(9/2006)
The other night I heard a pack of wolves in the woods behind us start their woeful howling. It was a bit spooky sounding. Even the crickets and frogs stopped to listen to their distant cry. I checked to make sure I had a good stash of silver and fell asleep thinking about the magic of the moon.
The full effects of the moon can only be felt in a quiet spot far from city lights. The stars only come out in the country where they know they’ll be appreciated. They only remove themselves from the canvas to take a back seat to the moon's allure. Anyone in Lanark County can tell you of a few hundred perfect spots to see the night sky as it’s meant to be seen.
Let's take a walk in the moonlight. If the right person says it to you, your knees get weak at the prospect of a magical night. You’ll be positively a-twitter with the possibilities. You'll link fingers and look at each other, and you won't believe how beautiful your date is. There's something about the night that makes you know it's time for the first kiss.
Would the moment be the same without the moon?
You wish you remembered what your date looks like and realize what a stupid idea it was to wander in the blind dark with a person you barely know. You both laugh it off when you almost run into a tree. You're going in for that magical first kiss and get a clumsy mouth full of the tree trunk you thought he was leaning against. He's already face down in the grass because he thought you were just little bit to the left. You'd both be laughing if not for your splinters and his broken nose. No moon, no second date.
And why does a full moon create werewolves? Some believe that Hollywood perpetuated the full-moon thing. Apparently real werewolves change voluntarily. I read it on the Internet, so it must be true. If they can change on a whim, why not save the nasty transformation for a more practical time -- say, when the tax auditor shows up?
Let’s take the ‘creepy’ moon away from Hollywood. Let's tell the were-people that they are no longer allowed to use our magical moon as an excuse for their bad behaviour. Let’s choose to believe that fireflies are really faeries sent to twitter across your path with enchanted dust ensuring sweet dreams for the night to come.
There’s a little bit of Swiss cheese in that moon for anyone who cares to believe it exists. That man is there, writing down all our dreams as they float past him every night. There are magical moonlight walks, dances, kisses and incredible memories that can only be made when that light shines for us. It’s mystical and wondrous and, if we're lucky, it will keep shining for us for generations to come, spreading a little moon dust magic on the way.
