“Old Orben will never turn soft,” I would tell Enji and Lolin whenever they tried to get me to move into that garden box with them.
“Life is so much easier in the garden box,” they would say. “Not as many predators to worry about, easy food, and more time for leisure!”
“And more time to get soft!” I would say, always dismissing them.
We all grew up here by Los Gatos Creek together, but the more years that passed the more big folk coming to settle crept up on us. That caused a good many of us gnomes to move further away, and a lot of lazy gnomes decided to cozy up to them for an easy ride.
Enji and Lolin were different. They hung around the creek a long time, but they got tired of the increasing population of wild cats and big folk making it difficult to survive, so they went to find an easier living.
They had been gone so long, I thought they had died along the way or settled too far to keep in touch. But once they settled they came to fetch me and tried to convince me to go with them, and came back every year thereafter to do the same. All these years they never let up, and I never dreamed I’d be taking this journey willingly.
But the big folk keep building houses closer and closer to the creek, and with so few of us left it’s getting harder to fight off the herds of cats that think we’re common mice. I figured it’s time to swallow some pride and admit that Old Orben needs his friends as he gets older. So I am setting out on my journey to join my friends Enji and Lolin in the garden box some 20 miles away.
Wish me luck!
Chestnut Cowboy 