Paradise and Coffee

The café was your standard country dive with all the usual trimming. There was a long bar with stools and several booths lined the long wall with all the windows. In the corner booth at the far end sat an older Terrain Wolf. He was sipping a cup of coffee and looking out the window. Approaching him, it was obvious that he was older by the silver in his hair and white of his large snout. He seemed to be dressed in a flannel shirt, blue jeans and farm boots. He turns and smiles.
“Welcome reader! My name is Tarma, the elder.” He moves an empty cup and the coffee pot to the spot across the table from himself.

“Have a seat and a cup of coffee, my treat.” He smiles and takes of drink of his coffee.
“Now before I try to tell you a story about paradise, it would be best if I defined what paradise is.
The problem you see, is that paradise or rather its meaning, depends on the person you ask.
To some people, it is a simple utopian mythological place, somewhere near a tropical beach and surrounded with willing and attractive prospects. To some it is a place without strife. To others it can be as simple as a hot cup of coffee on a cold day, or a hug in the arms of a true love.”
The old Wolf takes out a notebook and opens it to the first page.

“This first example is an Adventurer’s paradise.” He paused and took a deep breath.
“It was the time after the end of man and before the rise of the anthro. The world had lost to history many of the treasures of the ancient world. These treasures gave rise to the great adventures and the treasure hunters of the central region. Among these was one very successful treasure hunter by the name of Jackelope Johnny. Jack as his friends called him was known for his ability to always bounce back, from whatever fate that seemed to befall him. The greatest of all the treasures he had ever found however was not Gold or jewels or even his fame. The greatest treasure he ever found was his friend
One foot. One foot however had two feet, his nick name referred to the size of his knife. It was in the summer of the ninth year that they had been treasure hunters together when it happened.
Near the great misty mountain, the two had encountered a tribe of head hunters and discovered the lost idle of the Tholics. It was a solid gold cross looking thing upon which the tribe would sacrifice any poor soul who dared to venture into their domain. The two had waited until the tribe had consumed the flesh of their latest victim and partaken of the firewater until they passed out.
They were quiet and moved in the shadows until they were within only feet of the idle. In the darkness One foot had not seen the sleeping tribesmen. He stepped on the fellow’s hand and woke him up.
Jack was confronted with a choice, to leave his friend and grab the idle, or to save his friend and lose the treasure forever. There was never a question in Jack’s mind, he took out the tribesman and without looking back ran with his friend to the safety of the river. In a single instant, he had realized that to him it was not the treasure but the adventure with his friend that mattered. To him Paradise was being on an adventure with One foot. Some years later One foot died in a car accident. Poor jack spent the rest of his days sad, with one foot in the grave.”
The Large wolf nodded his head and took another drink from the coffee cup. He sighed as he then turned the page in the notebook.
“This next example takes place at another time, an earlier time in Jack’s life. It was before the days of adventure and treasure hunting, back in a time when Jack was a young adult. For several years during his teen years Jack had worked hard in a sport known to all as BMX. It was sort of like an extreme form of bicycling. There were races with hills and mud and treacherous turns. It seemed to be more about the rider and the machine than the race. He had become quite the champion over a few years. As he was racing on a strange course where the track not only crested a rather wild hill but also made a turn at the same time directly in front of the bleachers. Jack came racing down the hill just before it and shot up that hill. He felt confident that he had the right speed but had misjudged the track and overshot the down side slamming into the up side of the next hill. The forks of his bicycle could not take the impact and snapped. Jack tumbled headlong into the dirt and was knocked unconscious in the path of the entire group who were trailing him. One of the bystanders risked his own life and ran out to pull both Jack and the bicycle to safety. One foot then made sure that Johnny was alright. When one foot looked at the bike he could see that the forks should have been re-enforced. Johnny opened his eyes and saw one foot and his bike.
“Guess, I won’t be racing any more today!” Johnny rubbed his neck.
“Your team should be able to fix that in a jiff.” One foot gave him a look.
“If I had a team.” Johnny tried to stand but instead just sat and drank the water one foots sister had handed to him. She was rather cute. One foot and his sister were crosses of Ferret and something Johnny could not tell.
"Thanks!” He smiled at her. She giggled a bit and started to blush.
“I think I can fix this. Wait here with my sister ok?” Johnny thought the bike was beyond repair so he just shrugged and looked at the girl.
“My name is Johnny, Jackelope Johnny. What is your name?” The girl giggled and smiled a sly smile.
“Alice, but they call me, well something else.” She tilted her head at him.
“And what would that be?” He raised one eye brow up. She was about to speak when one foot returned. With the forks over his shoulder. He had welded in a set of springs and replaced the lower fork with the shock absorbers from a small car. Johnny’s eyes opened wide when he saw the modification.
