Pediluvium
BARRY: Where am I?
UNKNOWN: Oh hello, Papoose.
BARRY: Hello? Who is that? Where am i? Are you a Mrai Moumou??
UNKNOWN: The aliens from the United States? No, I am not a Mrai Moumou. Calm down, Papoose.
BARRY: Oh shit, oh shit, am I dead?
UNKNOWN: You sincerely believe that in the kingdom of Death, the United States are referred to as the United States?
BARRY: What should they be referred to?
UNKNOWN: Turtle land. Only a part of it.
BARRY: I am not scared of you.
UNKNOWN: I know that. That’s a good thing because I present no danger to you.
BARRY: You… must be Eugenie’s sleep paralysis monster.
UNKNOWN: I’ve been called many things, but never a sleep paralysis monster.
BARRY: Then why can’t I see anything? Why can’t I move?
UNKNOWN: Boy, I had to restrain you because you were thrashing in your slumber, and moving is not good for you at the moment. I will release you if you promise to be still.
BARRY: I promise.
UNKNOWN: You’ll have to calm down first. Your heart is on fire. Your skin is on fire.
BARRY: It’s not, bu bu but I believe you, you are no danger and I am already very calm. Now, release me.
UNKNOWN; You’re just going to run out and hurt yourself more than you already have.
BARRY: I promise that I won’t.
UNKNOWN: Let me give you some water. We’ll see after that.
BARRY: Don’t come near—
UNKNOWN: Just drink.
BARRY: Thank you. It tastes good actually.
UNKNOWN: You should have more faith in the voice you hear in the dark.
BARRY: Why can’t I see anything?
UNKNOWN: You were stung by a swarm of bees, on your face. They really did a number on your eyes, but you will heal nicely, don’t worry.
BARRY: Oh my God, I remember those bees.
UNKNOWN: Stop pulling on your ropes, little Papoose.
BARRY: What’s on my eyes? It’s wet.
UNKNOWN: A headband with some mud and some maple syrup. Don’t concern yourself, you will shortly recover your sight.
BARRY: It’s wet and cold and it’s—
UNKNOWN: You have a very strong fever at the moment. This is meant to relieve your eyes and also cool your burning head.
BARRY: It feels heavy.
UNKNOWN: Some people come to our lodges for that kind of ointment, like a spa, they actually pay some money for that.
BARRY: Your lodges…. You’re a human?
UNKNOWN: Definitely a better guess than sleep paralysis monster, although I used to have sleep paralysis myself as a papoose.
BARRY: You’re not with the Mrai Moumous?
UNKNOWN: I didn’t know that humans associated with Mrai Moumous. Damn Americans, they are so easy to corrupt.
BARRY: I don’t know I’m just—Sorry… Sir.
UNKNOWN: My name is Claudios Ventura Vent Sauvage.
BARRY: Okay. Mr Ventura.
UNKNOWN: Claudios.
BARRY: Claudios.
CLAUDIOS: Don’t look so weirded out, young man. What’s your name?
BARRY: And for what absurd reason would I share my name with a total stranger that I cannot even see?
CLAUDIOS: Because I have already had a look at your identity papers.
BARRY: How—
CLAUDIOS: They were on you when you were found, almost dead from being stung by bees.
BARRY: Jesus.
CLAUDIOS: So?
BARRY: I am Barry. Barry Masquevert.
CLAUDIOS: You also have a French name, that’s peculiar.
BARRY: Yes, the roots of my family are…
CLAUDIOS: Speak without fear! Stories are meant to be exchanged.
BARRY: They’re from Quebec, my old relatives. My father is the one who revived our name to Masquevert, because in Ind— in America, it had become Meskegeen.
CLAUDIOS: That’s an interesting tale. So you have come home, in a way, haven’t you?
BARRY: Am I in Quebec?
CLAUDIOS: You’re not far. Some three hours of driving, and there, you can visit your ancestors.
BARRY: So we are in Ontario, right?
CLAUDIOS: …
BARRY: Right?
CLAUDIOS: Sorry! I was nodding my head, I forgot that you cannot use your eyes.
BARRY: Jesus Christ.
CLAUDIOS: How many men wore the name Meskegeen before your father changed it back to its original form?
BARRY: I think it was just my great-great-grandfather, my great-grandfather and my grandfather.
CLAUDIOS: So your father is a seventh-generation man.
BARRY: My father is a Millennial, wait—I think he’s Gen X. Can you untie me, please?
CLAUDIOS: Barry Masquevert.
BARRY: Yes?
CLAUDIOS: …
BARRY: Sir?
CLAUDIOS: I want you to listen carefully. Even if you remove your mud mask from your eyes, you will not be able to open them, they are very swollen, your eyelids look like some blown up truffles. You can also try to run but you won’t get very far, your body is not well, you have some various infections and inflammations, and your fever is… elevated.
BARRY: I promise that I won’t run.
CLAUDIOS: I need you to give me your word.
