Childhood Memories...

Her first memory of meeting Baba was when she was five years old. She was sitting on a rock by a stream in the woods. She doesn't remember anymore where the woods were located. Just that they were near her house. She used to "run away" to live in the woods at least once a week.

Her parents told people she was a wild child. A stubborn one. Incorrigible. 

She was a bad kid. 

That was the message she got over and over again. At five she already knew that people looked at her differently. Made judgements about her before they ever got to know her. She knew she got in trouble at school more often than other kids did, for doing the same things. She didn't realize until she was older that it was because people expected her to be trouble, so they looked for her to be trouble, and they treated her like she was trouble. Because her parents told everyone she was a bad kid.

But really she was just a kid. 

Baba sat quietly with her while she threw pebbles into the stream. 

She knew if you threw them in the right way they would skip across. But she didn't know what that way was so she just threw them harder and harder.

"It's all about how you throw them, not how hard you throw them."

 
She stopped throwing her pebbles. 

"Did you want me to show you?"

She sighed, "Fine. If you want to."

Baba had smiled at her. "It's okay to get help from people when you need it."

She had narrowed her eyes at Baba then, wary of the trap. Nobody ever just helped her. 

"First you want to find the right kind of stone. Not everyone stone is right for the job."

Oh now she got it, it was the start of a lecture. "Some are bad stones."

Baba shook her head, "No, there are no bad stones, just ones that aren't made for skipping. You want one that's kind of flat, smoother, a circle shape. Like this one."

Then Baba showed her how to hold the stone and how to flick her wrist as she threw the stone. Baba's rock skipped all the way across the stream and landed on the other bank. 

"I'll never be able to do that."

"Maybe. Maybe not. But you can try."

They found a few more skipping stones and practiced. She got all the way to three skips.

She was laughing then. "I might be able to beat your skip! Maybe I could skip a stone all the way across and it would keep skipping right into the woods!"

Baba smiled at her, "Maybe." then she nodded to the backpack at her feet, "What is in your bag?"

She got quiet again. Here is where she was going to get in trouble. Baba would drag her back home and her parents would thank her and tell her how bad she was. How much trouble. Then Baba would go home and...she clenched her jaw and willed the tears not to come. 

"Child? I asked you a question. What is in your bag?"

She squared her shoulders and stood up straight scraping her hand against her eyes and sniffing, "I'm running away from home."

"Oh? And why?"

"Because. I'm a bad kid. And it will be easier for everyone if I just leave."

"I see. And where are you going to go?"

Now the tears really did come."I don't know. This is as far as I ever get." she sobbed then, "I'm only five, I don't know where bad kids can go!"

"Can I tell you a little secret?"

She tried pulling herself together a little. "Sh--sh--sure."

"It's December 5th."

"That's not a secret. That's on the calendar."

"But do you know what December 5th is?"

"Monday?"

Baba laughed, "Well, yes, this year it's Monday. But every year it's Krampusnacht. Have you ever heard of Krampus?"

Her eyes got wide then. "My parents told me Krampus takes away the bad kids and either eats them if they look tasty or makes them his slaves if they don't. I stayed up all night last year watching for him!"

Bada nodded, "I know. He tried to come last year but there are so many who need him sometimes he can't. And it makes him feel awful."

"He was going to come take me last year?"

"Oh no dear, your parents have that part wrong. Krampus doesn't come for the children. He comes for the parents who ill treat them. And you, my darling, have parents who have ill treated you." Baba looked at the darkening sky, "As soon as the sun sets he will get to work. And your parents were top of the list this year."

"So if he takes them, what happens to me?"

Baba smiled, "You come live with me. I have a big house, with a lot of children, unfortunately."

"You don't want a lot of children?"

"Oh no, child, I mean it's unfortunate that there is a need for me to have so many. I love all of them, I just wish that there wasn't a need for so many to live with their grandmother. But until that time, Krampus and I work together."

She thought about what Baba was telling her. She knew that she should probably be scared. That something bad was going to happen to her parents. Then she thought of all the times she was punished for running, or yelling, or getting her clothes dirty, or looking at them "that way" or just being nearby when they felt like hitting someone. She realized she was less scared to leave with Baba than she was to go home. 

She doesn't remember exactly where those woods were, but they were close enough to her house that she heard Krampus' chains jingle when he walked up the driveway and she heard her parents cussing him and threatening him. Then Baba had held out her hand and they had walked away before she heard anything else. 

She was five when Krampus came to visit her parents and she came to live with Baba Yaga, it was the best Christmas ever.