“If you want, Cherry and I could be your team?” One foot started putting the bike back together.
“Cherry?” Johnny looked at the girl.
“Hah, she didn’t tell you? Mom had taught her how to tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue.
At a beach party, last summer, she did it to get the attention of a boy, ever since then everybody calls her Cherry!” The two looked at the girl. With the help of his new-found friends Jack finished the season as the most successful BMX rider in years. He really believed that having a team to share his love for the sport, was paradise.
The old wolf again took a drink of his coffee and smiled.
“You see, in each stage of our lives, that which we think of as paradise changes and evolves as we do.
Eventually One foot’s little sister found a male closer to own age. A few years later her nick-name changed from Cherry to … Mom.” The old wolf again sighed and looked out the window at the large snow banks that were being piled up by the plows.
“The next example I have for you, is more about the little things that can make up paradise.”
The old wolf turned the page and started again.
One foot had proved to be a bit of an adventurous inventor always looking for unusual ways to use ordinary things. Johnny had started to think that BMX lacked that challenge that he needed.
The two had become great friends and in their boredom, were sitting on the couch watching a documentary about dog sleds. Suddenly one foot jumps up and looked at Johnny excited. The two had had the same idea at the same time. It did not take long for one foot to fix the BMX bike with skies or rather one ski that ran the length of the bike. He added what looked like training wheels but were in fact smaller skies of the sides in the back for stability. They were mounted with springs so they had lots of give. Johnny had managed to find and submit the entry forms for a 400-mile race. These races did not take place on a track but rather through wilderness. Johnny would challenge the race on a BMX bike and with a team of Dogs, he thought. All the Known dog trainers had already promised their teams or were racing them personally. But there was this one add, toward the back of the announcements, it was rather cryptic and vague. Johnny called the guy to ask about the racing team and was told that they were still available. He agreed to meet with the owner and the team of sled animals at a place a few miles from town. When he arrived, the team was already on the line and within minutes was hooked up to the bike. The owner asked if Johnny was sure about this. Johnny was not sure, because those dogs didn’t really look like dogs. The truth was that they were all half-wolf, but the owner did not tell that to Johnny. He handed Johnny a map of the test run course and tried to explain how to handle the animals. Johnny got onto the bike and tried to get the team to move. Nothing happened.
The owner of the team smiled as he went to the front of the team and attached a long leash in front of the lead animals. Then he reached into his coat and pulled out a really-frightened rabbit. When he let go of the rabbit, the team set a record for the course. One foot, was able to create a harness, to hold a stuffed rabbit out in front of the animals and could be directionally controlled with the handle bars on the bike. The only mistake that they had made was in forgetting how to get the team to stop.
The day of the big race came and One Foot and Jackelope Johnny were at the starting line with all the other racers. The racers were rocking their sleds from side to side and laughing at the wierdo on the bike. The whistle sounded and then the flag dropped, the racers were off and running.
Due to the bike weighing a lot less than a dog sled, the fact that wolves have larger pads meant for running in snow, and the fact the Johnny’s goggles were completely steamed up. The team took off at full speed. The wolves shot between the first of the sleds that had been lined up in front of him.
Suddenly the team jerked the bike way to the left as they chased after the snowshoe rabbits that had been on the drift, far to the left of the course. Two of those had run in the direction of the course and so Johnny could get the team back on course. Within an hour, he had overtaken and passed all the sleders in the race. For four days and four nights the team would not stop. Johnny tried everything to get them to stop. He was freezing from the cold his hands and feet were so cold they had gone numb.
He had to wave for the people at the checkpoints to throw the markers to him. Johnny kept smiling knowing that this was indeed the type of challenge he needed. At night, the moon was enough for him to see his way. There had been, no storms, this year so the snow was not powdery nor too hardpacked.
Johnny was unaware that the press and the officials of the race were making a big thing over the fact that he was not using a normal sled. One foot argued that he had followed all the rules. And there was no rule saying that the sled could not be a bike. Johnny fought his way and made it to the finish line.
In the end, he was disqualified. Though he had beaten the next closest team by more than 6 hours, it was not the sled that disqualified him. He was disqualified when it was discovered that his team of dogs were not dogs. Johnny and One foot knew in their hearts that they had met the challenge and won.
The two went to the hot spring at the Inn and were sitting there with a hot cup of tea.
“This,” Johnny commented to One foot “This is paradise!”
The old wolf smiles and waves to the waitress to bring the check. He closed the notebook and put it back in the bag on the seat next to him.
“What I am trying to explain is simply this; Paradise is not some place or environment. It is not always having what we want. It is more about being contented with where we are, who we are, and who we are with.”