BARRY: I do feel like shit. I do feel sick. I won’t run, you have my word.
CLAUDIOS: So Barry. I’m not talking about Generation X, Y, Z or Millennial or whatever tidies your world into groups with cute names every thirteen years or so. Here you go—
BARRY: Thank you, for untying me.
CLAUDIOS: Don’t— don’t move!
BARRY: I just want to sit up a little higher.
CLAUDIOS: I’ll wait.
BARRY: Aiille, fuck.
CLAUDIOS: I’m just saying, if your father is the fourth after the three who wore the name Meskegeen. He emptied his bucket and changed things up. When his time on Earth is over, you will become that seventh generation man.
BARRY: Aiille, I’m not following at all. I told you that there were only three men before my father, and you’re saying… seventh generation? And what is that kind of talk anyw—
CLAUDIOS: Why don’t you sit up, as you endeavored, and then go on sitting, but motionless. And why don’t you listen?
BARRY: I’m trying to grab that drink of water but I can’t see.
CLAUDIOS; I recommend.. slow movements, careful movements, heere you go Barry.
BARRY: Jesus, I was thirsty.
CLAUDIOS: Do you agree to listen, now? There is not much more than you are able to do, in any case, in your current state.
BARRY: I’d like to know where my camper is.
CLAUDIOS: You are inside your camper right now.
BARRY: WHAT? And you are too?
CLAUDIOS: Yes, we located the keys in the pocket of your pants.
BARRY: You are intruding inside my camper!
CLAUDIOS: I can go away, if you prefer.
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: Barry, calm your heart. Calm your burned head.
BARRY: Don’t come close, please.
CLAUDIOS: I want you to take my hand, here, and feel it for a second. I was almost going to say, ‘close your eyes’
BARRY: I’m glad one of us is amused.
CLAUDIOS: Do you feel my hand? Focus on it, on the feeling of the skin.
BARRY: Rough skin.
CLAUDIOS: And your hand feels like the hand of a child. I’m guessing you don’t… use them for hard labor.
BARRY: For hard lab— Sir, Claudios. You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me and my… labors.
CLAUDIOS: True. Now, what do you feel when you are holding my hand?
BARRY: I feel nothing.
CLAUDIOS: Concentrate more. Close your mind’s eye, rely on your senses.
BARRY: I feel.. you have warm hands.
CLAUDIOS: Barry Masquevert. I can leave you alone in your camper if you prefer. But I have chosen to stay for now and watch over you, because you are ill. However, it is your camper and you are free to ask me to retire from it.
BARRY: You said ‘we located your key’… Who’s we?
CLAUDIOS: My wife and I found you at the tree after the bees left you there. You are… in a weird shape. I want you to feel my hand, the warmth of it, and the weight of it, and calm the fuck down.
BARRY: Your wife?
CLAUDIOS: My spouse.
BARRY: Your spouse?
CLAUDIOS: The woman I married.
BARRY: Where is your wife now?
CLAUDIOS: She is at my house, but she will be back later, to have a look at you and make your acquaintance, if you accept it. I’m the idle one of my marriage. She had to go back and run a lot of errands, because she is a very hyperactive girl. Usually, women are water and men are fire but, in the case of my relationship with my wife, she is carrying all the fire.
BARRY: And you are more… like water?
CLAUDIOS: I am more like a smaller fire.
BARRY: What is your wife’s name?
CLAUDIOS: Lourdes.
BARRY: What time is it?
CLAUDIOS: Four o’clock in the afternoon.
BARRY: Is it cold here, or is it just me?
CLAUDIOS: No, it’s cold.
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: Do you have more questions?
BARRY: No, I guess that’s— Oh my God, where is Terence?
CLAUDIOS: A friend of yours?
BARRY: My… cat.
CLAUDIOS: Ah, your cat! Terence is a nice name! I didn’t know his official name, he doesn’t have a tag or anything on his collar, so I called him Kijik. He’s here now, sleeping like a little baby.
BARRY: Kijik?
CLAUDIOS: It means cat.
BARRY: Very imaginative.
CLAUDIOS: He’s a deaf and half blind boy, but he has a gift, your old orange cat. Muchly. He can see things in the invisible world.
BARRY: People made fun of me because I once had a pet lizard and named him Barry. My friends said that I really didn’t have any imagination.
CLAUDIOS: Is imagination a must-have?
BARRY: I… don’t know.
CLAUDIOS: Is coming up with creative names the only way to show imagination?
BARRY: You are one of those guys who answers questions with questions.
CLAUDIOS: No. I’m just a teacher. I like to ask questions to provoke thoughts in my students.
BARRY: A teacher, oh hell.
CLAUDIOS: You don’t like teachers?
BARRY: I am not your student, sir. Claudios. I’m not.
CLAUDIOS: Well noted. Doesn’t like teachers.
BARRY: And Terence is safe?
CLAUDIOS: He’s doing much better than you. But don’t worry, you and your four-legged brother will soon be equally healthy.
