A Beast Among Gods (The Mac Tire Chronicles) by Garnet Davenport (big screen ebook reader txt) 📗

what I had heard from the waitress, even if she didn’t remember saying it, I knew I had to go out in search of this shaman. I needed to know why I was being led to this point. Why my wife and baby girl had to die and why everyone I’ve ever loved somehow gets hurt by me or because of me.

I tossed some cash on the counter to take care of the bill and to leave her a pretty decent tip and then got back on my bike. When I checked out of the motel, the man handed me a business card for a holistic healer from a native tribe in the area.

“He’s really good at healing abnormal oddities.” He motioned for me to lean close so he could tell me a secret and he said, “It will take care of that gangrene you’ve got going on. He helped with my elephantiasis.” He pulled up his pant leg and showed me an engorged calf and foot. “It was twice this size a month ago.”

“That’s good, but I don’t have gangrene.”

“Oh, well I just figured with the green on your hand that’s what you had. Whelp, he should be able to help with whatever that is either way.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind.”

I took the business card and put it into my pocket. I was put on the path to find the shaman outside of Jean, Nevada.

➣ Chapter 21

Sweat Lodge

I felt an odd pull as I drove through Jean. As soon as I was on the other side of the city, I pulled off at a mercantile and got off my bike. I had looked around to see if I could see anything that could point me into the direction of the shaman, but there wasn’t anything.

I went inside and looked around at the jewelry, homemade ointments, and moonshine. Even though the moonshine wouldn’t cure what ails me, it wouldn’t hurt me more than I was already hurting.

“That’s not going to help you, Striker,” a gruff old man said, coming up behind me.

I hadn’t heard him even take one step in my direction. He had been quieter than even the most quietest I’ve had try to sneak up on me. I turned around quickly.

“Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” He chuckled. “But I saw you contemplating one of the biggest questions of life.”

I lifted my brow in question.

“How much moonshine you should buy.” He patted me on the shoulder and laughed.

I chuckled back at his joke.

“Did you call me by my name?” I asked.

Had I been wearing a name tag or something?

“Yes, Striker, I got a phone call this morning from one of my good friends, and they told me you might be stopping by.”

“Oh.” I chuckled. “I thought… never mind.”

He chuckled. “I don’t have that kind of magic. But I can help you find what you’re looking for… if you’re willing, that is.”

“What would I have to do?”

“Well, perhaps a little soul searching and forgiveness for yourself and others.”

“I don’t deserve forgiveness,” I mumbled.

“Everyone deserves forgiveness. It’s a matter of if you’re ready.”

I shook my head.

“How about we get you set up out back with a place to stay, and we’ll take it one day at a time. Your path is here… at least for the time being.”

He showed me to where I would be sleeping. It was a leather-bound trapped tent in a row of tents all alike. Smelled similar to the barn on the Dewills’ farm.

As he started to the back of the tent, he turned around and said, “You know, tonight we’re going to get into the sweat lodge. It might be worth your while if you want to join us.”

“Yeah, I might check it out.”

“Good. I think it will really open you up.”

I nodded.

“And grab you some rice and beans for supper.”

“Thank you.”

I sat down on the cot and put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands.

“What the hell am I doing?”

I forced myself to get up and walked from the tent. I found a few others as I looked around, pacing back and forth, some sitting and looking as if they were just sleeping, and some staring up at the sky, but their eyes were closed. I looked up. The sun was shining down so bright I squinted and closed one eye while I put my hand up to shade myself. A halo of light exposure from the sun cascaded, directly pointing out a raven sitting on a fence post.

It was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen. I hadn’t heard of one raven all by itself, let alone sitting on a fence post in the middle of the day. It’s not scavenging for prey or circling over roadkill or something else. It eyed me as I walked around and away, occasionally turning back around to see if it was still watching me as I walked around the property.

I’d never seen dirt that felt like sand or cactus or this kind of dry heat. But I spent the next few hours walking around their property just watching the goats and chickens wander about. I found a boulder to sit on away from everyone and everything. I stayed there until the sun started to go down. I made myself get up to join everyone else.

The rice and beans were flavorful. I hadn’t thought they’d be that good, but as it turns out, they were and filled me up while I tried to avoid the small talk of some of the others that were staying in other tents.

“Anyone feeling ready for the sweat lodge, we will be starting in about an hour,” one man said.

Some of the others started to leave and go back to their tents or go inside the mercantile to shop. I was going to go back out to that boulder and have a seat and see if I would change my mind about going to the sweat lodge.

“Hey,