The night air had grown cooler, but at least the rain had finally stopped, and Kesh felt strangely warm in spite of wearing just a robe and slippers. It was fortunate he had stayed so close to the muskrat, or he might have missed the animal’s sudden dash into the trees. Muskrat was small, but he was quick and agile. Even so, Kesh followed with little effort. He thought, At least in this dream I’m not a runt. He ran effortlessly and wondered if this was how Calvin Wagner felt as he ran the mile in track meets, something Kesh had never been able to manage.
Dream or no dream, Kesh was enjoying his new power and endurance. Soon, they emerged into a small clearing, where an abandoned workman’s shed sat, windows and door torn out long ago. The muskrat slipped right inside. Kesh stopped on the threshold and sniffed the air for danger, then stepped cautiously into the small building. Muskrat said, “Over here, lad.”
It was still dark, Kesh was fairly sure of that, but somehow he could see clearly, as if he had lamps in his eyes. It was almost always like this when he dreamed. Now a soft green glow spread across the shed walls, and a voice like the sound of wind through tall grass, spoke. “You are Kesh.”
The boy was distracted. He whispered, “There’s that fluorescence again – it’s amazing!”
The voice insisted, “You are Kesh? Is this not so?”
He snapped back. “Yes, yes, I’m Kesh.”
“Come here. Let me see you.” Kesh crossed the small floor, and there, in the very center of the green light, was a small, unassuming web, upon which sat a tiny spider glowing with that familiar green florescence.
“You’re Anna?” Kesh smiled. “I know you, don’t I?”
Muskrat snuffled in. “Why do I get the feeling I’m missing something here? What’s going on?”
Kesh smiled even more broadly. “I’m pretty sure I’ve met Anna before…in my dreams–dreams just like this.”
“Yes, we are old friends, in dreams, as you say, Kesh.” Anna’s multifaceted eyes shifted towards Muskrat. “Tell me, how much does the boy know?”
“Not so much yet, but he’s as quick as light, and he’ll understand soon enough. But, my lady, I wonder …”
Her voice, the sound of wind, fell low and grave. “Yes, I know. You are worried that he is not ready.”
Muskrat squeaked. “Yes. I am worried for him. How can he possibly be prepared for what he and the others will face? He so young, so inexperienced, and so much is expected.”
Now, the wind seemed to chuckle as Anna said, “Yes, indeed, my friend, much is expected of this boy, and he is not yet ready. Still, he is closer than you think. This little one is strong, and he has the gift of teaching, but he does not yet know the truth, and without that knowledge, he will never be ready. That will be for you to remedy.”
Kesh curled his lip and raised his brow. “What do you mean, the truth? And what am I supposed to be getting ready for? And who are you calling small?”
The spider spoke, “Kesh, do you know where you are?”
“Of course I do. I’m in a dream. Jeez! I’m talking to a muskrat and a spider, for crying out loud!” That was one of his dad’s favorite sayings, and now he felt foolish using it.
“Kesh, you are going to learn soon enough that there is not so dramatic a difference between the dreaming and waking worlds. The barrier is less than a cloud, yet it seems so much more than the world. Now I want you to see something.” Kesh turned toward the door where Muskrat gestured to something propped against the wall. The wind voice said,” Look into that mirror, and tell me what you see.”
Kesh moved hesitantly. This was turning out to be the weirdest dream he’d ever had, and it was getting stranger with each passing moment. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and looked into the old mirror. He jumped back startled and heard a low growl coming from somewhere. Cautiously, he leaned forward again and peered into the glass.
Staring back was the sharp muzzle of a thin, gray dog. Its sharp teeth were bared, ears back, and its dark eyes focused firmly on Kesh’s. The boy caught his breath and raised his back, his whole body tensing. Then realizing it was merely an image, not the animal, he relaxed. At the same time, the dog’s eyes softened and the slender face showed more curiosity than threat.” It’s a dog,” he said. At the same time, the creature muttered a soft yip. “It’s just a big dog.”
“No,” said the wind voice. “It is a coyote, and not such a big one after all.”
