Trafford Publishing: Skipping Rock

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Skipping Rock

by L.R. Guffey

175 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0216; ISBN 1-55395-853-5; US$18.50, C$23.00, EUR15.00, £10.40

Skipping Rock is a multi-generational adventure saga.

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About the Book

    Descended from kings. Alpin the twenty eighth king of Scotland, a descendant of Colla-Uais the one hundred twenty first king of Ireland and descendants of one of the four original Milesian kings. McGuffok, McPhe, Gaffny, McAuffie, each are of the same family. Story tellers one and all, give testimony to life, liberty and faith. "Skipping Rock" begins with John and Ootah after a shipwreck off Baffin Island in the late 8th century. Survival in the harsh arctic and subsequent long flight to the Isle of Colansay off the Scottish coast follows John and Ootah, Jerimah Alex Mac Fie, his wife Colleen, as well as their son Andrew Blackmore Mac Duffie on through his heir Henry Mathew Mac Guffok, passed the stories through the years. Living as story tellers and carrying the great Claymore and old pouch, Glen Robert and Eneca were befriended by Molly. Lawrence Bruce Mac Guffok with new found wealth and determination, built a small fortune. John Robert and Maureen Mac Donald married producing twin daughters in 1576. and a son Lloyd David McAuffy in January of 1601. Lloyd married Angeline, the pig farmers daughter, after a long tumultuous relationship. In 1667 their son Paul Martin McAuffe stood at the bow of a two masted vessel bound from Glasgow to Jamestown Virginia.
    Paul like the rest of his kin loved the stories and the smell of adventure. After a harrowing Atlantic crossing he awoke in the mountains of Virginia, laying in a pool of blood, memory of an explosion and the blurred vision of two half clad natives.
    Rachael rivaled Paul as an expert bowman and dressed in her red blanket, defeated all others in the biggest bow shooting contest the village had ever seen.
    In 1861 Sargent John M MacAuffe a Kentucky mule skinner for the Union Army was about to take part in one of his last battles. John married Mattie, both had scrapes with the law and raised a large family. Jacob Alexander MacAuffe, Jake, or Jack Ass MacAuffe to his friends, was born about 1866 0r 1867. Jake worked on a Mississippi steam boat. About 1893 Jake paid a handsome price for an indentured lass who worked on a Yankton South Dakota farm. It was found that they had a lot more in common than most folks would expect. Jake and Inga were married Christmas of 1895.
    Noah MacAuffe was born the 15th of July 1900 in Nome. His mother ran a boarding house while his father worked the beaches for gold. Inga passed away in 1918. Jake just left it all and boarded a steamer for the states.
    On his own, Noah sold every thing except the most prized and headed to Kaltag. He met Charlie Two Bears and his family. Dorthy, a shy girl and Noah hit it off and the two of them left Fortuna Ledge to start a life of there own. Dorthy and Noah have a son in 1935 who went on to open a flying service at age 13. Noah and Dorthy have more than one encounter with angles or spirits and are converted at their cabin above Wiseman. Noah has an encounter with a voice enticing him to write the story of his ancestors. Dorthy disappears, leaving Noah a lonely man.

Comments about the book

"Thank you" so very much for the "gift" of allowing me to read your wonderful writings of Skipping Rock. Your characters were profound individuals and the connections you made created the larger picture. I especially was inspired by the spiritualism that unfolded and surrounded the essence of your characters. I really enjoyed it. Would make a darn good movie! Keep on writing, God has endowed you with this gift!

Nancy Fitzgerald
avid reader

About the Author

    Larry was born in Indiana during the great depression, into a clan of Scott/Irish farmers and frontiersman dating to the Americas of 1667. School was a one room affair. With the exception of the author, the teacher and all the students spoke German and had the same last name. Raised in Detroit during the war years, he joined the Air Force at age 17 to seek his adventure.
    Forty four years in medicine started as an unseasoned medic at Torbay Newfoundland. Future assignments included stints in the emergency room , independent duty medic at remote Alaska radar sites, time with the National Health Service Corps, and retirement as a nationally certified physician assistant.
    Interests have always included map collecting, studying arctic and sea survival, and genealogy. A professed Franciscan, the Author lives in the mountains of Northern Idaho with his wife Kathleen, two dogs, two cats, and since retirement, days filled with projects and the freedom to call his own coffee breaks.

