That was a favorite short story in my schooldays, for this person who (apart from Hem) is not that fond of short stories. In this run of gelid days, learning to make fire as did the Apaches, with Tom Brown, Tracker, who had been taught by his friend’s grandfather, Stalking Wolf, of the Oklahoma Apaches, comes sharply back to memory.
It took me any number of days to achieve this in 1983. Every break we had from day and night tracking lectures and practices, I went off in a corner and worked with that stout stick and the woodblock into which it had to fit so perfectly.
I thought no one knew I was doing this. I thought everyone else had already made fire. I was not going home from Tracker School without having achieved this major skill. Boy Scouts of ten years of age had managed it in less than a half hour… I was then in my forties, being not at all handy with that heavy, unwieldy, essential Buck knife.
When the spark finally glowed, there was a great cheer. Tom and all his Trackers had been standing behind me in a circle, one with a strong hand and arm coming to my aid to keep the key elements in contact in the last crucial seconds. I admit tears…
O, yes. After that, many people went off into corners to continue learning to make fire…
TO BUILD A FIRE
[for Tom Brown, Tracker,
Tracker School, Summer 1983]
craft
with your big Buck knife
a stout stick
then work the pale woodblock
removing anything extra
pare
a smooth deep cone
which must exactly match
the stick’s new girth
kneel
upon needles and pine duff
— a hand-sized clutch
of some plant’s inner softness
near at hand
roll
the smoothed pine
between determined hands
faster, faster!
pay no attention
to your trembling knees
watch
for first white smoke
but do not stop
press on
until
the block glows red
quickly!
surround
your fiery gem
with plant fluff
careful
not to breathe too hard
make a whistle of your mouth
using will and skill
exhale the long breaths
waiting all these years
only for this fire
CAROLYN FOOTE EDELMANN
August 28/September 3,2004