“Coyote? What does it want?”
“Look again, boy. Look closely, and tell me what you really see.” Kesh moved in closer and studied the eyes of the animal. The wind said, “Turn to the right boy.” Kesh did, and the coyote turned left at the same time, matching his every movement in reverse. “Now turn your head the other way. Kesh did, and as he opened his eyes wide in amazement, the coyote’s, eyes opened wide.
Then, almost breathless, he whispered, “Oh my God!” The coyote uttered, a low quiet growl. “I’m a coyote?”
A murmur ran through the small hut.
Kesh repeated, “I don’t want to be a coyote.” The animal in the mirror backed away.
The wind stirred now, a restless shift in the small universe inside the shack, like the air in the moments just before a thunderstorm, and Kesh thought he might have said the wrong thing. Then the feeling of a coming storm lifted, and he sensed that the spider smiled. Gently, the wind spoke. “You are very young, Kesh, and you have very much to learn, but, whether you approve or not, you are also a coyote. And trust me boy, this is not a small thing. The coyote spirit is powerful. The coyote is intelligent and brave. The coyote can be a foolish creature as well, but there is no stronger spirit. In the old stories, he is the laughing one, good son, good father, truth teller, and life giver. You will come to know that the sacred earth power is everywhere and it exists in everything.”
The coyote’s head sank and Kesh said quietly, “I don’t have any power. I can’t do this.”
“You are the coyote, shaped-shifter, bringer of rain, eternal child, brother of the stars and, most of all, you are a teacher. Kesh, you will come to understand that only you, the coyote, have the power to set right the wrongs that have begun to spread like a cancer across this sickened world. The prophecies tell us the coyote and only the coyote can bring the old spirit back. Only the coyote can help the world learn to see past the masks to the source of all things. This world needs you more than you could possibly imagine.”
Kesh stooped low, his ears set back, and the mirror image whimpered. He said, “No, really, I’m just a kid. I can’t even throw a football. How am I expected to do anything like that?”
The muskrat snuffled over to the coyote boy. “First, you’re not a kid. You’re a wee bit small for your age, I know, but you are every bit a young man, every bit a coyote. And let me assure you that you are not alone. The world has a lot of coyotes like you, and many, many Annas too. She is just one spider. There are countless others, and together they are Grandmother Spider, the mother of creation, weaver of life, and it is their time—and yours. Trust me, lad, you are not in the first to have made this discovery, not even here in this world. And, Kesh, don’t ever forget that you have us.” He gestured toward the open door and windows and there, in absolute respectful silence, were row upon row of animals.
The wind spoke. “So, you see, Kesh. This is the time of change, the time to begin to tear down the great illusions. We have one more chance to change, to wipe away the great factories of this world. If we don’t, we will all disappear.”
“This is the rag man’s story, isn’t it?”
The spider smiled. “This is everyone’s story, Kesh. This is your story.”
Kesh thought for a moment. “What do you mean, we will all disappear? Are the animals going to disappear?”
“That depends. Yes, if we fail, the animals will disappear, but you need to understand, Kesh, that we are all animals. Like you, every person has an animal spirit inside.”
“So, everyone will disappear?”
“Nothing is certain. You see, Kesh, it depends on us. Our job is to teach our world how to find the source of our true nature, how to destroy the masks, and to illuminate the spirit of the wolf, the laughing raccoon, the magical dragonfly, the mighty bear, and all the rest to this world. This is the time.”
“And the panther…” Kesh hesitated. “The cat and the snake too?”
The wind spider smiled gently again. “I suppose that was quite a shock.”
“Of course, it was a shock. My parents are probably dead.” There was more than small hint of whimpering in Kesh’s voice.
“Dead? Oh, you poor child. Are you certain of this?”
“What do you mean? Are you teasing me? What else could have happened to them? I know what I saw, and I’m absolutely certain.” As he spoke, he realized he actually didn’t know what had happened to his parents.