BARRY: I was trying to find some wood to cook his fish when those bees assaulted me.
CLAUDIOS: Oh, I know that.
BARRY: Where is my fish?
CLAUDIOS: Some animal from the forest must have found it and stolen it away, because Lourdes and I didn’t see any fish around you. Just the fishing line.
BARRY: You know how long it took me to catch that fish?
CLAUDIOS: I’m guessing, with your apparent knowledge of nature and how you designed your fishing gear… a while. But I think it’s better that the animal who stumbled upon you while you were unconscious at the foot of the tree ate your fish, and didn’t eat you. We have bears here, you know? Wolves, bobcats.
BARRY: I’m just trying to feed my cat.
CLAUDIOS: Lourdes and I gave him some cat food.
BARRY: Some cat food?
CLAUDIOS: You know, the kind from the supermarket. Have you ever heard of those? You don’t need to hunt everything you eat anymore, if you are in a hurry and your pet is hungry. Although it’s better to hunt or gather just the food you need, and to not purchase anything that has caused major suffering in some terrible factory farms where animals never see the sky and never feel grass under their feet, sometimes, grocery shopping is more convenient.
BARRY: I just… didn’t know where to find a supermarket. I’m not familiar with the area.
CLAUDIOS: Yes, I noticed that you don’t have Internet here. Or even a phone.
BARRY: Yes it’s just… me and Terence.
CLAUDIOS: But you have a map and a compass.
BARRY: I was in the process to learn how to use my compass, and my map too, but then, I was interrupted by those fu— Those bees!
CLAUDIOS: Those bees defended their tree. You should have checked for them before you threatened their home.
BARRY: I only wanted a few branches.
CLAUDIOS: Bees are known to bite.
BARRY: All of a sudden they were like… everywhere!
CLAUDIOS: Trees are sacred within the creation, they are your sacred brothers. Bees are your sacred sisters. You are expected to communicate with them to find out if what you are doing is right.
BARRY: You sound like one of those tree-huggers.
CLAUDIOS: I have hugged quite a number of trees in my life, I can’t deny it.
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BARRY: Actually me too. When I got lost in the woods a couple days ago, I hugged a tree. It was honestly more helpful than I thought.
CLAUDIOS: You see?
BARRY: I must be crazy to be telling you all those things.
CLAUDIOS: You have a very acute fever. In any case, Lourdes and I stocked your cupboards with human food and cat food, from Walmart.
BARRY: Thank you, that’s very generous.
CLAUDIOS: If you are hungry, I can make you something.
BARRY: N… not now, thank you. That’s very kind.
CLAUDIOS: You’re going to have to eat, at some point, regain your strength.
BARRY: My stomach feels like it’s in a knot.
CLAUDIOS: I’m pretty sure that you’ve had some stressful days. Let me make you some tea, I will drop some sugar in it, at least, it’ll be better than nothing.
BARRY: O… kay.
CLAUDIOS: …
BARRY: You didn’t bring me to a doctor?
CLAUDIOS: No, Papoose.
BARRY: Why not?
CLAUDIOS: Do you prefer red fruit or ginger?
BARRY: Ginger. I guess.
CLAUDIOS: I am a doctor myself, you know.
BARRY: I thought you were a teacher.
CLAUDIOS: And according to you, a teacher cannot be a doctor too?
BARRY: That’s… funny I… tried to explain something similar to someone else in the past.
CLAUDIOS: I can’t hear you over the kettle, give me a second.
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: Here. Your tea. There’s some honey in it, too, to fight the bitterness. I’ll put it on your left side, you can reach for it in about five minutes, so you don’t burn your tongue on top of your other… health issues.
BARRY: You didn’t bring me to a hospital, you decided to take care of me, by yourself with your wife…
CLAUDIOS: You have a question in mind?
BARRY: Yes. I’m… intrigued.
CLAUDIOS: First of all, as I mentioned, I am a doctor, and my wife, my dear Lourdes, is well educated in medicine too. Second of all, Barry, driving around without phone and Internet, avoiding supermarkets, your camper parked behind a bunch of rocks, it doesn’t look like you are someone who is asking to be dropped off at some clinic.
BARRY: I… appreciate that.
CLAUDIOS: There isn’t a single weapon in your vehicle, not even a hammer. All your knives are dull-bladed. The sharpest thing you own is your fish hook.
BARRY: Yeah I guess I’m not… used to having to defend myself with weapons. Yet, I mean.
CLAUDIOS: What are you used to defending yourself with, if not weapons?
BARRY: Nothing I— it’s irrelevant.
CLAUDIOS: Anyway, seeing that, meaning you traveling alone and completely unarmed, trying to remain unnoticed, fucking with some trees like you have never been in a forest before, I didn’t feel like I needed to involve any authorities for my security.
BARRY: But you tied me to the bed.
CLAUDIOS: Because you were extremely jumpy in your sleep. I mean, people who catch a fever usually are a bit agitated but, in your case, you are a next-level dream explorer. And that’s some impressive stitching work that you have on your chest and back.
