Big Yellow Taxi

Bikes over there

For a community that was based around the concept of living outside the bounds of traditional society, Twin Oaks was much easier to find than Daniel expected.  There was even a large painted sign to show them that they were pulling down the right driveway. Pavement turned to gravel and that path led them through a nicely wooded area that was only marked with one more large sign.  Painted in rainbow letters, it read If You Were An Oaker You'd Be Home Right Now. Under that there was a more recently painted sign made of poster board that was taped to the larger wooden one. That one was also painted in rainbow colors but it was hung up to welcome people to the festival.  

Daniel wasn't sure what he expected to see.  A few hippies sitting around in a circle playing the guitar or a lot of women dancing around in long dresses maybe?  But when he and his brother pulled their bikes out of the woods and into the more populated area of the community it became clear to him that this festival was actually a full on festival.  A grassy field had been set aside for people to park their cars. Daniel noticed a lot of old beat up trucks and several classic VW vans that were painted in bright colors and designs. 

The first person Daniel spotted was a man with short red hair and a crown of flowers on his head.  He was wearing a colorful tank top and waving around a long baton with ribbons hanging from it. Daniel and Marv slowed to a stop near the man, waiting to see where he wanted them to park their bikes.  The man scratched at the scruffy ginger colored goatee on his chin, regarding the motorcycles with a look of confusion on his face. Finally he pointed down the path to his right.

"Bikes over there," the man informed them.  Daniel gave him a nod, relieved that Marv had not made any comments about the man's flamboyant attire.  He figured Marv really wanted to sleep with the girl he had come here to see, since he was on his best behavior.  But Daniel knew from experience that his brother would only keep his mouth shut for so long. They pulled off the gravel road near a giant rack of bicycles.  Daniel laughed a little to himself, understanding now that the man in the rainbow shirt had been unable to decide if he should park them with the cars or here near the bikes and mopeds.  

Daniel cut off the engine to his bike and swung his leg over.  He noticed a group of children hovering over by the bicycle rack, looking at his motorcycle with big excited eyes.  Once they had been determined that Daniel wasn't likely to bite them, the oldest of the group approached with her younger friends trailing behind her.  They were all wearing crowns made of flowers and leaves, just like the one Daniel had seen on the man that told him where to park. The girl that seemed to be in charge of the group looked like she was around nine or ten.  She had long sandy blonde hair and a butterfly painted on one side of her face. Her feet were bare and there was a crystal hanging around her neck on a long thin gold chain. Once she was close enough, the girl reached behind her and took two more flowered crowns from a younger girl that was eyeballing Daniel's motorcycle like she had never seen one before.  

"Welcome to Twin Oaks," the older girl told Daniel, holding out one of the floral crowns for him to take.  He didn't particularly want a crown, but he also didn't want to be mean to a little girl. So he reached for the ring of white flowers and leaves.  The girl smiled big and pretty up at him once he took the crown from her. "Blessed be," she told him with the same funny little bend of the knees that Ayla had given Marv earlier at the market.  

Next the girl approached Marv, looking slightly more hesitant but still determined to greet the strange man.  Daniel guessed the girl and her friends had been stationed here to greet anyone that happened to show up. She held the other flowered crown out in front of her.  It was close enough for Marv to grab but he gestured the girl in closer.

"Come'ere," he told her, "got a secret ta tell ya."  Marv leaned down towards the girl, who now looked like she was trying to decide what to do.  Her curiosity won out and she crept closer, leaning in close to the rough looking stranger. The girl's little friends crowded in close, hoping to hear what the man was going to tell her.  But Marv did not whisper anything to the girl. Instead he let out a string of loud barking noises. Like a dog ready to attack someone. RAWRARAWRARAWRARAWR!  The girl screamed and dropped the flower crown on the ground near Marv's feet.  Then the whole pack of children went running away, shrieking in terror like they were actually being chased by a pack of wild dogs.  

Daniel shook his head at his brother.  It was all he could even do. Scolding Marv would only result in a worse scene than the one that had already taken place.  Marv was looking pleased with himself, chuckling under his breath as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.  Once he had a smoke lit, he reached down and plucked the flowered crown up off the ground. Without hesitation, Marv tossed the headpiece away into a large bush before snatching up the crown Daniel had in his hands and getting rid of that one as well.  

"Fuckin' fairies," Marv grumbled.  No brother of his was going to be seen wearing a flowered crown.  Not for all the hippie p***y in the world.  

Daniel thought about lighting up a smoke of his own.  He was nervous and smoking calmed his nerves. But before he could fish one out of his pocket, he noticed the man that had told them where to park heading towards them like someone light a fire under his ass.  The man was coming from the same direction the children had run off in and he did not look like he was impressed with whatever the frightened kids must have told him.

