The Shaman – Page 4 – Joseph Carrabis, Author Blog

Shaman Story Chapter X – Borrowing

Read Shaman Story Chapter X – Hide-and-Seek.

Shaman Story Chapter X – Borrowing

Sometimes Grandpa’s friends ask “May I share how I do it?” to help me learn how they do something Grandpa does, something he is teaching me. They let me piggyback down their path. Sometimes we have to travel far and they become a ladder and I climb up their rungs and the ladder flies and you learn how to be a ladder and fly.

I piggyback and climb their rungs so I can borrow from them to learn how to do it, to understand my way, my path would be different from theirs and different is okay, it is the outcome that matters.

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Shaman Story Chapter X – Hide-and-Seek

“Where am I, Gio? Come find me!”

He starts with things easy, asks me questions to make me explore. “Am I in the garden?”

“I don’t know, Buppa.”

“Can you feel me in the garden?”

The garden is tough. He puts so much of his energy into his roses, his vegetables, his Brothers the Bees.

“You’ve been in the garden, Buppa. I can tell you’ve been there.”

I feel a kiss in the air around my head. “Oh, come on, Gio. You and I worked in the garden yesterday. Am I there now?”

The air tickles my feet. I laugh, realizing. “No! But your some place we walk to.”

“Oh, you’re so smart, Gio. Where am I now that is someplace we walk? Feel where I am. I left a trail. You can follow.”

“Like Hansel and Gretel, Buppa!”

“Yes, like Hansel and Gretel but I won’t put you in my oven when you find me.”

I start crying.

“What is it, Gio? What’s wrong?”

“What if I can’t find you, Buppa? What if I get lost?”

Shaman Story Chapter X – The Childhood Door

[I mentioned in Shaman Story Chapter 5 – Lessons that chapter numbering would get wonky as Shaman Story is a work in progress.
At this point, I’m adding chapters to the beginning to foreshadow events happening in later chapters, this one being a case in point.
I’ve learned to live with such things. Hope you do, too.]

Read Shaman Story Chapter 7 – Sensing.

Shaman Story Chapter X – The Childhood Door

Buppa stops, turns, let’s me see him in another place. Somewhere beyond the moon, under the sea, through his garden, into the earth.

A big wooden door, made from trees and branches all woven together, leaves grow out of limbs making eaves and lintels. There’s a little window but it’s too high for me to see in. A light flickers through the glass. A candle.

“What’s that, Buppa?”

“It’s a door, a very special door. But only for you, Gio, not for anybody else.”

“It’s my door?”

“Yes, but only if you want to learn more. If you want to learn more you have to go in.”

The door has no handle. I step closer, onto a mat of tightly woven hay and flax.

The mat opens eyes. It lifts and spins like it’s caught in a whirlwind. It pushes me back, grows four legs, a spiky tail and a giant head. The woven flax and hay become golden fur. It stops spinning and lands on its feet, larger than me, larger than Buppa, larger than the door.

It looks down at me. “Are you afraid, Gio?”

“Yes.”

“Good answer, truthful answer. Do you want to go in?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

I don’t know what’s expected. “To learn more?”

The creature smiles. It has many, many teeth, like needles. It drools. Its drool splashes and steams like acid on ground that isn’t there. “Are you asking or telling?”

I want my Buppa. He’s not here. He’s always with me. Where’s my Buppa?

“Anything else?”

Shaman Story Chapter 7 – Sensing

Read Shaman Story Chapter 6 – Friends.

Shaman Story Chapter 7 – Sensing

“Ascolta il gattina, Gio. Riesci a sentirlo camminare?” Listen to the kitty, Gio. Can you hear it walking?

A favorite game Grandpa plays with me. I close my eyes, pay attention to my ears. I clap my hands. “Yes, Buppa! I can hear it walking.”

“Dove sta camminando, Gio?” Where is it walking?

I listen, my eyes shut tight. I cock my head, right ear up, left ear up, right ear up. “On Mrs. Gianelli’s fence. The one on the Caputo’s side.”

Grandpa smiles and kisses my head.

“Now look, Gio. Where is Grandma?”

It is hard not to hear. I cover my ears with my hands, open my eyes wide. “She’s talking with Piantedosi the baker, Buppa. She says — ”

“No listening. What’s she doing?”

“She’s getting bread for dinner.”

“Anything else?”

Grandma looks in the dessert cases. She points to ricciarelli, struffoli, and cannoli.

Grandpa licks his lips and pats his belly. “Yumm.”

***

David sits across from me. It is his day, his weekend. He’s travelled far for his training. Not far enough but he doesn’t know that yet.

