Thomas Doty – Storyteller

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A Cabin Full of Words

In an alpine meadow in the high Siskiyous, the cabin on Cow Creek is a cabin full of words.

Penciled on walls and roof beams are an hour's worth of reading: "6 bears were recently seen down the valley" (1935), "Cut trail" (1943), "Four beavers seen" (1959), "Jeep with chains, 4 inches of snow" (1968), "Slept in tent and fixed floor" (1978)....

While musing on amorous escapades of the '80s, I was startled by the scratching of a porcupine making his daily circles. We eyeballed each other through the doorway. He waddled across the meadow. I penciled on the wall: "Visited by porcupine" (1991), and I left the pencil behind.

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