"Is there a problem here?," the man asked once he was close enough that Daniel and Marv could hear him without him having to shout.  The man had a much more condescending look on his face than one would guess a man in a flower crown would be capable of making.  

"Not unless you have one," Marv shot back at the man.  The threat wasn't overt, but it hung in the air over them like a cloud of uncomfortable tension.  The man hesitated, looking like he wasn't sure quite how to deal with the situation. He bounced his weight back from one foot to the other, chewing at his bottom lip.  

"Who are you here to see?," he finally asked.  They didn't normally permit guests on the property without a sponsor.  Festivals were the exception to that, but in light of what his niece had just told him, he wasn't about to just let these strange and possibly dangerous men wander the property unsupervised.  

"We came ta see Rowan and Ayla," Daniel said, speaking quickly before his brother could cause further trouble.  At the mention of the two women's names, the man in the crown visibly relaxed. He stuck out his hand to Daniel and offered the man a friendly smile.

"Jeff," he said, giving Daniel a firmer handshake than he expected from the rather feminine looking man.  His smile was so welcoming and genuine that Daniel found himself smiling back.

"Daniel," he said.  Then he nodded towards his brother, "that's ma brother Marv."  Marv ticked his head but made no move to get any closer to the man or reach for his hand.  He had no desire to touch such a man and it seemed the man felt the same about Marv because he was not offered a handshake as Daniel had been.  

Jeff offered to walk the men to the area where they would be able to find the women they had come to see.  While he made the offer politely, Daniel had the feeling that he was also walking with them because he didn't trust them.  Daniel was slightly annoyed by this, but he felt it was understandable after the idiotic stunt Marv just pulled. As they headed down a gravel road Daniel could hear music that was getting louder as they walked along.  A few more steps and he recognized the low hum that came with lots of people gathered together in the same area.  

There were a few large tents set up, with picnic tables underneath.  A few small groups of people were gathered together, sitting at the tables eating.  His stomach grumbled, reminding Daniel that the only thing he had to eat that day was the pretzel and cup of coffee he had picked up earlier at the famer's market.  There was a band, set up on a makeshift stage that put them up a little higher than everyone else. A lot of people were dancing, but some were just sitting and talking on blankets they had spread out on the ground.  Children were running around, chasing at each other and darting through the crowd. A young boy that looked to be around four years old ran past them, chasing a chicken that didn't seem interested in being caught by his tiny grabby hands.  

Daniel grinned, watching the chicken run in a zigzag pattern that most animals used instinctively to avoid predators.  Seemed the technique worked on toddlers as well, since after making a few grabs at the bird, the boy found himself face down in the grass as the chicken streaked away from him.  The frightened bird ran flapping over towards a couple of women that were sitting on a patchwork quilt they had spread out on the ground. On closer inspection one of the women wasn't really a woman, but a teenage girl.  She had a pallet of paints spread out in front of her and she was concentrating on the design she was brushing onto the other woman's face. 

The chicken ran at them full speed and Daniel expected it to tear through, knocking paints and brushes everywhere.  But instead the chicken went clucking up into the lap of the woman who's face was being painted. The woman let out a little shriek of surprise, but it wasn't until she turned to see where the terrified bird had come from that Daniel saw her face.  Her eyes locked on him and she smiled with so much exuberance that Daniel stopped and turned and glanced behind him, sure that her beaming smile must be for someone else besides him. No one was ever that happy to see him.  

Rowan turned back and sat still, using every ounce of patience she possessed to keep herself still and let her friend's daughter put the finishing touches on the facial design the girl was painting on her face.  She wanted nothing more than to leap up and run at the man from the market. Maybe even jump all over him like an overeager puppy, the way Tank had jumped all over her earlier when she got home from working at the booth with her mother all day.  

He wasn't really late.  People would still be showing up for the week long festival until late into the night and even during the day tomorrow.  But Ayla told the men from the market to arrive at seven o'clock. So when seven came and went, Rowan had resigned herself to the disappointing fact that the man she met probably wasn't going to show up.  She decided not to let it ruin her night, and happily agreed to have her face painted. After that she planned to dance until she forgot all her worries about men and love and the broken promises her mother's tarot cards had made her.  Now that the man was here, her entire body was tingling. She felt the electricity from the hair on top of her head all the way down to the tips of her toes. Rowan didn't often read her own aura, but she could feel it. And right now she knew it was alight with sparkles of red that flashed around her head and hands like lightning.  

