Miracle of the Gulls
It had been another frustrating day for Eli Parhamm, the fox. But this frustrating day was simply indicative of the entire year of 1848 for the farmners of Deseret- the farmers who had spent hours in the hot sun over the summer would have their hard work repaid by a Biblical plague of locusts who would steal their food. Eli thought back to his life as a Missouri businessman working in Independence at his father's general store. Mistreated by his family, he had no direction in life and felt his life was stagnating. Then came the day that a wagon train of Latter Day Saints came to Independence and he knew there was no going back to his stagnant life as an employee at a general store. In spite of his father's stern warnings, he would not go back to his boring life as an unappreciated wage slave for an abusive boss. And thus Eli Parhamm became a Mormon.
The heat of the American prairies, the hate-filled meetings with the Indians, the cold and height of the Rocky Mountains could do nothing to scare this fox- but the effects of not being able to harvest food were affecting him and his vixen wife, Andrea. (Though plural marriage was allowed in the Utah Territory, Eli had never felt the need to have more than one wife.) And in spite of multiple attempts at having a child, Andrea proved to be as barren as the fields he was working.In spite of his sweaty brow, the fox could see the black accursed clouds of parasites eating the city's foodstuffs before they could become harvested. The late frosts of April had wiped out the opportunity to build a considerable amount of grain for the upcoming winter. And in the summer when the time came to harvest the fields, those black damned bugs would appear to devour wastefully everything the Mormon settlers had worked so hard on.
And the city of Deseret could not at all rely on the overtaxed storehouses of the other cities. Nephi, Bountiful, and Provo were all fighting the same plague of locusts that would take their food before any of the settlers could eat it. The only place that had a surplus of food now was Salt Lake City and even in spite of their generosity, they could not be all of the Utah Territory's salvation. And the constant hunger the settlers faced, affected their physical and in Eli's case, mental health
"Well, it appears you have a bit of dysentery as the rest of the settlers have", the goat doctor pronounced as Eli in agony from moldy bread he had eaten. There was nothing of this year's harvest to eat in the threadbare pantry so Parhamm had unwisely decided to eat slices of bread that had long ago expired and was now facing the consequences- a burning sensation in his stomach, a constant need to use the restroom, projectile vomiting.
"I thought my... canid digestive system... could handle it."
"No. And now because you ate it, you will now be weaker and hungrier than ever before," the doctor said with a dismissive stare towards his patient. "I'll give you medicine I ordered from Salt Lake that will heal you of this but you must avoid dairy products. Seems as though the disease leaves people lactose-intolerant so you cannot eat milk or cheese."
"Milk? Cheese? When will we ever see those foods again? Why did God give us the truth of Mormonism only to wipe us out with evil locusts. We're just poor settlers and we're being starved to death and what are the Elders doing, Dr. Myette?" Eli's body was wracked by the trio of pests hunger, thirst (brought on by the diarrhea) and disease.
"Do not be angry- that will only prolong the illness. Brigham and his men are doing as best as they can. You must take the medicine and the others will work for you, as we are one family. We care for each other- see I am here as a doctor and I've seen men in even more wretched shape in you. I have been there as some of the Saints joined Heavenly Father. And I can tell you that your disease is mild." The goat motioned towards a canteen he had brought with him pouring the water into a goblet, holding up to his friend's mouth and he drank with the desperation of a man who had been spent all the day in the desert and had just found an oasis.
Andrea who had cared for her husband spoke up "Do not worry. I know we will eat many great meals in the future and we will die only after long and wonderful lives. In fact, I know the Heavenly Father will aid us with a miracle to show us his love."
That very moment, a wolf who was Myette's assistant opened the door rather violently and with his paw pointed towards a window. "Did you see it- the white birds who came from the west? They are eating the clouds of locusts and saving our crops!" And when the sick fox, his wife, his goat doctor looked they say the black clouds broken up by white birds.
"Those birds are seagulls. But they are native to the east- they've never been seen in Utah before. They flew all the way from California to save our fields." And as he saw the gulls voraciously conusme and destroy all the evil locusts, Eli felt just a little better. They ferociously consumed all the insects, saving the grains of wheat and corn for future consumption not by parasitic pests but by hard-working Mormons. The dysentery would leave its mark (in more ways than one) but the fox knew that he would live to eat another great meal, live through the illness, live to see his quiver full of cubs, and live to praise the providence of God again.
And to this day, at the Temple Square in Salt Lake City, a monument to the seagulls who saved the Latter Day Saints in their first year of colonizing Utah stands.