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: Barry, don’t trouble yourself. Lourdes and I won’t tell anyone. You can stay here in our care until you feel better. I had to close some of your wounds again, though, with some fresh threads, because they are all infected.
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: Imagine my astonishment, discovering that you don’t have any weapons in your motor-home. I would have thought you wished to protect yourself against some serious enemies, judging by your… state.
BARRY: Not really enemies. I was just in the… line of fire.
CLAUDIOS: More than once, based on some other… scarring on your abdomen.
BARRY: Are you from the police?
CLAUDIOS: I am not a police officer.
BARRY: How can I be sure?
CLAUDIOS: You can hold my hand again, listen to your heart.
BARRY: I don’t want to hold your hand, I would like to see your face! I’d like to see some ID!
CLAUDIOS: You can’t for now but, one day, if we become friends, you will see my face.
BARRY: Friends?
CLAUDIOS: Barry, control your breathing, you are throwing a fit for nothing. You are getting all worked up for nothing. I am not from law enforcement, and no one knows that you are here.
BARRY: WHAT IS THAT?
CLAUDIOS: It’s just Kijik, I mean… Terence. He wants to sit with you.
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: Breathe, Barry, breathe.
BARRY: Terence. I’m sorry my little friend. I’m here aaiille—
CLAUDIOS: Don’t let him climb on your chest!
BARRY: Fuuck. We are… v very close. We are all that’s left to each other.
CLAUDIOS: Is that so?
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: If you feel like crying, I would recommend letting it happen. It will help with your fever and the overall burden of your heart.
BARRY: I don’t feel like crying.
CLAUDIOS: It might sting your eyes though, but it’s worth it.
BARRY; I really don’t—
CLAUDIOS: I can give you a moment if you prefer—
BARRY: I said I don’t feel like crying. Terence, settle down, here, here. Anyway, Claudios. I really want to thank you for not alerting the police. And for taking care of me and making me some tea and giving me some supplied of food. I’m sorry I have trust issues, it’s just, without my power, I feel— I mean without my eyes, I feel so exposed and helpless.
CLAUDIOS: I understand.
BARRY: What’s that smell of mint or… I don’t know, grass?
CLAUDIOS: It’s not mint, it’s yarrow. We used yarrow leaves to make a poultice.
BARRY: A poulwhat?
CLAUDIOS: Like, a balm. That’s good for bleeding injuries and infections. Also for pain. A poultice, you’ve never heard that word?
BARRY: No, I’m sorry, I was never very good at school.
CLAUDIOS: it’s like… like some yogurt.
BARRY: So you spread some yogurt on me.
CLAUDIOS: Some yarrow yogurt, yes.
BARRY: Is that a drug?
CLAUDIOS: Yarrow? No, yarrow is a plant.
BARRY: You are an Ind— You are Native American!
CLAUDIOS: It took you long enough.
BARRY: When you say that you are a doctor, you mean—
CLAUDIOS: I am a medicine man. My wife is also a medicine woman but strongly on the healer side.
BARRY: That’s… actually very cool.
CLAUDIOS: You are not the only one with the trust issues towards the people who staff the institutions around here.
BARRY: That’s why you called me… Papoose.
CLAUDIOS: Your Papoose legs will be tired after trying to run after your brain and your brain is faster.
BARRY: Are we on a… reservation?
CLAUDIOS: Your camper is presently hiding in Caldwell First Nation Sacred Grounds. I am a shaman for the Uskansi Clan, a branch of the Objiwe Tribe, itself part of the Chippewa.
BARRY: I thought there were only Chippewa people in the United States.
CLAUDIOS: Oh, you’re going to be whitesplaining now?
BARRY: NO sir! I would.. I would never!
CLAUDIOS: Relax, Barry, I’m joking! But, to answer your question, actually, some borders, from colonizers, have separated at random the parts of what is simply Turtle Island.
BARRY: Turtle Island?
CLAUDIOS: North America.
BARRY: How do you say thank you in your language?
CLAUDIOS: Miigwesh.
BARRY: Miigwesh, then. A thousand times miigwesh. You know I have a little bit of pain, but not a lot. It’s really unusual. Its really wild!
CLAUDIOS: It’s the secret of the yarrow, especially when it comes to inflamed tissues.
BARRY: It’s amazing.
CLAUDIOS: So what happened to you?
BARRY: Am I obligated to tell you?
CLAUDIOS: You are not. I’m just curious, in case we do become friends. And since you have nowhere else to go, I have a feeling that we will. I’m just making conversation until my wife returns to us.
BARRY: And then what will happen?
CLAUDIOS: She will bring some vitamin C, just to give you a boost. It’s winter right now, we don’t have a lot of vitamin C available so she had to go to the pharma— Ah, you mean, what will happen eventually? It’s up to you Barry. Lourdes is driving her own camper. We could sleep here, stationed next to you, to guard you, or we could leave you alone.