Giggles arose briefly from the animals looking on. The spider whispered a quiet “Shhh” and the creatures fell silent. “Tell me what you saw.” Kesh told her about his discovery and his panicked flight from Ontario Drive. Grandmother Spider continued. “My boy, let us assume this is not a dream, and you truly did see a snake and big cat in your family’s home.” Kesh nodded. “Is it possible there is another explanation?”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you ever seen other animals in odd places?”
Suddenly, Kesh remembered he had seen what he thought was an iguana slipping into the locker room at school. The Great Lakes didn’t have big lizards, and he convinced himself he hadn’t seen it after all. But now he wondered. “I’m not sure.”
“You will be soon enough. For now, try not to jump to such dire conclusions. Be patient, boy, and have faith.”
“All I know is that I saw a python and a panther in that room, and my mother and father were gone. What am I supposed to believe? Besides, this whole stupid thing is a dream. It’s just a lousy nightmare, and I’m going to wake up any second now.”
The wind blew with a little more urgency now, and the spider spoke. “It is not important that you believe just now. You will come to believe me soon enough.”
“But this isn’t real; it’s just not possible.”
“Possible? Humans know very little about the possible. You say it cannot be possible that you are a coyote, that you run with a muskrat, and that you speak to a spider? You know precious little about what is possible, but you will find out in due time.”
Kesh looked around at the muzzles, snouts, and teeth peering into the hut. Then he glanced at Muskrat and the spider and, finally, took one more sidelong look at the mirror. “Okay. I suppose this is a dream, and in my dream world, it make sense that wild animals were hanging out in my living room. It’s still incredibly hard to understand.”
The wind smiled. “You do not have to understand much, at least not yet. Just, know this. Everything you are experiencing will become clear to you shortly. For now this reality is blurred and obscured by the world, by the factories. You see, Kesh, nobody is what he or she appears to be, at least not entirely. Humans are many things. They are selfish, foolish, and blind to the world around them, but in spite of their faults, they are special. Your species is infinitely more powerful than any of you are willing to imagine. Humans have the power to save this world…and to destroy it.”
The wind had fallen almost silent for a moment, leaving only the sound of a sigh. Then Anna continued. “Don’t you see, Kesh? You are one of the gifted, the chosen ones. You are the coyote. You have the power to tear away the masks.”
“Okay, let’s say that this is real, that you’re really talking and I’m a coyote. I don’t believe it, but I’ll play along. Are there really others, you know, the ones you said are like me?”
“Ah yes, my young coyote,” whispered the wind.” More and more remarkable coyotes, muskrats, badgers, and even spiders are discovering who they are, and we are finding them before the world can muffle their true natures. This is a time of great change…if we are quick enough.
“But why me? I’m a runt. Why would I be chosen?”
Before Anna could respond, the air shifted suddenly in the hut, and Kesh felt pressure, as if something pushed against his heart. At first, he heard a soft hissing, as if snakes were gathering outside the shack. Then a rumble of growling, the shuffling of hooves, and tails began to twitch and wings and hackles began to rise. The shack rattled as the animals, suddenly alert, shifted nervously and started to push against one another, each sensing something was wrong. Then Muskrat twitched and his tiny eyes grew big as he searched the walls and dark corners for the danger he sensed. “Anna!” he rasped.
The spider gestured with spindly legs, and the terrified muskrat eased back and became silent. The small creature stayed obediently in his spot, while his body shook violently, helpless to do anything about the danger he had seen. Kesh could taste the bitterness of fear and the sting of anger on the tip of his tongue,
Anna turned to Kesh again. “You will need courage, boy. And you will be very, very afraid. Remember, without fear there is no courage. Without fear, there is only bravado. Do you understand?”
Kesh shook his head. “I don’t know.” He started to say more, ask more questions, but he was suddenly startled, barking aloud. “Anna! Behind you! Something is there. Look out!”
A dark, oily shape, a billowing black ribbon of smoke, had seeped through the ceiling in the corner above the spider. It curled down slowly toward her, and the small room filled with a low, foreboding hiss. Outside, the other animals had begun to shuffle and push with restless tension, and Kesh sensed such fear that he felt they would panic at any moment. If they stampeded, the smaller creatures and many of the others risked being injured by unrestrained claws, beaks, horns, hooves and teeth.