I look up and to the right, away from him, My eyes focus and I smile. “Oh, Shannon’s talking with one of our neighbors. Our dogs are playing in the park.”

David watches me. His eyes flick to where I’m looking. There’s nothing there. “What are you looking at?”

I point where I’m looking. “Shannon and Debbie, Cowan and Boxer. They’re in the park. Cowan and Boxer are playing. Shannon and Debbie are sitting at the picnic table under the roof shelter.”

***

“Use your hands to taste, Gio. Don’t touch with your hands first. Send your hands. Make sure it’s safe.”

Grandpa teaches me to detect poisons, food turned bad, mushrooms, when milk will sour.

“Smell from here. Don’t go there. Not yet.”

“Okay, Buppa.”

“Walk with me in the forest. Tell me what we can eat.”

We never leave my room. I hear the forest floor, leaves and pine needles, long grasses pushed over as we walk. The evergreens greet me with the heavy scent of pine. The oaks roll some acorns in our path. A maple sends a little helicopter seed spiralling beside me.

Grandpa puts his hand on my shoulder. On my bed I see him pointing. “Do you see that, Gio?”

On a birch tree, at face level and clinging. A huge creature, cousin to Spider, bigger than any spider I’ve ever seen, and not familiar to me. Eight legs, not a spider, and blind.

“Walk slowly, Gio. It is telling us something. This is its land.”

Each step brings us closer. The wind brings scents of fox and deer. Crows fly overhead. Raven lands on an elm branch and squawks at Grandpa, “Be careful. Gio doesn’t know.”

Grandpa nods. “Thank you. Yes. I’m teaching him now.”

Crows caw at us. Raven hops from branch to branch, always over us, always a little ahead.

The creature grows smaller as we approach. Smaller and smaller.

Raven squawks, “Careful, Gio.”

We stand beside the birch. The creature is so small. I reach for it and Grandpa pulls my hand back.

“Safe passage for me and mine, Friend Tick?”

I hear a voice of “S”s. “Yesss. Sssafe passsage.”

“This is Tick’s land, Gio. Always ask before you go. And if Tick says “No,” then stay away.”

“Yes, Buppa.”

“Remember the smells, the sounds, the feels. Remember what you see, if it’s safe, remember the tastes.”

“Yes, Buppa.”

He rubs my head. “Let’s get home before Grandma knows we’re gone.”

I open my eyes. I’m on my bed. Grandpa is sitting next to me, looking at me, smiling.

Shaman Story Chapter 6 – Friends

At one point the following was Chapter 6. It’ll still be in the finished novel, simply not sure where at this point. Enjoy

Read Shaman Story Chapter X – The Wild, The Shadows.

Shaman Story Chapter 6 – Friends

His last few years Grandpa and I traveled. Not far, though. I don’t remember it as “far.” He took me to meet his friends and we talked about what Grandpa was teaching me. They loved to have me show them. I made mistakes, most of them harmless. Others, not so harmless. I didn’t understand. Grandpa wanted me to learn and knew something I didn’t; he didn’t have much time left.

Hence taking me to his friends, knowing they’d take over, they’d continue teaching me when he passed. They were my training wheels.

Everything to them was joyful. Everything came with a laugh. And always with you, never at you. Never arguments, never disagreements. Never “do it this way” or “do it that way.” Their corrections took the form “It might work better this way” or “What happens if you do it that way?” Always the encouragement to find your own way to do it, to find your own path, and always happy to have you for a while on their path or take part in your path for a while.

Each visit dealt with a lesson. Grandpa often said “We need to see John. John knows about this.” or “We should go visit Running Water. She knows how to do this.” or “That’s something Chan does better than me. Let’s ask him to show you how it’s done.”

Grandpa knew he didn’t know it all. He had no problem admitting ignorance. He said not knowing is a great gift; if you know you don’t know, you can decide to learn. If you know you know, you’ve already decided not to learn. “Never be afraid and never be ashamed if you don’t know something, Gio. When you admit you don’t know, that’s when you learn.”

Each of them did the basics pretty much the same way. There’s some variation, but Lower-Center-Relax-Breathe is Lower-Center-Relax-Breathe is Lower-Center-Relax-Breathe. I thought there was one door and learned there are many. Some people always go through the same door to start and then there’s other doors on the other side. Some people go through their Childhood Door only when they need to. They find other doors to different places they need to go. Some people can control their doors so that one becomes many and many becomes one.

But you never let someone enter your door and you never follow someone through their door, even if they ask. You can, I’ve met some people who’ve done so. I’ve met some people who were pulled through someone else’s door. That’s a defense and usually used by the weak, those who don’t know more or other.

When it’s an accident, someone has to go find them. Hence Grandpa playing Hide-and-Seek with me.