wicked Willie said “You are Lucille and we know everything about you. Hence, why you have been granted special access to these sacred grounds” Immediately, Lucille pauses dead in her tracks, caught off-guard by the statement made by Wicked Willie. To ease the most obvious state of anxiety in Lucille’s body language, Wicked Willie wiggles his tail in a light hearted gesture to convince her to resume her steps and follow closely behind.
Long ago daylight had disappeared and early evening had made its presence known by the long moonlight shadows on the grounds. Wicked Willie approaches what seems to be a well hidden cave, just a few yards off the trail on the left. Trampling sounds of dried up pine needles and branches echo’s off the cluster of pine trees and varied rock formations. As Lucille opens her mouth and asks “Where are we going?” Wicked Willie enters with ease into the small opening while Lucille follows closely and crotches over as she finally makes her way inside. “Who is this leader of yours?”, asked Lucille. A subsource is already in play here, which diminishes the value of the information. The further you go from the source, we were taught, the less likely the information will be accurate. It is sort of like a Dark World game of Telephone. This is how Lucille is wired and been trained by her long time mentors. Wicked Willie responds, “In many ways we’re his redheaded stepchild. We maneuver in the cracks and crevices between the other species. It is a tough place to operate, though we are indebted to him. Here on these lands we are supposed to see the overall picture. We face a mind-numbing amount of data every day but here in these lands, we’re supposed to have a perspective, which is no easy task when we’re inundated with so much raw information. The other species on here are focused on their immediate surroundings. They see the trees. We see the Forest. At least, we’re supposed to see it. And it is our jobs to figure out which sections of the forest are ripe for intrusion.”
While sitting on a chair inside the cave, a dancing flame from hanging torchlight provides just enough light for Lucille to get a glimpse of the various cave carvings. A few had caught Lucille’s attention, most notably the one “Come Home Blues” and instantly the song by Bobby BlackHat fills the entire cave. Wicked Willie says “Lucille, everything you see in this cave explains your purpose on these lands. Now it’s up to you on how to execute that mission to have a profound impact on Society.” Lucille eyes drifted to another very unique and eye opening cave carving “FEAR – False Evidence Are Realized” which depicts a smiling Bluesman with Cigar Box Guitar, gyrating down the torn up street. Those eyes of Lucille’s caught yet another unique carving “Tell It To Me Straight”, featuring a crowd of people attempting to look through a magnifying glass. Though, this time a song by Chris O’Leary brings the cave alive and Wicked Willie begins to pop his head to the beat. Lucille stood up and starts to shake a leg to the song while feeling the synergy of the cave. TO BE CONTINUED…