Anna did not move. “Stay where you are, all of you. You can do nothing for me now. Don’t be afraid for me, my dear friends. Shhhh.” Her voice was a soft and soothing breeze, and before long, the restive animals began to settle and quiet. “This,” she said, pointing with a frail leg at the encroaching smoke, “has been foretold in the old prophecies. It was spoken, ‘The air and waters will run with poison.’ This is the evil that comes. Kesh, you are the warrior. You will find fear and you will find courage. And you will fight this evil.”
The curling smoke snaked ever closer to the frail spider, filling the corner with a black, hissing stench.
“Muskrat,” Kesh turned to the rodent, “do something.”
“I can’t,” he squeaked. There is nothing I can do. There is nothing any of us can do.”
Again, the wind rose softly as Anna spoke. “Don’t be afraid for a small spider. Anna is everywhere.” The wind sighed, and the glow began to fade away. Softly the drifting voice whispered, “Now, boy, go home. You have so much work to do, so much to learn.”
With that, the leading tongue of black evil curled around and enveloped the spider. Her soft green light went dark, and in a moment, the lady was nothing more than a tiny, dried husk, a dead gray spider in the corner of a musty old shack. Then, as quickly as it had come, the black death suddenly dissipated and was gone.
When Kesh was much younger, he had asked his mother if animals could cry. Now he knew.
The forest creatures parted to let Kesh and Muskrat pass, then fell in behind as they made their way up along the trail, a solemn, silent procession. Just behind Kesh’s right shoulder strode a giant of a wolf, dark fur fading into tan and gray and, Kesh noted, piercing eyes, one as black as ebony, the other a deep emerald green. “What about him?” Kesh whispered to Muskrat.
Muskrat glanced warily over his shoulder, and Kesh felt him shudder. “Do you mean the wolf?”
Kesh nodded. “Yes, the big guy with the big teeth. Who do you think I mean?”
“He’s Michael. To be perfectly accurate, he’s a timber wolf. They don’t usually get as big as some wolves, but Michael is as big a timber wolf as you’ll ever see.” He sighed. “I have to admit, he scares me some.”
“Why?” asked Kesh.
The muskrat snorted. “My boy, the word for ‘appetizer’ in wolf language is ‘muskrat.’ All of you carnivores make me just a little bit nervous.”
In spite of his sadness, Kesh laughed. “You’re kidding?”
Muskrat grimaced. “I don’t joke about my mortality.”
Then quietly, Kesh asked, “What did she mean when she said ‘Anna is everywhere?’ I don’t understand any of this.”
Muskrat composed himself. “Anna was no different than any other lone wind spider, no stronger, no weaker, and no more important. You see, Kesh, she was just a spider. She could have been killed at any time under a hiker’s boot or in the beak of a hungry sparrow. But spiders are not simply single beings, at least not the web makers, and certainly not wind spiders. They are connected through a web that exists across this world and beyond. The spider you knew as Anna was…” He stopped for a moment to consider his answer. “You see, Kesh, she was Anna, complete and whole, yet she was also one tiny molecule of Anna, a billionth of the being we call Anna. Do you understand?”
Kesh nodded. “I actually think I do, at least a little bit. It makes me feel a little better, but not much. Tell me, Muskrat, how did Anna talk through the wind?”
Muskrat sighed. “It’s amazing, isn’t it – amazing and wonderful. Think about it, lad. Spiders travel on the wind. Their young are carried across oceans and mountains to every part of the world on the back of the wind, and the winds bring food to their webs. They could not exist without the wind, so they have found ways to work together. You see, the spider-nature is woven into the fibers of the world, of wind and tides, mountains, forests, and deserts. Spiders are connected to everything we know, and the best of them, the Annas, are able to manifest great wisdom, but they need a way to do it. So, you see, they have an agreement of sorts with the wind. The wind is the spider’s voice. Spiders don’t have vocal cords.”
“So what does the wind get out of the agreement?”
