Wednesday, October 5 and Saturday, October 8, 1910
Emily sighed. "I'm not sure about this." Lynn and Emily's truck was driving down a dusty road in the not so prosperous part of Kalispell.
Lynn rolled her eyes. "Relax! It's just footage for a movie."
"Lynn, don't you think it's a little too odd? We're filming a human being for no reason other than because people might enjoy staring at him."
"As opposed to spelunking in that Moss Agate mine with Running Bear and Mindy?"
"No, but this isn't right." Emily shrugged.
"If somebody makes a living by showing himself off as a sideshow attraction then that's his business. We're merely the messengers."
The truck turned on to a hilly road following a sign which read, "This way to see Silas Stannic."
The truck pulled into the driveway of a simple farm house. The owner stepped on the porch and smiled. He was very happy to be getting some business.
They talked a few minutes and the owner gladly took their two quarters to see Silas.
"Wait right here and get your camera set up. When he comes out of the barn it's quite a shock."
Emily began setting up the tripod. "This is disgusting! That man is exploiting his son's misery for profit."
"That sounds like the bakery."
Emily got in Lynn's face. "You have no right to say anything about my parents!"
Lynn looked down. "That was an inappropriate comment. I apologize."
Emily made one last check of things. "Since this is your idea, I'll ask. Are you ready?"
Lynn nodded.
Emily waved.
The farmer rang a bell. Lynn began cranking the camera.
Mr. Stannic slid open the massive front door of the barn.
Silas walked out of the front of the barn.
Lynn gasped. "Oh my goodness! Look at that freak!"
Emily was only mildly curious.
"This is a lot better than anything Running Bear or Mindy will get today. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when… hey!"
Emily threw a tarp atop the camera.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Giving you a warning, Lynn Watson. I'm sick of this! If you crank that camera one more time I'll tip the tripod over and smash it! All of the film we've shot since Sunday will be lost. So, you can either quit now and give this child of God a modicum of dignity or you and I can split the difference and buy a brand new movie camera from the Edison Trust."
"Are you daft?"
"No! I have a conscience. Crank again and buy a new camera or respect my wishes, either way, I'm fine."
Lynn relented. She began to disassemble the camera from the tripod.
When Silas and his father neared the truck, Lynn and Emily could see that the walk was making him tired.
Mr. Stannic asked, "Weren't you were going to take some pictures?"
Emily said, "We changed our mind. We don't want to film your son; we're only going to talk to him. You may leave now"
Mr. Stannic's eyes bulged. "Hey! You can't talk to me like that!"
Emily ran to the cab of the truck and returned with her purse. "You like money, Mr. Stannic? Great! Here's another fifty cents: it's my payment to not have you around me and here is another fifty cents that you can use to buy a soul you filthy, vile man!"
She threw the quarters on the ground.
He glared at Emily but then looked down at the money.
"I haven't got all day. Give me an answer. Do you want to be humiliated but one dollar richer? Or, do you want to feel like a hapless victim, go back inside a little bit poorer?"
He looked at the girls and then back at the quarters. He reached down to pick them up.
"Take it and go away. We'll manage things from here."
Mr. Stannic left without saying a word.
Emily looked at Silas.
His dismay soon gave way to a smile.
Emily asked, "You always wanted to do that?"
He chuckled, "More than you'll ever know." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Silas Stannic."
Lynn shrugged. "We guessed that part. Why do you live in the barn?"
"I can't fit inside the house. It's more convenient for my pa to keep me out in the barn. I sleep on a big clump of hay covered with some burlap sacks. He said a specially made bed would be too expensive."
Emily asked, "I take it you don't like his manner of business?"
Silas sighed. "I dunno. But, he's still my father. We try to make this pumpkin farm work, but, it’s a hit or miss proposition. These forty acres are sparse, however, they're all we got."
Emily whispered, "But you are not his property."
"Yeah, I know. This whole set up is sickening. You can't imagine what it's like to have signs on the road saying people can gawk at you for two bits each. I hate it. However, I'm not in the best of health so I don't have much of a choice in the matter."
Lynn said, "Let's sit down somewhere and talk."
Silas nodded. They began walking towards the barn.
When they went inside, Silas gave them a brief tour.
"There is my oversized bed. Wash bin. I have to take a sponge bath because I can't fit into a bathtub and I can't swim in the creek. Over here I have some silverware, plates and an apron all with my name on it. I got that when I worked for the circus."
Emily noticed some ribbons. "Tell me about those."
Silas smiled. He walked over to a wall which held a glassless display case. Silas delicately brushed each ribbon. He said with great pride. "Most of these are agriculture ribbons. I grow pumpkins, along with cucumbers, beets, potatoes. At the Flathead County fair I've won a few prizes for my vegetables."
Silas sighed. "You know, hardly anyone asks me about my vegetables. They only want to know about me. I hear their snickers and see their gaping mouths. Some people have asked the most undignified questions and they think they can get away with it because they paid a quarter."
He spoke wistfully, "These vegetables, on the other hand, don't care if I'm different than other folks. All they know is that they're loved. Somebody looks out for them, so they can grow. The only," Silas's voice broke. "The only dignity that comes my way grows out of the soil."
Emily said softly, "That must take a lot of work."
Silas wiped a tear away. "Oh it does. Tilling the garden, watering, keeping pests away, it’s a fulltime job. Under normal circumstances, it's tiring. I've got special oversized tools that help some. Still, it's utterly exhausting. I can only work a few hours a day. The rest of the time, I try to stay in bed and not move. My back hurts when I bend down. I feet hurt from the weight. My bones ache. Just getting out of bed is a chore."
