The Visitor
Sylvia Tomayko-Peters Middle Dune Press | Providence, RI
Published by Middle Dune Press, Providence, RI Š Sylvia Tomayko-Peters, 2013 Some rights reserved. Lisenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Lisence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ deed.en_US
For bag monsters, Moonpie, Logman, and full fish with stoppers
It was just about time for the morning sun to peep over the tops of the tallest branches in the forest and send the shadows hiding. In the tall grass, not too far from the edge of the lake and not too close to the turn in the road, the visitor sat by itself.
9
From the line of trees, Rabbit emerged and shook a fine layer of dirt from her fur. She stood on her hind legs, swiveled her ears, and listened closely. The neighborhood was waking up. A bundle of tiny kits tumbled out of the tunnels behind her.
10
While searching for his nephew who had disappeared the night before, Mouse stumbled upon the visitor. Surprised, the small rodent turned and ran.
Mouse was too busy skittering and squeaking to notice that the visitor had not stirred.
12
Over breakfast, news of the visitor’s presence passed from nest to hole to nook.
Whispers reached Fox on the other side of the lake while he was enjoying last night’s plump leftover field mouse.
14
Squirrel, intrigued by the report of a stranger, took a detour from his morning nut gathering to investigate. From a safe distance, Squirrel observed the dark, motionless form of the visitor.
16
Alighting nearby, Sparrow took inventory of the visitor: One tail stuck straight up above the grass; Two small ears just barely visible; Four tiny paws; Two large eyes; A set of whiskers; A black coat.
Sparrow hopped closer and cocked her head.
18
A small group gathered. Fox was the first to notice that, contrary to their assumption, the visitor was not silent at all.
Listening closely, the creatures distinguished a faint but steady hum emanating from the visitor’s body.
20
Skunk would later recount the details of her apprehension. The visitor’s tail did not twitch, its ears did not prick, its eyes did not blink, and its whiskers did not quiver.
The visitor hummed along, staring out onto the ripples of the lake.
22
Little Rabbit wormed her way through the crowd of fur and, unable to contain her curiosity, stuck a tiny paw out. The creatures tensed.
She tapped the visitor behind its right ear.
The visitor did not move a muscle.
24
The creatures agreed that, though reserved, the visitor did not pose an immediate threat.
Yet, just as they began to disperse, the visitor let our a loud shrill call. Alarmed, creatures scattered every-which-way, back down holes, up trees, and even into the lake.
26
Though it lasted longer than most creatures could count, the visitor’s call stopped as suddenly as it had started. According to the most respected badger, the visitor’s cry was heard even in the densest reaches of the forest.
The creatures edged nervously around the lake. The visitor remained unchanged.
28
Soon, the creatures became accustomed to the visitor’s presence. Besides its behavior of letting out a long steady stream of yelps each and every morning not long after sunrise, the visitor kept to itself.
The creatures likewise left the visitor alone, save for Little Rabbit, who was caught sitting with the visitor one evening and scolded appropriately.
30
A number of days after the visitor arrived, a storm rolled through the countryside. All night rain pounded down on tunnel roofs and all night wind tossed nests about. None of the creatures, tucked snug away, thought of the visitor, or if they did not one said so aloud.
32
The next morning creatures popped out into a fresh but wet world. They waited, bracing their ears as usual, for the visitor’s daily ritual.
They waited but nothing happened. The visitor did not yelp or scream or wail. The visitor did not make a peep.
34
The visitor sat still by the edge of the lake. Around its feet the ground had turned to mud. The visitor was coated in droplets of water and splashes of mud smeared its dim face. Even its steady hum had stopped.
The visitor sat completely silent.
36
The visitor’s body continued its vigil by the lake for the lives of many a tiny creature, though it never stirred to make a noise.
38
About the Author Sylvia Tomayko-Peters is a writer and new media artist. She hails from the sand dunes of Cape Cod and attended Brown University where she received a BA in both Literary Arts and Modern Culture & Media, because just one undergrad humanities degree is not enough. She is interested in exploring the transition from the page to the screen and, as such, enjoys both clacking out code and holding physical books.
About the Illustrations Despite the fact that the author believes her ability to draw forms mimetically is quite poor, she was set on creating her own illustrations. As a result, the images in this book were created from blind contour drawings, meaning that the author stared at a picture of a fox and, without looking at the paper or lifting up her pen during the process, drew what she imagined a fox to look like.
Colophon
Layout and design by Sylvia Tomayko-Peters. Typefaces include Adobe Garamond Pro, Palatino, and Paper Cutout.