by Shea Meadows
“I already checked with my insurance,” Cindy said. “They said there have been several underground gas mains that ruptured around the city. You and I both know that this had nothing to do with that problem, but if they think it does, I won’t argue if the gas company gives me a check for the damages. Do you need cash for your services or will a check do?”
Ricky nodded and followed Cindy into the house to get her payment. “I appreciate the crew you’re sending. Brad won’t be available until later tonight. It will be great to be able to tell him the crisis is over.”
Cindy stood silently for a moment. “He’s gone. It feels different in here. No rage, no frustration, no sense of danger. If you’d like me to write a testimonial, I’ll be glad to do it. And if you’d be willing, could I do an article about you? I freelance and could sell it to any magazine you’d feel comfortable with.”
“Let me think about that. Perhaps sometime in the future, when I work through a housing problem of my own,” Ricky answered.
“You’ve got ghosts in your house, right?”
“A whole nest of them, and they won’t leave by methods that usually work. But that’s all that I can say. I’ll get back to you.”
Ricky went to the car and called David, letting him know she wanted to avoid the York Street house until she’d had time to fill in everyone from both dimensions. They agreed to meet back at the DuPont Avenue house.
When she arrived, Bonta, Stephan the dog walker, Blue and Ralph were out in the yard with Nory in her portable playpen, a giant umbrella protecting the baby from the August sun.
“Look whose home, Nory! Your mommy. Just in time for your feeding,” Bonta said to the baby.
“Didn’t she take the bottle?”
“She said she’d wait for you because it’s better that way,” Bonta said as Nory kicked and giggled.
Ricky tickled her daughter’s round tummy and picked her up from the playpen. “You’re acting just like a baby,” she said as she kissed her daughter’s little hands when they reached for her breast, which Nory thought was hilarious.
Bonta turned to her friends. “I’ll be back in a couple. I have to show Ricky something.”
Bonta followed Ricky and the baby in as they settled in a chair for the feeding. “I have something to show you. Dying to know if it makes sense to you.” She picked up her sketch-pad and showed it to Ricky.
“When did you draw this?” Ricky asked.
“After you left and before we took our walk, maybe about one. Can you tell me about it?”
“You were right on. Norton Reston released a ghost the day before yesterday. It was from one of the statues of the terracotta warriors. He was the court shaman, or as he called himself, a sorcerer. He was the one who figured out how to get the ghosts in the statues in the first place. Anyhow, he was drawn to the Bi Mo Chu and sucked in, as he described it. He was met there by the Han shaman that Sima Qian told us about when we had that meeting in spirit world.”
“Did the Qin sorcerer and the Han sorcerer have a battle?” Nory asked, eyes wide, as she continued to nurse.
“I was surprised to hear they didn’t. The Han shaman released him from the cube. That sounds like a neat thing, but he didn’t give him any directions as to how to get to the Kingdom of the Celestial Gates. Poor Luan Du wandered around the neighborhood until he decided that Cindy and Brad might know how to communicate with ghosts. He tried to talk to them, with no success, and ended up smashing up the place for a day and a night. That’s when Cindy called me on a friend’s advice.”
“So, let me guess,” Bonta said. “You had Sima Qian give you dialect training, and you shapeshifted into a grand lady of the court. That’s what I’d do anyway.”
“Yup, your mother’s excellent training came in handy. I had a good conversation with the ghost and learned a lot about Norton’s modus operandi. The ghosts aren’t stuffed into the cube like logs. They live in a virtual reality where the Han sorcerer is the highest-ranking ghost. Eventually, if what I was told was correct, the ghosts will all be molded into warriors. What Norton is planning to do with them is another story.”
“Where did you send the ghost?” Nory asked, as she burped.
“Sima Qian created a replica of the gates that Luan Du wanted to see, and he’s acclimating to the true nature of spirit world. Before I sent him on, he agreed to be on call for questions and help if we needed him. It was his payment for my services.”