Silas sat at a table on a special chair. Emily and Lynn sat on the other side.
Lynn asked, "How old are you?"
"Twenty-five." He reached behind him and got a pitcher. "Water?"
The girls politely refused. He poured himself a glass.
Emily asked,
"Did you go to school?"
Silas placed a large scrapbook on the table. He strained to turn the pages. He stopped on one particular page and smiled. He turned the book around.
"Kalispell High School, class of 1903. See if you can guess which one is me."
The girls chuckled.
Lynn shrugged. "That's quite an achievement. A lot of folks in rural communities don't go to school at all. For you to complete school with your unique circumstances is quite a feat."
"Thank you. As you can imagine, I was subject to a great deal of teasing. However, I grew up here, so after awhile, I was just another kid to most folks."
Lynn asked, "How long did you work for the circus?"
Silas stretched. "Five years. I travelled all around the country. I had my own sleeping quarters which is quite enviable on a circus train. I was a top draw so they treated me right.
The circus was good money and I made many friends but it also wore me out. The schedule was pure drudgery. Every day would present new challenges; I soon had my fill. The circus had problems with mismanagement. After awhile, my paydays were sporadic. They were feeding me, but I knew there had to be more to life than subsistence.
Last November, I got a telegram. My mother was sick. I came home. A short time later, her fever broke and she's got better. I tried to contact the circus, they were out of business. I thought about joining another but my health would not cooperate and the money would not be enough compensation. I would end up getting ill all over again; it wasn't worth it. So, I moved back home."
Emily asked, "And you are not happy with your father's arrangement?"
He shook his head.
"But you've got to do something to pay the bills?"
Silas hemmed and hawed, "Yeah, I suppose. The ironic thing is my mother doesn't like it either. She thinks I need to be on my own. I get an allowance from my father so I can afford to do that which I truly love."
He stood up. The girls stood up.
He began walking towards a door in the back of the barn. He struck a match and lit a lantern.
"This is what keeps me here. This is my passion."
Emily and Lynn were amazed. The room was an art studio filled with magnificent paintings.
"Art supplies cost money. Paint, pallets, frames, smocks and then I have a man in town who makes the brushes usable for me. The other ribbons you saw near my desk were awards from local art shows."
Lynn guffawed, "I took Art in school and I can barely draw a circle. Is that Devil's Tower in Wyoming?"
He nodded.
"I've always wanted to go there."
"Beautiful isn't it? I've always enjoyed doing landscapes. The circus stopped in Sundance, a town not too far from there. Me and some circus buddies took a tour. We rode in a cart and these Indians told us all about it.
Geologists think it's the top of an old volcano. When I look at nature's beauty like this, I feel a profound connection to God himself. Scenes like this make us stop and consider out place in this world. I see the delicate beauty of this rugged mountain thrusting up from the earth and in a way, it speaks to me."
Emily wore a warm smile. "And what does it say?"
"It says, 'Silas, there is nothing you can't do if really put your heart into it.'"
Lynn said, "That's a beautiful philosophy."
Silas shook his head. "As Mark Twain said, 'The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.'"
Emily asked, "Silas, what would it take for you to be happy and live virtuously?"
Silas scratched his neck. "Now that is a good question."
He stood in the doorway of the art studio. He could see from the open door to his fathers' house.
"For me to live happily and virtuously, I would paint and live on my own. If I became a millionaire or if I barely made ends meet, it would not matter to me. I would do that which I love most. People would not stare at me- they would stare at my paintings and smile.
I would never again be an object of ridicule. I would be addressed and considered to be nothing more or nothing less than a man."
He sighed. "But, that isn't going to happen."
Emily put an arm around him. "It will if you believe it will happen."
"How?"
Emily shook her head. "I don't know."
Silas' face fell.
Emily continued, "Like I don't know how to turn splotches of paint into Devil's Tower. Silas, only you know that. You know what you're capable of doing when you're committed. You have a proper inventory of your resources. You have the tools, you have the fortitude, the only question is: do you have the faith?"
"And where can I find faith?"
Emily shrugged. "I don't know. But I know where you can't find it: in the back of a barn."
Silas nodded. "You've given me a lot to think about."
Lynn wagged her finger. "And you two have just given me a great idea! If I didn't put the camera on a tripod; if I just held it and laid on the ground…."
On Saturday, back in Helena. Lynn and Emily were in the projection room that Running Bear had built on to his house. They were showing clips they'd shot over the past few days.
Emily attached the reel to the output arm. "This is the shot we most love." She threaded the film.
Lynn said, "It means a lot to us. Ready?"
"Ready."
Mindy turned off the lights.
Emily began cranking the projector.
The image on the screen flickered and flashed into an understandable moving image.
Running Bear and Mindy looked to each other, rather confused.
Mindy asked, "This is your special footage?"
"Yup."
Running Bear shrugged. "It's some guy tilling a pumpkin patch."
"Yes, we know." Lynn was so proud.
Mindy remarked, "This is too ordinary! Except for the camera angel, there is nothing unusual or interesting about this footage at all."
Lynn said, "Yeah, we didn't think so either."
Emily smirked, "So in your opinion, the person in this film is just another pumpkin farmer?"
Mindy said, "That's what he looks like to me."
Running Bear shook his head. "Yeah, we don't need this at all."
Emily turned off the projector. Lynn flipped on the lights.
"Thank you very much. Lynn and I are very, very happy."
Mindy asked, "Why?"
Emily shook her head. "No reason, no reason at all."