Excerpt

Chapter 1
Inuet Warmth

    I suppose this story is occasionally true, or is it? It would depend on which way you look at it. It seems that a long time ago there was a man, whose last name meant, "the dark skin man of peace." He was known to the clan as John. We can easily pick him up somewhere around 995 AD but before that the story gets a little cloudy.
    He was far to the Northwest of what is known as the Scotland and Ireland of today. Exactly why he went on this adventure, is not clear, but we know that the small boat, a curragh, that the clansmen, had set out on, was washed onto the ice, after a storm had tossed them about for many days.
Even though he was known as a man of peace, he was by no means, afraid. He just was not inclined, unless pushed, to strike first, as was the custom in his time.
    The condition of the men, after their ordeal, can only be described as pitiful. Most of them had not survived more than a day or two, owing to the extreme of low temperature and their long lack of food and shelter. Only three remained out of fifteen. John, Erin, and the third name, remains a mystery. The third man lived only a short time, before freezing solid. John was the older and stronger of the two remaining, but for the intervention of God they lived. At least John, as Erin due to his poor condition, was never able to get better, and died in a few months.
    "God's intervention." I guess it's my idea to put the rescue, in Gods hands, others would call it luck, or some other thing, maybe the cosmos, or karma.
    Ewotok hunted all his life. That was all he knew, and all his people knew, how to live for generations, in a hostile land, that showed little mercy. Ewotok was doing the same thing today, as he had done all his life, hunting, alone. He was hunting today for any thing, but had just finished killing, a nice seal, that would do the people, for some time. According to custom, he had waited, it seemed forever, by the air hole in the ice. Suddenly the seal came through the hole and let its self be taken with a short spear point, that was made of the tusks, of the biggest walrus that Ewotoks father, had ever killed. The first thing was to thank the seal, as all animals were thanked, by giving it a drink of water, by spitting in its mouth. Ewotok was grateful that a storm had past and he could drag the seal back to his people. Thoughts of eating and much laughter, entered his mind as he pulled the seal, in the direction of home. He stopped to take a blow and suddenly, near an open lead in the ice, he saw first one, than two black specs, the size of a black bird he had seen, when on a hunting trip to the south east, with his father. Thinking he might have more to take to the people he quietly laid down the plated sinew rope on the seal, and crept up on his quarry. Strangely, the specks grew larger and took on the shape of dark snow. It wasn't long before Ewotok was standing over two men, huddled together, frozen to the ice. Their beards and hair were long. One was blond and light skinned, almost white and the other darker, but not as dark as Ewotok's people. They wore strange clothes, very dirty, and made from nothing he had ever seen. Ewotok bent, and could barely see that both of them hadn't lost the breath of life. Their breathing was shallow but steady, in the rhythm of one who was asleep, a very deep sleep. It reminded him of the stories told by the old people, of bears that sleep all winter, to the south. Not like his Bears, that prowled all the time and would take a man or a child, any time they wanted.
    Very quickly, he built a round mound of snow from blocks, cut near the two deeply sleeping men. He then cut the men, from the ice and one by one dragged them into the mound. Almost out of breath, he placed them side by side, on the skins he had with him. He also placed a small piece of dry moss on the ice and began rubbing a bone, in a circular motion, using a small bow of bone and sinew. This at first did nothing, then a bit of smoke and the moss, with a small breath from his mouth, burst into flame. He next placed it in a vessel that contained oil made from the big whales, his family were able to hunt from time to time. Soon with the entrance to the mound blocked, it was getting warmer.
    For two days he dragged the remains of the seal, having cut a portion to leave with the two silent men. He walked with his burden all night, to make it to his people, as the light was creeping on the horizon to the south. The people were very excited, as he ate and drank and told his amazing story. Ewotok did not go with his brother Arotok and the other four men, but as with all his people each had an uncanny ability to find any thing, in the vast open country of the North. He had told them where to find the men and they were able to reach the mound, in only one day.
    It was quiet, as Arotok took the snow block from the entrance to the mound. Once inside it was a little warmer than when Ewotok left, but the small flicker of flame was almost out. The men were amazed that it had lasted this long, but thought no more about it. The two men in the strange clothes were still laying where Ewotok left them, still stiff, but also alive, but barely.