“It sounds like he left a mess at the house he wandered into,” Bonta commented.
“Yea, I felt responsible for that. After all, he should have been in the cube instead of wandering around the neighborhood. I called Stan and he sent over a cleanup crew. They lost a whole canning season worth of fruits and vegetables in the cellar; nothing much I could do about that,” Ricky answered.
“I’m going out to talk to Blue and Stephan. Don’t want to make them think I’m deserting them. Blue is cool. She gets what we we’re working with. Stephan is nice, but we can’t talk about anything interesting around him,” Bonta said as she put away her sketches.
Pigeon bounded down the stairs and crawled up to join Nory on Ricky’s lap. “Pigeon is jealous because he can’t play outside. He loves Ralph but gets sad. He misses the York Street house. There he could go out on the screened porch, and here, the backyard is too escapable.”
“I think we’re getting closer, Nory. Daddy and I have a meeting with Milton Running Deer tomorrow. He has something to show us, and two days from now you have an appointment with Dr. Susan and we’re having lunch afterwards. She finally had time to dig out some stuff from her time in China,” Ricky said.
“Mom, it is hard acting like a baby. I understand it’s necessary, but people talk to you like you’re a mushroom. Just because you’re bald and toothless doesn’t mean you’re an idiot.”
Ricky nodded. “You’re right. I know it’s hard with people who don’t do what we do, but you can be yourself with Dad and I and anyone in the network. Rita would blow a gasket if she knew you’re as smart as anyone else. Imagine what it’s like for the really advanced souls born awake to their true nature. You are in a way better position than they are.”
“True. And I can go out of body and be ‘teenager Nory’ when I get sick of the baby body. Guess I can’t complain. Oh, Daddy’s home. Does he know about the ghost?”
“Not yet. We may have to have a visit with Moon. I’m itching to try out the pendants Shri and Sima designed for us, but I’m not going to the house until I get some higher frequency feedback,” Ricky replied.
David came through the door with George and Stan, and Ricky went over the occurrences of the day with the three of them.
“I can see why you were reluctant to go into the house until we talked to the guides. The Bi Mo Chu isn’t just a cube stuffed with ghosts. It’s a virtual reality and the ghosts have created a colony,” David said.
“I remember Milton Running Deer saying something along those lines. You guys are going to go see him tomorrow?” George asked.
Ricky nodded. “He has something he thinks will help sort things out. This gets more and more complicated.”
“The prize is that we will have taken out a threat to those trying to live a purposeful life and as a side effect, get our house back,” David said. “And we’ve become attached to the house, so we’ll go for it.”
* * *
Chapter 12
David was the perfect person to find an obscure building in the side streets of St. Paul. All cops learned the intricacies of the towns they policed, and, as a former State Patrol Detective, he knew Minnesota in endless detail. The van circled the area in St. Paul called Frogtown, looking for the address on Lexington and a place to park.
Bonta helped gather Nory’s diaper bag and toys while David grabbed the folding pack-and-play and Ricky organized the princess in a baby sling. Nory was excited. She had always been interested in the shamans of the Native American tribes, and at last she would learn from one. Milton treate
d her like a person, having met her grownup version in spirit world.
They buzzed the entry system button near Milton’s name and the front door opened, after which came a long haul climbing the steep stairs of a building from circa 1932. Ricky tried not to notice the generous collection of spider webs on each landing.
Milton opened a creaky door and greeted them with “Bendigen niwiijiwaggan,” meaning “come in friends.” They were ushered into a space that took up the entire third level of the building. It had very little furniture and was mostly decorated in pillows, blankets and various ritual objects. Drums lined the walls, along with sculptures made of feathers sewn together with bright beads and gemstones. Over in one corner were a bed, dresser, loveseat and small television. To the side of that was a stove, a table big enough to seat four, a refrigerator and a sink. A door led into a small bathroom with a shower.