Looking at her reflection for the shortest amount of time as she could get away with without hurting the artist's feelings, Rowan regarded the design that had been painted on her face.  It was a pattern of tiny dots, painted in rusty orange, dark red and olive green. All the fall colors that flattered her complection. They spread out under her eyes in a loose stripe across her face and over the bridge of her nose.  Despite her hurry to rush and greet the man she had met earlier in the day, Rowan took time to let the girl that had painted her face know what a beautiful job she had done. Then she was up, her long skirt swishing around her ankles as she rushed across the grass.  

As Rowan opened her mouth to say hello, she looked down and realized she was still holding a large red chicken in her hands.  She laughed. Partly at herself for how silly she was being. And partly at the situation. Which was completely laughable.  

Daniel liked her laugh.  She laughed the same way she had earlier at the market.  Rowan's smile went all the way up to her eyes and her laughter was innocent in a way he wasn't used to.  It was loud and musical and unapologetic. It sent a warm feeling snaking down into the pit of his stomach.  The chicken in her arms had made the woman laugh, but more than anything he wanted to be the one to make her laugh like that.  Unfortunately, he wasn't exactly known for his comedic skills. The only time people laughed around him was when they were laughing at him.  

"Goin' ta cook us up some chicken dinner?," Marv asked, ticking his head towards the large red bird Rowan had in her arms.  

"Not Henny Penny," Rowan gasped, a look of mock horror on her face, "she's one of our best layers."  With that Rowan leaned down and released the large bird back into the grass, giving her a little pat on the hind feathers in a halfhearted attempt to get her going in the right direction.  "Go Henny Penny, run free!," Rowan told the bird. She straightened up and started laughing again, mostly because the recently liberated bird in question was much more interested in circling her ankles and hiding under her long skirt than she was in living her new life as a free range chicken.  

Jeff leaned down and gathered the bird into his arms, announcing that he was going to take the hen back to her coop and make sure the chicken run hadn't been left open again.  The great chicken debate had been made and voted on. And it had been decided that for their safety, the chickens needed to be kept in a fenced area. But there were some people that found this sort of animal captivity to be cruel.  Therefore the door to the chicken's coop was often accidentally left open, allowing the birds to wander as they pleased.  

"I'm so glad you came," Rowan gushed out before she could stop herself.  She stepped forward, preparing to greet Daniel with a kiss on the cheek. Kissing on the cheek or rubbing cheeks was a common greeting in her community.  But it seemed Daniel was not as familiar with the practice as she was. He stiffened up and there was an awkward shuffle of arms and hands that ended in Rowan aiming for his cheek and landing a sloppy kiss on the side of his mouth instead.  

The hair on his face felt softer than it looked.  And he smelled so good that Rowan lingered close to him with her lips pressed against the side of his mouth for a fraction longer than she knew she should.  Her eyes were closed and her hands rested softly on the tops of his shoulders as she sucked in long and deep through her nose, breathing in the fresh soapy smell of him.  He smelled like soap, but there was a lingering woodsy undertone. It reminded her of pine needles and wildflowers.

Rowan's hands rested gently on his shoulders.  Her eyes fluttered shut when she leaned in to kiss him, but Daniel kept his eyes open.  The sudden intimate contact startled him and he wasn't sure what to do with his hands. They ended up on her waist, his palms against the bare skin of her exposed midriff.  Her skin was soft under his rough hands and warm to the touch. s****l urges were nothing new for him. But they were usually something he was able to ignore unless he was overly intoxicated.  But the urge to pull this strange woman into his arms and hold her body flush against his was overpowering in a way he had never experienced before. The urge was primal, and so strong he was scared he might not be able to maintain control over himself.  Daniel wanted her near him, but in the same breath he was also slightly relieved when Rowan pulled away from the gentle kiss she had planted on the side of his mouth and moved to stand next to him.  

By this time, Ayla had joined the small group.  She had spent about fifteen minutes watching for the men to show up before she grew bored and ran off to join the dancing.  Like the children Daniel had seen earlier, she was wearing a crown on her head, except hers was made of leaves and other greenery with only a few white flowers intertwined.  She smiled and moved in to kiss Marv on his cheek.  

Since he had already witnessed the awkward embrace between his brother and Rowan, the older man was prepared for the greeting.  Presenting his cheek to the girl, he waited until her mouth was almost touching him before quickly turning his head so that her kiss landed squarely on his mouth instead of his freshly shaved cheek.  His hand caught the back of her neck and his mouth pressed down hard on hers, his tongue forcing her lips apart briefly. When the girl started to squirm at the unexpected intimate contact, Marv let her go.  She danced back a step, wiping the moisture from her lips with the back of her hand. For a moment Daniel was nervous that the situation might take a turn for the worse. But once she got over her surprise at being kissed in such a familiar way when she wasn't expecting it, the blonde woman started giggling and stepped forward again to grasp ahold of his brother's hand.