BARRY: I… I don’t know. How far do you guys live?
CLAUDIOS: Some twenty minutes away. I had to find a good hiding spot for you. Spoiler alert this forest is not very big, it’s not like you’ve dropped yourself in the Appalachians or anything. There are a lot of runways and flyways through those woods. And swimways, too.
BARRY: Thanks a million.
CLAUDIOS: You seem well accustomed to thanksgiving.
BARRY: Sure. I think I’ll be alright, on my own.
CLAUDIOS: Ha! I doubt that but okay. So, are you keen to tell me how you ended up here with some bullet wounds?
BARRY: I was uh… shot multiple times, a month ago.
CLAUDIOS: Wow. I thought you were going to say, lawn-mowing freak accident.
BARRY: Don’t make fun of me, please, it’s been… difficult and frustrating and depressing and horrible.
CLAUDIOS: And prior to that, you were shot in the stomach, too.
BARRY: You don’t have to say it like that like I keep get—
CLAUDIOS: And some less expert hands treated you, then, seeing that the scar above your belly button looks like a scalpel was given to a five-year old in a candy rush.
BARRY: I don’t think I want to talk about this with you.
CLAUDIOS: Are you a criminal?
BARRY: No!
CLAUDIOS: It’s my turn asking you some questions, now, Barry. You understand, I need to make sure I am confident about the person I’m harboring.
BARRY: I get that.
CLAUDIOS: Are you in trouble right now?
BARRY: Not anymore, thanks to you.
CLAUDIOS: With the law?
BARRY: Not… not in Canada. I suppose if I stay under the radar.
CLAUDIOS: …
BARRY: Are you nodding again?
CLAUDIOS: Yes! I’m sorry, I keep forgetting.. You made the crossing to Odawa with a pet, that’s not easy.
BARRY: Well, he has all the documentation, his rabies vaccinations, all that, and he is micro-chipped.
CLAUDIOS: Good for you. I have a good first impression about you, Barry, and so does Lourdes. You seem harmless and very isolated.
BARRY: Uugh, harmless and isolated.
CLAUDIOS: You are fleeing something from across the border, am I right?
BARRY: Flagrantly, yes.
CLAUDIOS: As a matter of fact, you are fleeing something that doesn’t have anything to do with your injuries, am I mistaken?
BARRY: You are not mistaken. I was just minding my own business, recovering nicely from this uh… incident, I mean, shooting and… something happened, I had to act fast and then… I had to run. I was still in the process of getting better.
CLAUDIOS: Like a clusterfuck.
BARRY: Yiiyes?
CLAUDIOS: Oh, you’re laughing too now! Good! We are switching the mood here, a little bit.
BARRY: It’s just… I was searching for a word to describe all this and… you nailed it. Clusterfuck. Hey, I’ve never met a shaman before.
CLAUDIOS: I’ve never met someone who got shot before, especially so many times.
BARRY: I’m really trying not to get offended, right now.
CLAUDIOS: All my apologies, I have a bit of a dry humor. I aspire to brighten your spirits and give you hope again, nothing more.
BARRY: Who said that I have lost hope?
CLAUDIOS: You haven’t found yourself in a state of hopelessness?
BARRY: I’m really doing my best to avoid it. If…
CLAUDIOS: …
BARRY: I mean if…
CLAUDIOS: …
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: Why don’t you say what you wish to say, Papoose?
BARRY: If you so kindly offer your help, I will get better here, very quickly, and then, when the time is right, in the near future, I’ll be on my way.
CLAUDIOS: You mean to tell me that you have a plan?
BARRY: I have to go back to the St— Other side of that border that arbitrary cuts through the turtle world.
CLAUDIOS: It’s Turtle Island.
BARRY: Right, Turtle Island.
CLAUDIOS: Is your heart infused with some projects of revenge?
BARRY: Revenge! Hell no. Revenge is not my thing. No I… have to retrieve something there, when the time is right.
CLAUDIOS: The near future that you are talking about?
BARRY: I don’t know exactly when the time will be right.
CLAUDIOS: It could be weeks.
BARRY: It could actually be… even longer. But it doesn’t matter, I’m keeping my hopes up.
CLAUDIOS: That something you need to go back to the States to retrieve. Is that a woman?
BARRY: Claudios, I mean no disrespect, but I just met you, and I can’t even see your face right now. I can’t just… go ahead and divulge all my plan to you. It’s too important for me.
CLAUDIOS: Totally fair. But you should stay with us, at First Nation. Our people will teach you how to live in nature, avoid detection, stay cozy with your cat. We could teach you a thing or two in addition to that.
BARRY: Wow, just like that?
CLAUDIOS: If I had found you just passed out from the bees, I would have deemed you any typical specimen of the dumb American tourist crowd, and you’d be at a doctor’s office right now and I would have already forgotten about you. But seeing the rest of you and the state that you are in and… your empty camper, I think that it is compelling that I should be of assistance to you.
