Chapter 40
The Prophecy of the Wichasha Wakon
(Ó
2010)
Chalet de Lily
The First Friday Evening of March 2016
“Happy Birthday Logan!” Cosette cried out as she held out the small chocolate cake with the lit two candles. The two candles shaped like numbers, and arranged to show the number “65”.
“Yes, happy birthday Logan!” Miriam joined in. On the Monday previous, Logan had visited them at Clive’s Coiffeurs, which they both were now in charge of since the death of its namesake, both ladies would take turns with the grooming of his hair. Miriam reminded Logan that this week was a milestone birthday for him and asked if there was anything special in the way in which he would like to celebrate it. His reply was that he could think of no other way than to have the two people in the world that he cherished the most to come and spend the weekend with him at his home.
They were all now in the ‘sun room’, the room to the east side of the chalet with oversized windows in order for one to be able to enjoy the sunlit days no matter what the season. This was Lily’s favorite room. To the corner of the room was an oversized easy chair where Lily would sit and read. Next to the chair was a side table, here Logan had placed the portrait of her that he had in his apartment while he resided in the United States, and next to the portrait, as always, burned a glass encased lavender colored candle.
Cosette placed the cake on the coffee table in front of the small sofa where Logan sat, “Go ahead Logan, make a wish.” She said.
Logan looked up to her face and said, “I have everything I want right here with me tonight, besides the wish I would like to come true would be impossible for anyone to grant.” He then looked over to the portrait of Lily. He then looked back to Cosette and said, “Besides, mine and my mother’s people have a saying, ‘The earth is all that lasts’.” He then closed his eyes and blew out the birthday candles.
Miriam who now sat next to Logan placed her hand on his shoulder and said, “You should know how much we wish Lily were here also my friend.”
“Oh, but she is here.” He smiled as he answered. “She is in this house, she always has been, even when I’ve not been here, she has always been in this house.” Logan looked at his two friends who now both wore expressions of astonishment, “And … she has not been alone.”
Cosette sat down on the opposite side of him and meekly asked, “What do you mean Logan?”
“Let me tell of why I wanted to spend this weekend alone with the two people in the world that I trust and love the most.” He said still smiling, “I want to tell you both some things about myself. Things that only one other person in the world knew about me, that was Lily. She knew everything about me, everything that I have done, everything about my past, every dark secret. And when I told her of my life and of all of the turmoil’s, she never judged me. And I have done some treacherous things in my life, things I did as a Legionnaire and things even before that.” Logan lowered his head, “The things I have done and all that I went through, it caused me to grow a very thick skin in order for me to deal with them. Lily made it so that I could tell her anything and everything. By doing this she revived something that I thought was dead in me … she made me feel again … she made me human again.” He looked up over to her chair, “She loved me … unconditionally … and that in itself is something very rare.”
Cosette then placed a comforting hand on Logan’s other shoulder, “I … we miss her still so much.”
Logan then smiled and kissed Cosette on the cheek; he turned to Miriam and did the same to her. “Come now,” he said, “both of you sit down in front of me and let me ask you something.” Cosette and Miriam then stood up from the sofa and sat themselves down on the floor on the opposite side of Logan, once they were settled he asked, “Tell me, how are your spiritual beliefs?”
Both women looked back to him with confused expressions. Miriam then spoke, “I believe in God Logan, if that is what you mean.”
“As do I.” Cosette said.
“Yes, I know you believe in God, what I am asking is do your beliefs go beyond just that? Do you believe in angels and spirits? Do you believe that you are sometimes guided, or that you are given messages of some sort?”
Miriam answered, “Yes, I suppose so.” She looked to her beloved Cosette who was nodding in agreement, “Why are you asking us these things Logan?”
He smiled and said, “Some years ago, right in this very room in fact, when Lily and I lived here, I woke late one night and found that she was not in our bed. I looked to the clock by the bed and saw that it was one fifteen in the morning. I waited for a few moments to see if she were getting a drink of water or using the toilet, but she didn‘t return, so I got out of the bed to see where she was. I came down the stairs and I found her there,” he pointed to Lily’s chair, “sitting in her chair right over there. There was a full moon out that night and the light from it filled this room. It made her look so beautiful. She was deep in her thoughts because she didn‘t notice me when I came into the room. I startled her a little when I called to her.
“She had an expression of worry on her face and so I asked her what was wrong. She answered me with, ‘Oh Logan, what you do is so dangerous.’ You see we met one of the chairmen from the Bank of Paris some days before through Captain Thiebulet. My good Captain could not help but brag about some of my exploits to him. The chairman that evening said to me while Lily was next to me that if I wanted to ever go into a much safer line of work that he could use a man like me. I took it with a grain of salt, but it became glued in Lily’s head.
“She was so afraid of what I did in my line of work. Always afraid that I would be hurt bad or even something worse. I would always tell her that there’s nothing to fear, that most of the criminals and bad guys that I had to deal with are complete imbeciles compared to whom I faced in the Legion. But, I also to her not worry about it because I reminded her that I was protected always … by my two women spirits.”
