The night is cool and the sky clear, at last. I can see stars where once were only clouds. I lean against the rail, turning into the breeze, and scan for gator snouts slipping along the surface of the waters. There are none.

"Maybe we'll see some gators in the Congaree Swamp."

"Maybe."

Stuffed with pan-fried catfish, I sigh a deep sigh of contentment. Walking with you and savoring the night air, I can't conceive that the evening could be more perfect. Not even the absence of gators can mar the moment.

We drift into a gift shoppe which boasts some very interesting stuff. Wood carvings and such. You are on a mission to find a rabbit so I browse from display to display. Eventually I find myself surrounded by jewelry. They have some really cool rings.

My eye rests on a thin silver band inset with black onyx triangles. Inside the larger triangles are teeny tiny equilateral triangles. The tiny equilateral triangles each contain a colored stone. Three are red, they look like coral; three are blue, and three are ivory. The overall effect of these geometric shenanigans is very Zuni-like. But not really. It is also very distinctive and unique in a totally un-Zuni-like way.

I slip it on my finger in front of the black and white yin-yang and the black onyx Navajo band I picked up in Santa Fe. Perfect. The three look good together, all that black and silver and tiny bits of color.

I don't believe in filling up all my fingers with rings, see. As far as I'm concerned there are only two ring fingers per hand: the index finger and the salutation finger. If I can't wear 'em there, I don't wear 'em. Which is probably the reason that I have boxes and boxes of rings just languishing, waiting patiently to be chosen.

I've worn the same rings for a long time. On my right hand I wear one only, on my middle finger: a large green stone set in gold filigree. A jeweler told me once that the goldwork appears to be Pakistani in origin. I think the stone is just glass, but it makes a beautiful ring. I found it in a flea market circa 1985 and traded a three-diamond antique for it.

On my left hand is the Navajo onyx which has been there since I bought it during the summer of 1990. It takes me back to the magickal week I spent in Santa Fe with Tony. We went to Santa Fe to visit secret agent Test Drive (now known as Rock Solid) and she gave us her car and sent us forth on a mission to explore as much of New Mexico as we could manage. That's where we found the kiva with the little white button.

People can screw up anything, you know? Here we are in an ancient kiva, below ground, where Indians once performed their religious rites and beseeched their gods. We are awed by the thought of all the magick that went on here. Suddenly I notice something on one of the support beams. Recessed into the wood is a little white button.

I point to it. "What is this?"

Tony laughs. "Oooh, it's a button," he says. "Push it."

I push. Suddenly a recording of Indians whooping and chanting blares from scratchy speakers hidden in the walls.

Puh-leeze. We laugh until tears stream from our eyes.

The yin-yang ring was given to me about four years ago by Crystal, Keith and Connie's daughter. Connie and Crystal were shopping one day and Crystal found this ring. She just had to have it for me, she said. It wasn't any special occasion, either. That tickled me. It's a little too big and flops around on my finger but I can't bear to be without it long enough to have it sized. On my index finger, left hand, I wear a carnelian which has resided there since 1977. Carnelian is the stone of the builder. I am never without it.

So now I add this little band of triangles to the mix. Every time I look at it I will think of gatorless autumn nights and you.

youngblood

Youngblood Brasket is a storyteller who shares her home, with cats Harmony and Bandon, a rabbit, a field mouse and various creatures of the forest on the Texas Gulf Coast. Her varied background includes freelance work in petrochem, the oil patch, trucking, and construction. Youngblood has also tried her hand as a rigger helper, ironworker, demolition technician, roadie for a Rhythm & Blues band, and as a member of the aerospace industry, where she still works today. One of our favorite people, Youngblood Brasket is a Regular Contributor to the Song & Story Street Section of Sunshine Street Sketches.

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