BARRY: So you are saying… Because I have been shot like a rabbit, like—
CLAUDIOS: Consider this your blessing in disguise.
BARRY: I’m speechless. It’s not the first time that this happens to me.
CLAUDIOS: The Papoose has stories!
BARRY: What are you expecting in return?
CLAUDIOS: I expect that you don’t burn my trees or chase the bees of my forest away from their hive.
BARRY: I didn’t chase them away, they att—
CLAUDIOS: You freaked the bees out.
BARRY: You sound just like Neyti— I mean, alright, alright, no more freaking bees out. I will never hurt any of your trees, I swear.
CLAUDIOS: I expect another thing, Barry.
BARRY: I’m listening.
CLAUDIOS: Before I announce that thing, you should have a sip of your tea. You are becoming very pale and tired.
BARRY: I don’t feel tired. And it’s not polite to comment on my whiteness.
CLAUDIOS: Papoose has humor too, I knew it.
BARRY: That tea is good. Thank you. Miguelesh.
CLAUDIOS: We will also teach you our tongue, but there is no rush. Anyway Barry, you should know something about me. You don’t become the shaman of a clan in our world just because you sit on the grass and study some herbs and you do an internship. I see things.
BARRY: And you see… me?
CLAUDIOS: What’s so funny? Why are you giggling?
BARRY: Nothing I’m— Oh my God, I’m so sorry. It just reminds me of a mov— You remind me of someone. Someone I love.
CLAUDIOS: Drink more tea, you need sugar in your system!
BARRY: Someone I love dearly.
CLAUDIOS: I know.
BARRY: You do?
CLAUDIOS: When I mentioned that I had a good feeling about you, it’s not just a gut feeling, it’s not just my intuition. Everything is connected, everywhere you look, I mean— Everywhere you will look when you recover your normal eyesight, everywhere you listen, everywhere you walk. Maybe, one day, you will see those connections for yourself. We have ways to educate you to see the invisible, the web under your feet, the network in the sky, the big strong and pumping heart of mother Earth. You can feel all this, if you open to it. It can heal you.
BARRY: You mean like magic mushrooms?
CLAUDIOS: I will ignore that comment for now. When I see you, I see the color blue, I see it all over you, dancing like the flames of a fire. I see some feeble strings of blue light or, at least, a residue of them. There used to be this light, in you, but now, it’s gone. However it’s still inhabiting you, the ghost of it.
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: Have you ever heard of the Gitchi Manitou?
BARRY: The murders that happened in Iowa?
CLAUDIOS: Holl‘ly. Which murders are you alluding to? I’m not familiar.
BARRY: Hm. There were five teenagers playing the guitar at a campfire who were slaughtered by three killers, kids themselves, you’ve never heard of them?
CLAUDIOS: When did it take place?
BARRY: I think in the 70’s.
CLAUDIOS: I don’t recall.
BARRY: I mean, one of the teenagers was spared, a girl, and the youngest of the gathering. The murderers even dropped that girl home that night so, of course, she told on them and they got arrested and are now spending the rest of their lives in prison. I have never understood the whys and hows of this case and its randomness.
CLAUDIOS: It’s scarier without a motive.
BARRY: I… remember that quote.
CLAUDIOS: Yes, my wife’s favorite film genre is horror.
BARRY: Regardless, this Gitchi Manitou This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard and it fascinated me. And now, the site where those murders happened is now one of the most haunted places in Iowa.
CLAUDIOS: Confused spirits.
BARRY: Or they are pissed off.
CLAUDIOS: Enthralling. You don’t strike me as a true crime nut.
BARRY: Aha! There are things that your shamanic third eye doesn’t see!
CLAUDIOS: Whatever, boy. Anyway, Gitchi Manitou is our creator. The last thing he created is a man whose name is Nanabozo. After a great flood, he found himself drifting on the back of a massive turtle and he’s actually the guy who hired a bunch of animals to dive as deep as they could and reach the bottom of the sea to fetch some dirt, thinking that spreading the dirt on the shell of the turtle will create a new land on which to live and feed, and rebuild.
BARRY: A flood?
CLAUDIOS: Yes, cleansing floods show up here and there in all stories of how everything came to be, not just ours. Whatever the case, in the floating and barely-hanging-on situation and following the idea from Nanabozo, a walrus and a beaver made the brave descent to get to the bottom and rake up that dirt but it was too deep and they couldn’t hold their breaths long enough for that. Thirdly, a muskrat tried and drowned for it, but as he died, he brought the tiniest pinch of soil from the sea floor back to the surface, and that’s how the Americas were born.
BARRY: What a lazy ass bum, that Nanaz, Nabaz—
CLAUDIOS: Nanabozo.
BARRY: Yeah, why doesn’t he dive and get his own dirt?
CLAUDIOS: Within the creation, humans haven’t been equipped with enough lung capacity, nor webbed feet, nor the talent at swimming that walruses and beavers possess.
BARRY: Ah, of course, sorry.