“I’m not sure, but Anna once told me that the wind tends to become lonely. Spiders are wonderful company, and even in the strongest hurricane or tornado, they are able to ride along with the wind without suffering harm. She said spiders make very good friends.”
“That can’t be true. The wind doesn’t think. It’s just the wind.”
Muskrat sighed, “Whatever you say.”
Kesh opened his mouth to say something else, but he decided he’d better not. He knew he had a lot to learn.
Kesh was quiet as they made their way down the path and away from the shack. They moved slowly now, as the danger had passed, at least for the moment. Then he said, “Muskrat, is this a dream? I think it has to be a dream, but it doesn’t feel like one.”
“Well, my boy, it’s difficult to say. It could be, I suppose, and then again, it might not be at all. I thought you knew that.”
“Oh, then it is a dream, just something my brain is imagining. I must be home in bed then.”
“Tell me, Kesh. Does this feel like any dream you’ve ever had?”
Kesh shook his head. He felt as if he were trapped inside a riddle. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like anything I’ve ever experienced, but, in another way, it’s familiar. You know what I mean? I’m confused by just about everything, and I feel really sad about Anna. And, I’m scared. I just don’t know what to think about all of this.”
“I understand your feelings. Nothing is certain. Listen, Kesh, waking and dreaming seem to be parts of very different worlds, but in truth, there is nothing more than a wisp of smoke separating them. You heard Anna. If you’re concerned that this dream is not as real as any waking moment, you need to revisit your waking moments. They don’t always feel so real, do they? And in those moments when you are absolutely sure, when the people and things around you are clearly in the waking world, they don’t always seem to make sense. Do they?” He added, “Besides, if this is a dream, you have to admit it is a doozy.”
“So all of this might be a dream, or it might not. Is that what you mean?”
“I do,” squeaked the muskrat, “in a manner of speaking. You see, Kesh, you just might be dreaming, but, then again, you might not.”
Kesh shook his head. “More riddles. I don’t know what to think. But, then again, I am talking to a muskrat.” He suddenly stopped, creating a brief animal pileup behind him. “What about my mom and dad? How do I know that they’re really okay, and if they are, how am I supposed to tell them about all of this; how am I supposed to tell anyone? Muskrat…” His voice was on the edge, tense, panicky, “I don’t think I can do this.”
Muskrat looked up at the young coyote. “Faith, young man. Have faith. I know you can do this.”
They ran on, and gradually the other animals drifted off into the woods or dropped back. A soft howl rose on the trail ahead of them, and Muskrat stopped abruptly, the hair on his back bristling. “What is it?” said Kesh.
“Look.” He gestured with his snout at a creature on the path ahead.
A wolf stood watching them. Kesh whispered, “That’s not Michael.”
“No. That is definitely not Michael.” The animal’s coat was a dark, metallic gray, and its long and sinewy torso sat atop odd wiry limbs. Its face was narrow, and its eyes glowed softly in the dim early morning light.
“Who is he?”
Muskrat did not move.
Kesh focused on the wolf’s eyes. They were strangely familiar. “He seems scared, unsure of himself.”
“I have no doubt that he is,” said Muskrat, “but I do not trust that one.”
“You know him?”
Muskrat let out a low growl, small but clearly meant to indicate his displeasure. “Yes, I know him.”
When Kesh looked back, the strange wolf was gone. “Where did he go? What was that all about?”
Muskrat stared at the place where the wolf had stood for a moment. “Follow me.” In the next instant, Muskrat disappeared into the underbrush. Kesh followed, being sure to keep the small animal’s scent close. Moments later, he broke out into the open night and had to pull up to avoid running into the river. Muskrat sniffed the air coming from upstream. “Do you smell that?” He asked.
Kesh felt the bite of a sharp odor in his snout. He had smelled a hint of it before, in the shack. “My God! What is that horrible smell?”
Muskrat said, “That, my boy, is the smell of evil, and you will understand in due time. For now, you know that the one we met on the trail tonight carries this smell. It lives deep inside him, and everything he touches reeks of it. It is the stench of death.” With that, he turned and scurried off along the downstream shoreline as Kesh chased after.