The shaman rubbed his finger gently over the fluffy black hair on Nory’s head and pretended to take her nose. Nory responded with moving hands, smiling face and giggles.
“This is a wise child. I have seen her in her expanded self, dressed in any form she chooses, but right now it serves her to be a baby. She makes good use of that disguise,” Milton said.
“Come sit in the circle. I have felt the movements of a powerful ghost close to your home and had a vision of you conversing with it.” He turned to Bonta. “I hope you brought the picture.”
Bonta removed the sketchpad from the items she had brought. He examined the picture, paying attention to the apparel of the ghost, and smiled. “Just as I thought; he is a sorcerer, perhaps serving the emperor of the Qin?”
“Correct,” Ricky answered. “He was responsible for attaching all the warriors and members of the court to their terracotta replicas. He neglected to tell me why he ended up in the same fix himself. Norton Reston’s ghost detached him from his statue and sent him to the Bi Mo Chu.”
“And he didn’t stay there. The poor family who were forced to entertain him until you arrived must have been relieved when you sent him to the Celestial Kingdom. How did you know what to do? Sima Qian helped I imagine,” Milton said.
Ricky took Nory out of the sling and laid her on a quilt on the floor. She sat down beside her as David and Bonta joined them.
“Yes, I am grateful for the involvement of our scholar. You had something you wanted to share? Nory is hungry; could I feed her here?”
“I would be honored that you feed her in comfort,” Milton replied. “While you do, I will tell you what I have been doing.
“As the shaman for the Ojibway in this area, I speak to the ghosts of the tribe at the request of family members. Our people believe in the return of the being to life again, just as Nory returned after being a ghost.
“Sometimes days or years, have passed between the death of the tribe member and the request from relatives to speak with them. They may no longer be a ghost.
“Then I must go in search of them. If they still remain within old beliefs, I go to the other worlds. There are worlds above and below this one. My people believe we inhabit middle earth. So, I try the upper world first, following directions from Owl, who leads me to the village of the Ojibway in that realm. Together we call the ghost’s name. If the ghost is there, he is usually studying what he will do in his next return to middle earth. He talks to the spirit beings and discusses the ways he can learn and teach. The ghost will take time for a conversation with me, but some of what he tells me I can’t repeat.
“If he is not there, we go to lower world. That, unlike Christian belief, is not a place of punishment, but is more chaotic than upper world. Raven is my guide for that journey. If the one I seek is there, they might be in the midst of a battle, fighting some demon or elemental being. They might be in the body of a cougar or a bear, seeing through the eyes of one who is hunted. If the ghost is there, I must lure him to me with something he needs in his quest. I would perhaps give honey to the bear or a deadly arrow to the warrior, to convince him to answer the supplication of his relatives. In that case he only answers if he has fond memories of his family member.
“Each time I do this, I learn. More recently, some tribal members passing over have converted to Christianity. I can sometimes talk to their ghosts if the request is close to the time of death, but it is more difficult to follow them to Christian heaven. I send their relations to another who can mirror their beliefs. But sometimes they stay in their picture of heaven for a very long time, not moving forward until a teacher moves them. Does this make sense to you?”
“It certainly does,” Ricky replied. “Is what you’re leading up to is that the spirit world which we are used to seeing when we visit Moon is not the only version we can experience between lives?
“What I’d be interested in knowing is why I see it that way. I had no belief in ‘heaven’ looking any particular way. I had pulled away from my mother’s idea of the afterlife and had replaced it with nothing. My dad followed my mother’s lead but was open to things being different. He shifted to Moon’s beliefs when she started showing him proof of her reality being strongly possible.”
“You have answered your own question. Moon is the one that came as a very powerful ghost who showed you things from her life. She taught you how to work out-of-body, so you gradually saw her version as truth. For others, there may be saints, angels and divine saviors. I contend that there are many different versions that people find after passing through the door of death. People may see fearsome places and beings; others see helpers, teachers and healers. It depends on what you expect will happen and what you focus on.”