CLAUDIOS: Everyone has their strengths and uses, in this world, and diving deep into the water isn’t a human one.
BARRY: I know he’s deaf and he can’t hear you but I’m pretty sure that Terence is purring right now.
CLAUDIOS: As I said, there is more than just what you can hear with your ears and see with your open eyes and smell with your nose.
BARRY: A secret web.
CLAUDIOS: It’s not secret. We have attempted to share this information with the White man before, but the White man has always refused to believe it. It’s the White man’s loss. He prefers all things scientific and Cartesian.
BARRY: And all things lucrative.
CLAUDIOS: Listen to yourself, already speaking like a real forest Papoose. Is your father alive?
BARRY: Alive? Yes.
CLAUDIOS: He should be proud of you.
BARRY: But we are estranged.
CLAUDIOS: And your mother?
BARRY: I’ve never met my mother, she left me and my father when I was born, but she was the one who named me Barry, before she bailed out.
CLAUDIOS: You know that Barack Obama’s nickname when he was a groovy universitarian was Barry?
BARRY: BARACK OBAMA?
CLAUDIOS: Yes, you don’t like him?
BARRY: I don’t hate him.
CLAUDIOS: So your mother gave you your first name and your father restored your last name. Fantastic!
BARRY: I’ll grant you that your enthusiasm about things is contagious.
CLAUDIOS: When I was talking about your father earlier, Barry Masquevert, being a seventh generation man, it has nothing to do with time periods or culture. It means that three men before your father had their way and he put an end to it. This novel way, you and the two following generations, your children to come and their children, will have a bucket that’s empty of the poisoned things that the three generations before your father carried with them. And when he leaves this Earth to merge with Gitchi Manitou again, your father will concede his seventh generation spot to you, to continue making space in that bucket, for better things.
BARRY: What if I don’t have children?
CLAUDIOS: You’re not grasping the crux, it’s an image. You think Jesus really did all those things with the wine and the water?
BARRY: You don’t believe in your own stories of creation?
CLAUDIOS: No I do. But you shouldn’t approach them with a lingering on the details, like the question of your own parenthood. Consider it a metaphor.
BARRY: So you do think that Jesus is the son of God and he walked on water?
CLAUDIOS: I don’t know, the story exists, so— I’m shrugging, for your information.
BARRY: Thank you for the didascalie.
CLAUDIOS: The point it, it means whatever estranged you from your father, or him from you, doesn’t have to end up in blame. To each man his bucket to empty. We are all doing our best on this planet, Barry.
BARRY: Don’t point your finger at me like a teacher, I wasn’t going to criticize my father! He did a pretty good job raising me, actually.
CLAUDIOS: You can see without your eyes as well!
BARRY: I’m hearing it in the tone of your voice, that you are pointing your finger at me.
CLAUDIOS: Your father is a teacher too?
BARRY: No.
CLAUDIOS: You are quite familiar with the ways of teachers. So much that you can assume my moves from my intonations.
BARRY: I’ve had a lot of teachers in my life.
CLAUDIOS: And I have had a lot of mailmen.
BARRY: I’m very… observant of teachers.
CLAUDIOS: And yet you don’t cherish them.
BARRY: It’s not important right now.
CLAUDIOS: I am pleased to hear that you don’t resent your father for whatever pushed you apart from each other.
BARRY: Still, I don’t follow your Nana... your narration.
CLAUDIOS: Ah, yes, I was almost going to forget that part! My old brain. It’s the best part, Barry. You remind me of Nanabozo. He has the reputation to be a trickster, always starving, always thirsty, always bouncing around, always getting in trouble. I don’t think you are comprehending when I say he was the last thing the creator sent down to Earth and he was a man, I don’t mean it in a bad way. He’s— how do you young people say it, nowadays? He’s just iconic.
BARRY: So not a bad man, but a troublemaker.
CLAUDIOS: Nanabozo is an individual with a lot of curiosity—
BARRY: And curiosity killed the cat, I get it, I get it.
CLAUDIOS: Not yet, Papoose. –a curious man, and a lot of people are fatigued by his constant high level of energy and his thirst for adventure, but he is also the most courageous of all. He’s the one who went to the Thunders to inform them that they were storming too hard and drenching the land excessively, and the Thunders listened to him. Everyone else was too scared to go to them just to have this nice discussion, but he had the cojones— Sorry, my wife is a Latina. I mean he had the courage that no one had.
BARRY: The thunders.
CLAUDIOS: Does that… resonate with you?
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: I’m still convinced that you should cry a good cry, mourn your mournings, grieve your grief.
BARRY: It’s not necessary.
CLAUDIOS: The reason why Nanabozo’s figure is so quintessential is because he just… he simply accomplished some great things. Valuable for the balance of life.
BARRY: What a pep talk.
CLAUDIOS: I think you and I are going to be friends. Not teacher and pupil, no, don’t be frightened, but friends. Because I am sure that you will also teach me many things. And I will help you with your mysterious plans, and you don’t even have to reveal them to me.
