The Trinket Ch 09

In the darkness and dense nothing, Lynn put her hand to her face but she could not even see her palm.

"Not again!" She felt her body and became instantly aware of her nakedness. "Why does that keep happening?" Her feet were bare as she shuffled a foot over the ground slowly. It seemed to be sand, dirt and gravel mixed. A dry sandy crust surface broke when her weight pressed toward the ground.

"At least this time there is a ground." She scoffed.

Lynn looked upward for the stars. 'If there is dirt then perhaps there are stars,' she thought. But there were none.

Lynn saw a small light move in the far distance. She pulled her hair back more for habit than to see as she peered harder. The light seem to flicker as it became clear, it was coming her way. She slowly allowed a foot to feel for a step toward the light, then another.

The light grew and it became more apparent that a person with a torch was coming down a tunnel towards her. She folded her arms and curled into her self to hide her nakedness as a very big man approached. The torch swung with his walking sway. A huge hand wrapped around the torch with a very muscular forearm. A thin strap of leather tied around his bulging biceps. Two small feathers dangled and sailed and jerked around from his movements.

He was several yards away. Lynn could now tell he was a 'handsome' Indian brave with two lines painted on his face. A green line on the left side of his face and a white striped line on the right. He came to a full stop and Lynn turned slightly attempting to shield her naked body.

Lynn smiled as she glanced at his buckskin waist cover. "I'm dreaming and your Tarzan," she said as she was now certain she was dreaming. His braids lay over his big brawn shoulders with two feathers that hung from his left braid.

The Indian held the torch high as he reached to his hip. He pulled out a ten-dollar bill and offered it to Lynn.

"I am not a prostitute if that's..." The Indian reached and stuck it in Lynn's palm. "Sorry Buddy, wrong girl," Lynn tossed the bill back at him and he caught it. The large man reached and grabbed Lynn's wrist and she jerked and pulled backwards. Pulling her hand free she stepped back from the torch as he turned towards her again.

He quickly unsheathed his knife, pulling it up and drew it back behind him as if to throw it. Lynn's eye's got wide as she started to turn and run. 'Is he aiming at me?' She thought, Lynn's feet twisted as she tried to spin away. She fell and reached her arms outward to catch herself.

As she was pulled to the earth by gravity, she saw something. A big ... spider, looking her right in the face! She screamed loudly. The knife sailed through the air spinning, sticking into the large spider. A loud death shrill came from the creature. It scampered and jerked it's multiple legs. Lashing aimlessly brushing up against Lynn and lay dying with very slow movements. Lynn shrilled a yell and then ... fainted.

"Like a fly that has flown without caution. Caught in the spider's web. We learn from this, to be cautious of where we go to quickly and put more thought into where we are going to end up. Problem is, most are to deeply tangled in their own webs of life to learn from a fly. There-fore they are easily caught." The old Indian woman from the Indian Reservation station looked up at Lynn. Smiling, as she poked a long stick into a crackling fire and drew a puff off of her long stem pipe.

Same clothes, same smile, and both braids still lay across her front. "Hi," Lynn said lightly and almost relieved to see a fire lit face, smiling.

Lynn looked at the warm fire then at her self. She was wrapped in a colorful, heavily woven, Indian blanket.

A spider crawled across the sand. Lit by the bright fire, Little Breeze put her long stick on Lynn's side and the spider went away from Lynn. Who was petrified but didn't say a word. The spider crawled onto its web that was strung between some boulders.

"Spiders are afraid of you, too. That is the only reason they would bite. You are to big for a meal." Little breeze smiled as they both watched the spider, expanding its web.

Lynn gripped her wrap's edges and pulled the blanket tighter. "Where am I?" Lynn asked. She looked up at the old woman, "Who are you?" Lynn felt her nakedness and molded into the blanket.

"I am called 'Little Breeze' and this is Chief Two Feathers and you... are here." Little breeze nodded towards the Indian that sat in the dark shaking some sort of snake rattle and chanting. "Ya, aya ya yeh yeh!"

Lynn tightened her grip on the blanket at her neck. Little breeze sounded wise but poked at the fire like a little girl at play. Rolling red-hot coals with her long branch while the fire crackled and flickered. The stick caught on fire and the old woman raised it to her face and used it to puff on her pipe again. The charred limb held a small flame of fire as slivers of smoke arose from the burning wood. Little Breeze let out a long smoke filled exhale.

The smoke churned and grew as an Owl appeared sitting on the rocks next to the old woman. Gray smoke in two distinct round shapes. The owl's facial features and eyes formed as the smoke settled to steaming slivers of smoke. The feathers changed from gray to white as the majestic bird raised and stretched it' wings then folded them.

Little Breeze laid the pipe down on a rock next to her then began humming a pretty melody. Her face lit up with a symphony of expressions while she hummed. She reached over and very gently pulled a feather from the owl. Which leaped to the air with wings wide and began flapping and flew into the darkness.

"This is all a dream," Lynn said as she watched with amazement. She looked over at Chief Two Feathers. He just sat there chanting and lightly shaking his noise filled instrument. Chief Two Feather's head was not adorned with a full row of feathers. Two feathers lay tapered from his braids.

Lynn noticed an entrance of sort. She peered even harder from the light of the fire into the dark. She saw what appeared to be a cave entrance. Looking even higher she saw stars. That eased her some as she found her self being enchanted by the old woman's soothing tones.

"Am I dreaming you, or are you dreaming me?" Lynn asked with a clever eye raised grin.

Little Breeze smiled while sticking the stick into the flames, she looked at Lynn and leaned forward and whispered, "We are in His dream," Little Breeze tilted her head towards Chief Two Feathers and chuckled. Lynn smiled.

"A very big responsibility has been laid upon your shoulders and you will need courage. Do you know what courage is?" Little Breeze continued to churn the fire and keep it slightly roaring.

"Sure," Lynn replied.

"It is doing something even though you are afraid." She shot Lynn a look and Lynn was giving her full attention. "You seem to ask all the wrong questions and wish for all the wrong things. You should be more clear and more careful of what you wish for. "

"Who's to say rather they're wrong or not?" Lynn boasted in defense. "How would you know this?"

"A bird told me," Little Breeze grin. "Let me get to the point... your life is in great danger. And so is your daughters if things do not change." Little Breeze got a real serious look on her face.

"Amy?"

Little Breeze held up the Owl's feather, "Tie a feather to the center of the dream-snare. This will allow your wishes to include a loved one as well."

"What about my daughter?' Lynn asked excitedly.

"The coyote is timid till it's young is endangered. Dark Cloud will stand in your way. You will need to control your thoughts and fears in your life, as well as in your dreams. You have a choice to sit back and watch your dreams happen or you can live them. Take control of your life and wake up from the veil of illusions you live in. The right dream path will lead to the right reality."

Shuffling where she sat, a stone seat placed before the oval of the fire. "You can learn many things from the spider. Something so small can inflict so much fear. Yet turn and weave a beautiful home perfectly spun with time, motivation and love."

Lynn glanced at the spider that was busy stringing its web. It was probably the first time she had ever sat and watched one, without screaming. 'Now I know I am dreaming,' Lynn thought.

"You have something that a lot of people want?" Little Breeze broke the silence, "The decision you make will effect many lives for many years."

"What is that?" Lynn asked.

"The color of the stars!" Little Breeze's voice trailed.