“What of people like Ricky and me without a strong belief? What do we see when we die? What if Moon hadn’t come around? What would we have seen then? Perhaps, a dark void? Would we reconstruct our consciousness into a different physical form all on our lonesome?” David asked.
Milton Running Deer chuckled. “Perhaps that would be so. Didn’t you experience that recently? Your wife talked about it when she recorded your quest to neutralize the Soul Stealer. You and your friends were snatched up and put into a void that made your individuality disappear. You overcame it and regained your identity because you supported each other.”
David nodded with a smile. “You’re right. We did that, and love was the answer. We cared about each other. Moon said we created a morphic field that allowed us to escape isolation.”
“So, unless we want to debate this fine line of philosophy for the next hundred years, I’d like to tell you what I found while exploring your circumstances,” Milton said.
Ricky took the sleeping Nory from her breast and carefully placed her in the portable playpen. “She’s out like a light, but don’t let that fool you. Her etheric body is tracking every word.”
“I imagine she’ll be traveling with us when I take you to the places I want to show you,” Milton answered. He turned to Bonta. “I have a special favor to ask of Ms. Owl because I know that’s what you often become when you change shapes. Ricky, David and Nory will come with me, but we can’t leave a little one’s body unsupervised. Most likely she will sleep, but to keep her parents from worrying, can you watch over her?”
“Of course. And I will do something else. I will picture where you go and what you do. There may be things in the drawing which will be difficult for the four of you to remember,” Bonta answered.
“So where are we going?” David asked.
“Ricky heard a ghost’s eyewitness report about the community within the Bi Mo Chu. We need to observe a spirit community that is not entrapped. I will take you to the Gates of the Celestial Kingdom, or at least two versions of it. It seems from my journeys that each dynasty has its own version of the afterlife. I have explored several, but the two most relevant were those of the Qin and of the Han.
“We will do three things. We will travel to the Qin version of the Celestial Kingdom, then, for comparison, to the Han version. Lastly, we will test Ricky’s memory of what Luan Du told you of the world within t
he Bi Mo Chu. It will give us some idea of the mindset of the ghost of Norton Reston who is influencing this virtual reality,” Milton answered.
“Excellent idea,” Ricky said. “I was considering figuring out a way to get into the cube to experience that reality, but I don’t know enough about the mindset of that culture.”
David turned to his wife. “Promise me you won’t do something that risky. You’re Nory’s mom. She may be evolved, but she still needs a mother. She went through a lot of trouble to be with us. And, by the way, I don’t want to have my wife sucked into an ancient artifact.’”
“I hear you. I’ll only get sucked into it as a last resort and only if you and the kiddo come with me,” Ricky said, playfully punching his arm.
“Don’t even joke about that,” David said with a worried expression.
She leaned forward and kissed her husband. “Want to stop talking and let this man take us to ancient Chinese heaven?”
David hugged her close and turned to Milton Running Deer. “You are our leader. Please teach us your process.
“If you were new to the journey, we would smoke herbs and perhaps take other elixirs, but I have seen you leave your bodies with little more than the intention to travel. I will use the drumbeat to calm our spirits, since the drum is used in both American tribes and Chinese rituals. Lay down on the pillows, and you, lovely Bonta, start drawing whenever you feel the urge,” Milton instructed.
He took a deer hide drum and began a double beat that corresponded to the heart of a relaxed person and chanted softly in the Ojibway language. The chant changed to words that reminded Ricky of her conversation with Luan Du then to English as the shaman entreated the tortoise to be their guide to travel to the Qin’s Gates of the Celestial Kingdom.
The turtle popped into the room above them and guided their etheric bodies through a whirling cloud of energy, first to the present-day location of China then to the ancient territory of the Qin. From there they moved back in time to the creation of the terracotta warriors.
