Myra hung her head, eyes closed while Journey sat next to her. Eventually, she reached over to take her niece’s hand. “Even though your news comes as a shock, I understand. After a little reflection, I’m not even surprised. Without really knowing, you’ve been preparing for this for most of your life.”
“Thank you, Aunt Myra.” She enclosed the woman in her arms. “Your words and understanding mean the world to me.”
Myra sniffed. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
“Good thing I have friends like Kota and Bertha. I suppose I may have to take Kota up on his marriage proposal.”
“What?” Journey exclaimed, flabbergasted.
Myra laughed. “Don’t look so surprised. We’ve been courting in our own weird way for years.”
“I’m glad you won’t be alone. But why didn’t I ever suspect anything?”
“Because I didn’t want you to suspect anything.” Myra pushed a lock of hair behind Journey’s ear. “I just want you to be happy. Okay?”
“Oh, I will be,” Journey assured her without a doubt. “Reno is my happiness and it doesn’t matter where we are – or when we are. As long as we’re together I’ll be content.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Reno found Kota sitting on an overturned bucket just inside the barn. He appeared to be braiding a rope using the long, thin blades of a plant. Outside, his grandson was on a tractor mowing down weeds in the adjacent pasture. When the old man didn’t look up as he approached, Reno cleared his throat, then asked, “May I join you?”
“It’s a free country.” He moved his head sideways to indicate another available bucket.
Reno took him up on his offer and flipped the bucket to take a seat. “That looks like a lot of work. In this day and age, why don’t you just buy a rope?”
Kota grunted and flashed a smile. “Sometimes, I like the old ways. Keeps me connected to what’s important. What’s on your mind, Cherokee?”
“Nothing in particular. Everything.” Reno picked up a stray strand of the plant. “What is this?”
“Desert Spoon Agave. Making a rope from it, is actually pretty sacrilegious. Some say it’s good for everything from diabetes to digestive issues.”
“I’ll have to tell Journey about the plant. She’s very good with herbs and oils.”
He nodded. “She’s a healer.” Holding up a blade of desert spoon, he examined it closely. “To me, it’s best use is to make a spirit liquor. Sotol. Good stuff. Very similar to tequila. In Chihuahua, the natives add a rattlesnake to the jar to insure the healing properties. I’m not sure if it works or not, all I noticed was a couple of hours of foul-smelling burps.”
Reno winced. “That doesn’t sound like something I’d like to try.” He let a few more seconds pass. “What are your thoughts on my return? Have you had any revelations?” He hated to ask but talking to the elder made Reno feel as if he were doing something toward achieving his strange goal.
“You think that’s all I have to do? Think about your problems?”
“No, I just…”
Kota chuckled again. “I’m teasing you. To answer your question, yes I’ve been giving our plans some intense thought.”
“And?”
“And I don’t know any other way to approach it than with faith.”
“Faith. I’ve never been a very religious man, Mr. Blue.”
Kota scoffed. “If I’d walked your path, I would get down on my knees and thank the Great Spirit for bringing me through the valley of the shadow – for that’s exactly where you’ve come from and to where you must return. This mystery is as old as time itself. Have you ever heard of the Anasazi?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Of course, you haven’t. We didn’t know they’d even existed until their cliffside homes were discovered by a rancher searching for lost cows in 1882. He stumbled upon a city built into the side of a cliff in a place we call Mesa Verde now. There’s another village in a placed called Chaco Canyon, but I digress. The rancher had to clamber down a steep, sheer cliff just to reach the dwellings with little but grit and a toehold. What he found was intriguing and mysterious. Even after having been abandoned for hundreds of years, the rooms were left as if the occupants had just stepped out to visit a neighbor. Vases and dishes sat neatly on the floor, tools the women would’ve used were still in order. Children’s toys lay about, and there were still ashes in the hearths. No evidence of violence could be found. Wetherill, the discoverer, said that if he closed his eyes, he could still see the people around him, hear the dogs barking, and see the women grinding corn.”
“What happened to the Anasazi?”
“No one knows. The Pueblo have traditions that speak of the ancient ones. They say there were wise seers among the Anasazi who possessed great knowledge linking them to their ancestors, the Toltecs and the Mayans. They gained this knowledge by partaking of an energy-giving grass that gave them the ability to reach a place where they could access the past and the future. This rite was performed in a carved stone room called a kiva. In those kivas, the seers studied and learned how to see beyond their present existence. They became so skilled, they learned to visit other worlds. When the time was right, entire populations moved into other realms never to return.”
“How did they do that?”
Kota blew out a long breath. “Remember how I told you how much of your body is made of energy? Well, that
