Maddie was not very welcoming to Kat’s story update, complaining that her imagination was being stretched beyond her limits. When Kat told her sister that she might have confessed to loving Big Crow, all bets were off, and Maddie climbed into the gutter and made accusatory comments that Kat had managed to get into the medicine man’s topcoat after all. Undaunted by the vulgar implications from her sister, Kat reminded Maddie that it was none of her business, just as taking care of Benny the Tequila Jedi was none of Kat’s business. After being thrashed over the phone, Kat tried to calm down until a wisp of smoke caused her heart to skip a beat.
Chapter #18 – Benny and Crow
Kat swallowed a mouthful of scrambled eggs and washed it down with less-than-hot, black coffee. When her phone buzzed, she knew who the caller was without looking and punched the speaker button and said nothing, waiting for the barrage and the bitching of a sister she loved anyway.
“Where have you been?” scolded an exasperated Maddie, no hello, just open fire, “I’ve been trying to reach you forever. Why haven’t you answered your phone or at least texted back? I’ve been worried sick.”
“I’ve been here all morning, and this is the first time the phone has rung since last night when Cassie called to check in. Listen, MOM, I’ve had a crazy night, to say the least, and am looking forward to eating my breakfast while it’s still hot. Are you going to spend the rest of your Saturday morning harassing me?” asked Kat.
Maddie shouted, “It’s Sunday, sweetie. You’ve been incognito for an entire day, so don’t MOM me.” With a little more volume, Maddie asked again, “Where the hell have you been?”
“Jesus, it’s only Saturday morning. Yesterday was Friday. Did you fall into a time warp or have too much tequila with Benny last night?” accused Kat, then fell silent as she navigated to her home screen to check the date. Holy shit! It was Sunday, leaving a considerable gap in time that contradicted her crazy overnight experience from Friday to this so-called Saturday morning. But it wasn’t Saturday morning, it was Sunday, and her mind spun…Where did that time go? What happened to me? Why didn’t I hear my phone the entire night and the following day? Did I black out?
“Funny…not funny,” said Maddie, obviously unhappy with getting zero explanation from her sister. “Are you still there?”
Kat tried unsuccessfully to reconstruct the lost time in her mind and finally said softly, “I’m here…and I’m confident that you will not believe me if I try to explain just the parts I remember. I can’t account for the missing time. Like I said, it’s been an absolute blur since Dr. Sun found no evidence of me being pregnant.”
“So… you’re not pregnant?” asked Maddie.
“That’s what Dr. Sun said after her examination, but then she handed me a pregnancy self-test and said do this if you want a second opinion. She was snippy and acted like I’d offended or tricked her. Listen, I know when I’m on my period and what’s supposed to happen. I didn’t trick anybody. Maybe I’m the one who got deceived, but the second opinion said I was pregnant, and Dr. Sun was gobsmacked and said to wait for my period to end, and she would re-examine me.
Where does that leave me?” asked Kat, not expecting an answer. “And that’s not the half of it; Big Crow shows up in the back seat of my car right after the doctor’s appointment with an explanation of why the pregnancy test and the physical exam did not match. His explanation gave up nothing believable because it was freaking unbelievable.”
“Well, what did he say?” asked Maddie, impatiently.
“Remember when you first met him, and he explained why I could see him but you couldn’t? He has the power to be visible only to those he chooses to see him. When he chose to show himself to you, you saw him and maybe peed a little when he showed up in your kitchen out of the blue. He said my unborn son will have those same powers because he has the Indian bloodline in his veins. That was his explanation for why Dr. Sun could not see him…like my unborn son did not want to be seen…or his blood prevented it by default. Whatever it was, Dr. Sun saw nothing. The chemicals in the pregnancy test told a different story.”
“Maddie asked, “Do you believe any of this?”
“I’m starting to believe things I never considered before. Here’s a perfect example: I spent all day Thursday and Friday after Dr. Sun punted her diagnosis; all I could do was worry about not knowing if I was pregnant or not. When I crashed Friday night, I woke up with the worst cramping of my life and literally crawled to the bathroom. I expected to find my pad stained with the remains of my son, but there was no blood. The cramps came back, and I panicked and called out to Big Crow.”
“Big Crow?” challenged Maddie. “Why not 911? Are you crazy enough to put your trust in a ghost?”
Kat ignored her sister’s noise and continued with her recall. “He showed up with his signature wisp of smoke,” trailing off for a moment, imagining the smell of him, she said, “You know something…I love the smell of him…when he’s with me, I feel so protected, but I digress.”
Maddie sneered, “Digress, my ass! Have you gotten inside that topcoat yet?”
Ignoring her derogatory comment, the story rolled on, “He picked me up off the bathroom floor and cradled me in his arms. I buried my face in his topcoat and cried. I’m not sure if I cried in relief or outright fear of the unknown and for my baby. He whispered in my ear, ‘I’ve got you, Katherine,’ and told me to wrap my arms around his neck and hold on. I think I told him that I loved him.”
“Oh my God, Katherine. You told an ancient medicine man, a 160+-year-old spirit, that you loved him?” Maddie did not let up, “Did you get dropped on your head, or what prompted you to drop that bomb?”
“Oh, it gets better. I hugged that man’s neck, and everything went black, no light, no details to see, but I could hear the sound of rushing water. Big Crow carried me and the baby to another dimension where the spirit realm exists. I don’t know where we went, but I believe I went someplace I’ve never been. At the time, I was so stunned, I didn’t know what to say or think, so don’t ask, okay? It was all a blur, not just because my vision was intentionally blurred and I could not see. They told me that they were not ready for me to see clearly. Ready? Why did they need to be ready? Who were they? Ready for what?”