“Two women spirits?” Asked Cosette inquisitively.
“Yes,” Logan answered, I‘m going to tell you all about that, but first I must confess something to you both. There is something that I did keep from her that I never told her about. And that is yes, there were a couple attempts on my life, even a contract out on me, but I never let her know, I just did not want her to be afraid or to worry. We did find out who it was on both occasions, and we took care of those problems ourselves.” Logan then paused for a few seconds and then continued, “But going back to why I asked you about your spiritual beliefs, you see something happened to me just a few years ago. It happened right out there, in the gazebo and I want to tell you about it.”
“Go on Logan,” Cosette said, “tell us what you want.”
He smiled at the both of them, “Thank you both for coming here, thank you for spending these next few days with me. You both are so special to me. I wish so much that Clive and Bricey could be here also, but I believe that they too are here, probably right next to Lily, as well as someone else.”
“Who would that be?” asked Miriam.
“I’ll get to that.” Logan said, “Let me get started, and let me start at the time when I was very young, just a little boy in fact - - -”
- - - “I come from a very spiritual people, the people of my unci, my grandmother, the people of the Lakota Sioux. My tunkasila, my grandfather, was a full blooded Irishman, right off of the boat. But the Irish are a very spiritual people also, so I believe that just intensified my spirituality. My Ina, my mother, first took me to the Lakota Oyate, the Sioux nation, the reservation, when I first started to walk. There was this arrangement between my mother and father because you see my father was not the kindest man in the world, in fact … he was a total bastard. The arrangement was that she would take me to the Lakota Nation from the town in Michigan where we lived. She would spend the summers with me there, and my old man got the pleasure of not being around the both of us for a few months. It also kept him from seeing my mother’s family.
“My mother’s name was Tara; her Lakota name was Bird in the Rainbow. When her leksi, her uncles, her mothers brothers saw me, they would literally take me from her and spend all their time with me. They were going to make me an Indian, a Lakota Sioux. They saw that whenever I frustrated or angry I would make a certain face. They said I would have the face of an angry shunkaha, a wolf. So they gave me the name of Scowls Like the Wolf. There are only three women in the world that I let call me by that name, Lily, my mother, and another girl from my youth. I shall tell you of this later.
“They gave me a naming ceremony and there was lots of singing and dancing that I remember. It was that night however when my mother approached the tribal Wichasha Wakon, a holy man, a visionary. She told him that she was concerned about my future and of my life; she needed to know if I would grow to be a good and happy man. The entire tribe knew of my father, and what a total ass he was. My mother was afraid of his influence on me.
“The Wichasha Wakon looked at her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He told her, ‘Bring the boy Scowls Like the Wolf to me tomorrow morning and we shall sweat on this’. What this meant was that he was going to take me to the sintkala wakso, the sweat lodge, where he and other elders and other holy men would chant to the Great Spirit and all of the other spirits and ask them to reveal my destiny.
“So my mother did as he asked and brought me to the sweat lodge early the next morning and left me with these holy men. She left me there believing that she would not see me for a few days for these ceremonies most of the time would take that long. My mother and her family though were very surprised later that evening when the Wichasha Wakon returned with me to my grandparent’s house. He called them all together in the main living room. He then sat on the floor with me on his lap and asked my mother to sit down in front of us.
“When she did and the rest of the family gathered around the Wichasha Wakon spoke to them. He said, ‘The Spirits spoke to us right away as we asked of the destiny of little Scowls Like the Wolf. They revealed to us many things. Do not worry of your son Bird in the Rainbow, for he will grow to be a brave and courageous ozuye, a mighty warrior. He will fight for many outside of our people, outside of our nation. He will protect those who are the weakest and most vulnerable, and his name will someday be praised by all our people and bring much pride to the Lakota Oyate. He will face much danger, fight many battles and see much suffering. He will right many wrongs, but do not have any fear, for he shall have with him two spirits, nunpi wanagi wingan, two women spirits. These women spirits shall be beside him to guide and protect him. He will grow to be a good man and you shall be proud.’ He then handed me back to my mother and stood up. He looked to all the members of the family in the room and said as motioned sternly with his hand, ‘Wayo Kapi.’ This means ‘It is the truth’. He then left the house - - -”
“You’re both probably wondering why I’m telling you this,” Logan said to the two ladies, “it’s just the beginning of some things in my life that I want to share with you both. I told you this story because you see I have had a vision here, just a few years ago, outside, there in the gazebo. My people believe that if you have a vision, it is a sacred event, and many Lakota go through life without having one. If you have a vision, just one vision, why it’s a magnificent thing. However, I have come to learn that in my life, I have had more than just one vision, I have had a few.”
“What were these visions Logan?” Miriam asked.
“We have plenty of time for me to tell you, but for now, let’s enjoy this delicious cake.” Logan said smiling, “You both know how much I like chocolate.”
No comments:
Post a Comment