    The men wasted no time in refueling the lamp and brought into the mound, just what they needed. One more lamp was lit from the first and soon, the mound was warm, with the two lamps and the body heat, of the new arrivals. They spent the night of rest, squeezed into the mound, but comfortable and close. As soon as they awoke, one by one, they went out, relived them selves and returned. They ate dried fish with seal oil, packed up the two sleeping cold men and placed them on skin sleds, for the trip back to the people. John felt warm, but was lost in his mind. He had dreams, of far off places and people. Strange dreams, Jusalam, Jsu, warm hills, times long ago. A friend that died a horrible death, one that many died of, but his friend was special. The dreams continued, merchant ships, olive trade, desert sands. All of this made no sense, in his dream, as he knew nothing of such things. He sensed that he was being cared for, as his dreams kept rolling over in his mind. Large hard, sand buildings and trees, tall and thin with green leaves, at the very top. Warm ocean water, blue in color, than very dark and rough. A face now and then, but whose? Miriam, that was her name. Who was Miriam? His mother? His friends mother?
    Strange voices, Strange faces. John was at once awake, then the dreams again. Suddenly a flicker of dim light, gentle snoring, ice crystals over his head, dark shadows, near, warmth. John was aware that he could feel nothing in his hands or feet. He felt very cold, except for a slight warmness to the skin, under his beard, then again the dreams. Green fields, rock walls, big woolly cattle.
    She was round faced, with eyes as black as night. She lifted his head and fed him an oily substance, he had never tasted before. Ootah, was short, but she didn't know it, as all the women were short. She was about the same age as John, but age was not measured in our time but instead, seasons of the moon, and some times there was no moon. Her teeth were small, worn by years, of chewing the hides, to soften them, that all the women had chewed , since the dawn of time. Ootah had been married at one time but her husband, went on a hunt by himself and never returned.
    Ootah crawled between the skins, as was told, by her brother Ewotok. John was so cold and she herself began to shiver. Every one thought that this was funny and all began to laugh, as all the people were prone to do, over the slightest thing. Soon all was quiet, except for the snores from one person and the next. Ootah could not sleep, he was so cold and his bare skin, next to hers, reminded her of nights long ago, when her man came back from a hunt. Her man though, was not as cold and soon warmed both of them up.
    Tana, Ootah's mother was also very cold, as she tried to sleep and keep Erin alive, with her frail body. She did not dream of her man, as he had been gone a very long time.
    The pale light of the south, was not yet present when John awoke with a start. First looking up at the ice crystals, on the ceiling of the snow mound, then at the woman beside him. He could remember his dreams, but she was not in them. He could feel a small shiver, deep within his body, barely noticeable. Where was he? The last he could remember, was his leader telling them they were going over. Over what? Then he thought about the boat. Suddenly it was coming back. The water was cold. Hardly noticeable from the air around him, as he grabbed for Erin. He pulled Erin up to the surface, as Erin was about to overpower him, flailing about, as a man that couldn't swim. John grabbed for a chunk of ice that wasn't there, then back to his dreams. He could see the bare outline of a woman, bent over a small lamp. The out line of her round body glowed, in the light of the lamp. She turned and with bare breasts, bent over him and fed a warm liquid to his cracked lips. Its taste was oily.
    When he again woke, all the inhabitants of the mound were up and dressed in furs of multicolor, but mostly brown, but some white and some gray. They were all talking at once, in a language, that he had never heard before. They were pointing at him and grinning. He had the feeling of being unusual, in this group of small stocky people. She gave him a smile, that added warmth to his cold body. He could feel that he was warming but his hands were numb, and he had no feeling in his legs.
    Ewotok spoke first, very excitedly, and gestured that the men were going out some where. He held up his right arm, in a gesture of throwing a spear, his left arm was straight out behind him. In this manner, after awhile, John was able, as far as he could tell, feel that a hunting expedition was about to take place. He tried to get up, but fell back, and unconscious. Several days passed, the men returned, Erin was awake but could not speak. John was warm, and getting used to this dark, warm, round woman beside him, snuggled with in the furs and his arms.

Catalogue Information