“Lordy, so you let him take you someplace? Why would you trust him like that, Kat?”
“Hey, big sister, you have your Benny, and I have my Crow.”
“Gawd,” snorted Maddie.
“Hey, do you want to hear the rest of this?”
“Go on. I’m starting to get into this paranormal romance thing ya got going on, sister. So bring your best stuff,” in a not-so-veiled reference to Kat’s history of countless bizarre sex dreams she always shared with her sister.
“This was not a dream, Maddie, when I tried to move, it felt like I had been restrained on the bed I lay in. No straps or bindings. It was like Dew of Flowers’ first visit when I could not move; Big Crow did something similar when he took control of me when I tried to sidestep around him to get in the limo. My feet refused to move, but he never touched me.”
“Sister, you are stretching my imagination, and my bullshit meter just spiked. I think maybe you got into the tequila, not me.”
“I couldn’t even if I wanted to, Maddie; I’m pregnant. Remember? Do you want to hear the rest of this story or what?”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” apologized Maddie, “this is just so crazy.”
“Want to hear something crazier?” asked Kat. “The powers in the Indian blood run through our veins now, that’s right, you and me…both of us. The powers that come with the bloodline are within our reach now, but we never knew they were there. Big Crow and Dew on Flowers promised to teach me how to tap into these gifts.”
“Girlfriend, you can count me out,” said Maddie. “This girl does not want to be weaponized, and as you said, I have my Benny, and you have your Crow. Good luck with that arrangement, but leave me out of it.”
Kat finished recounting what she could remember; however, what she could remember did not account for all the missing time. It bothered her when there were loose ends, even when the loose end was as nebulous as time. After saying their goodbyes, Kat hustled through cleaning up breakfast before settling back in her recliner under a fleece throw. No sooner than Kat had extended the lower leg section, his smokey arrival made her heart skip a beat.
Big Crow’s deep baritone voice rumbled, “Hello, Katherine.”
Kat attempted awkwardly to untangle from the throw and return the recliner to fully upright and did neither very well. Finally, on her feet, she approached Big Crow with every intent to hug him and bury her face into his coat, but she paused and looked up at him. For the first time, she looked into the depths of his most incredible brown eyes gleaming with the spark of life. The pause lasted momentarily, long enough for her eyes to search his deeply tanned face. The deep lines framed his mouth like chiseled strength, belying his age and not revealing the wear and tear of 161 years.
“You may, Katherine,” said Crow, flashing white teeth showing behind his smile and opening his arms to her.
Kat fell forward and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his chest and breathing in his scent. Realization dawned on her that there was more to this man than his smoke when her mind slipped a gear to Maddie asking if she’d been in his topcoat yet. Kat had not been in his topcoat and had not thought about getting into his topcoat, but her arms tightened around this tall man’s solid, slender frame, and she sensed more lay hidden inside that wool coat. Her hands slipped up his back to his shoulder blades, and she felt his muscles flex as powerful arms pulled her closer to him.
“Crow?” she whispered into his chest. “Are you real?”
“Yes, Katherine, in this manifestation, I am who I am right now. I am who you see.” They broke their embrace, and he moved back a half-step, holding her shoulders in his hands. “You see who I choose to show you, and what you see is real to the touch, but there is another manifestation you cannot see, and that is my spirit being, and that same spirit being lives in you, too, in your blood.”
“I don’t understand,” said Kat, her head full of questions. “Where does this power come from? How do you know I have it? How did your spirit come to you?” She paused and had a look of bewilderment on her face. “I don’t know what to believe. You stand here with me now, and I can embrace your body one minute, and the next, you will disappear in a wisp of smoke. You say you took me into what you call a spiritual realm, and most of that time is blank; I cannot remember most of it, and I couldn’t see any of it with blurry vision. How did you do that? Was what I experienced real, or did it all happen in my head?” She searched his eyes and pleaded, “I need to know, Crow.”
He nodded, “We went into a spiritual dimension unseen by everyone except those with the spirit connection we share in our blood. You see, my spirit was released from my physical body into the realm on November 11, 1864, when I was murdered during the Sand Creek massacre. Many lives were disrupted on that day. Many destined to join, like Dew on Flowers and Shadow Eagle, never had the chance. As the tribal medicine man, I had a powerful spirit, and my death did not change anything when my spirit was released into the realm and defined by the prophecy to complete those destinies. That journey required that I search for a suitable duwit chonah mowna jawneek to carry the spirit of Dew on Flowers to complete her destiny with Shadow Eagle. That is when I found you in your dream.”
Kat slowly shook her head, hearing but not understanding, “But why now? Why did you wait so long? It’s been over 150 years, and…and… Why me?”
“I searched for many years, Katherine, but no others with the bloodline were as pure as you, and none had the strength found in your blood to complete the prophecy.”
Kat fell silent as her eyes searched his for something she could believe. She knew she was safe with him, so fear was not part of the equation, but uncertainty lingered. Stepping closer, her arms wrapped around him again and she whispered through fresh tears, “Why do I love you?”
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I hope you enjoyed chapter #18! The story keeps coming, and I’m still writing, so work in progress may become a novel one day. I’ll continue to share each chapter as I tire of editing, so keep checking back. I would love to know your thoughts so far at gdogwise@live.com
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