BARRY: And your people will agree that I stay with them, on their territory?
CLAUDIOS: Of course they will!
BARRY: That’s crazy.
CLAUDIOS: We are a very chill group of people.
BARRY: What if I end up not teaching you anything?
CLAUDIOS: It’s not a condition to my hospitality. I’ve listed what I expect from you before and there is nothing else. One dish, one spoon.
BARRY: One dish, one spoon?
CLAUDIOS: Or, like modern Americans say in their stup— I mean in their Kindergarten schools, ‘Sharing is Caring’
BARRY: I know someone who used to say those cringy things.
CLAUDIOS: I think you have lost your blue light and you have been separated from that someone you keep bringing up. And I’m pretty sure that, occasionally, the things I am telling you remind you of the movie Avatar, but you are too politically correct to say it.
BARRY: Oh Lord! I would NEVER—
CLAUDIOS: Don’t waste your breath, Barry, it’s no problem. It’s not a bad movie, I mean, neither is the Disney version of Pocahontas.
BARRY: They have a sequel too.
CLAUDIOS: I still need to watch that one, but alas, as I said, my wife is more into horror.
BARRY: Man.
CLAUDIOS: I see that you are sad and that you are angry. I see a hole inside of you that hurts deeper than any bullet slicing through you. One thing about sadness, or anger, or anything negative really, is that they crash your home without your permission or even warning. They change your clothes, replace them with other clothes, they switch the food you eat, the colors you used to like, they tell you how to live your life, and they always come knocking on your door unannounced and, when you open the door, they don’t even have a little Hello to you, no greetings, no goodbye when they depart.
BARRY: Yikes.
CLAUDIOS: It’s terrible, it’s the condition of man. But if you are brave enough to engage with them, next time, and to tell them that they are welcome to visit anytime but that they have to follow your rules, they will respect you, because you stood up to them. And in turn, you will tell those negative emotions of the heart that you respect them, because you see how powerful they are.
BARRY: …
CLAUDIOS: You can have these dark things ring your bell and share a good hangout and a good cup of coffee, and then, remind them that it is time to leave.
BARRY: I feel dizzy.
CLAUDIOS: I’m horrified, I have been talking your ear out. You must be exhausted. Please, tell me a story of yours.
BARRY: A story?
CLAUDIOS: That doesn’t involve shootings and other dramatic events, something cheerful.
BARRY: Something cheerful like, on the top of my head?
CLAUDIOS: Tell me the story of how you got this cat.
BARRY: Terence? He’s not my cat, actually, I rescued him from someone who… couldn’t take care of him anymore.
CLAUDIOS: All the same.
BARRY: If I understand well, his previous adopter picked him when he was already an adult cat, at the Humane Society. She— I mean this person said that the shelter put him in an adoption box, charged ninety dollars and they were on their way. It was my friend’s first time having a pet of their own. They didn’t dare opening the box during the car ride but, once they freed the kitty at home, he had been so scared that he had pooped in the box.
CLAUDIOS: Can you imagine, being dropped inside a box, deposited on a car seat and drive for an undetermined amount of time, not knowing what’s next?
BARRY: My point exactly.
CLAUDIOS: So what happened next?
BARRY: The first thing Terence did when he entered his new place was hide under the bed so my friend let him do that, didn’t force him to come out, just prepared his food and water, left a trail of treats. After an hour or so he finally emerged and started watching some birds through the window. At the beginning, my friend could only approach him if he was sitting on a specific bean bag of the living room, that’s the place where Terence felt safe. I couldn’t take the bean bag with me in our escape but I cut a piece of the fabric of it, and it’s inside one of the closets.
CLAUDIOS: I saw it, it really stinks.
BARRY: I… didn’t have time to put it in the wash.
CLAUDIOS: But you did well.
BARRY: Yeah.
CLAUDIOS: Was Terence already deaf when your friend adopted him?
BARRY: No, he just lost his sense of hearing with age but, wouldn’t you know it, his life seems more tranquil now that he doesn’t jump at the first bang in the street, and he even lets us vacuum around him now that he cannot hear that scary sound anymore.
CLAUDIOS: Us?
BARRY: I mean people.
CLAUDIOS: I feel like he is also a clairvoyant cat.
BARRY: Do you talk to animals?
CLAUDIOS: Of course I do.
BARRY: Right, right.
CLAUDIOS: You should sleep, Barry, you should get some rest and visit the land of dreams. And then when you wake up, I will be here.
BARRY: That’s creepy.
CLAUDIOS: Fine, I will go outside during your nap. But when you wake up, you will see. All the things we said to each other on this first encounter of ours, they will have entered into you. You will feel refreshed, you will feel more inspired. Maybe your fever will have evaporated. Maybe you will even let me or Lourdes fix you a snack, provide some sustenance to you.
BARRY: Or perhaps I’m dreaming you now, and you are not real.
CLAUDIOS: That’s always a possibility.