Dreamscape I

Raven flew on through low clouds, inspecting the prairie below for the spot she and Coyote had agreed upon. Humans called this place Bear Butte, near the town of Hascal. The air bathed her shining feathers; warm winds whispered excitement to come.

"Ahhhh, it is good to be alive," Raven mused, "even - with mighty few exceptions - in this Goddess-forsaken land. Now, where is that scamp?"

"There he is!" She caught sight of Coyote loping toward the butte. Raven glided in smooth circles down to a mottled crag and settled on a ledge just above the scrub, waiting patiently.

Marking his territory in the traditional way - sniffing, marking, then scratching the ground and contributing a small amount of his precious essence at each stop - Coyote dropped a freshly killed jack rabbit at his side, and looked up, scanning the area. He spied his old friend, glossy as ever, observing him from her ledge. With a howl, he grabbed his prey and bounded up to Raven's perch. Placing his gift an unthreatening distance away from her, he raised his short nose to the sun and uttered a Wow-OO-Wow! greeting. Then he sat down, head cocked to one side, admiring Raven's shiny figure.

"You are lookin' good, Rave!" Coyote announced with a short bark.

"Ah, Alex!" she crooned with soft quorks, "I liked that pretty howl. Great vibrato going on there. Good to see you again. And I notice you've provided a meal to share. I could definitely eat."

Hopping down to the ground next to the rabbit, Raven then paused and politely waited for Coyote to begin their feast the traditional way, by tearing open the carcass. Not one to waste time, and knowing she'd traveled a long distance from the great Northwest, he deftly tore open the delicious package. Raven began a little dance while Alex worked. She hopped up and down in a series of steps.  Then she flew a short distance into the air, her wings beating a satisfactory flapping sound. She returned with a swoop and then edged up to the rabbit, jumping forward and then backward, forward and backward. She finally hopped close enough to strike at the rabbit's eyes with her strong, curved bill. She threw the lovely treats up into the air and, humming a raspy blues-like number, caught each orb and consumed it with relish.

The two nomads regaled one another with stories about old adventures as they finished their meal. Raven remembered the now famous Chinook yarn explaining how Coyote had named all Birds as each species tried unsuccessfully to help him escape from the cramped cavity of a Cedar Tree - into which he'd jumped without thinking - by pecking a hole through the narrow opening. Even the big Yellow Woodpecker was able to peck only a tiny puncture too small for Coyote to escape from. The famed shape shifter decided to take himself apart, slipping each piece of his body through the slit Woodpecker had made: first his tail, then ears, head, legs, paws, and torso. Once he got out of the Cedar Tree, Coyote began to put himself together again, but he couldn't find his eyes. Raven had stolen both shiny delicacies, and so Coyote was blind.

Raven and Coyote chuckled at this part of the story, she in a congratulatory recognition of her deviousness, Coyote with a quiet, somewhat hollow yowl. Raven continued her tale.

So when a human woman saw Coyote stumbling blindly around and ridiculed him, he assured her he was able to see wondrous rays of heavenly light, and she was ashamed. Coyote convinced her that she should exchange eyes with him so that she, too, could see the beauty of the spirit rays. Then, when he had her eyes and could see again, he decreed that, because she had been so foolishly outspoken, she would become a silent snail, creeping and feeling her way upon the ground. And so he changed her.

The two comrades laughed with pleasure at Raven's tale. Coyote proceeded to contribute his Salish story about a time when he had been lying under a Medicine Tree, feeling hungry, and he heard Ravens performing acrobatics in the bright blue sky. One of the birds was holding a piece of suet in its large beak. Coyote jumped up and ran after the creature, continually asking, "Where did you get that?" The Raven did not respond, even though Coyote continued to ask, "Where did you get it? Where did you get that?" for miles and miles and miles and miles. Finally, the bird broke down and spoke to him, dropping the suet right into Coyote's waiting mouth. Hoping that there would be no more such tricks, the Raven revealed to Coyote where Indian people were hunting so that he could collect their leavings. And so Coyote continued on, with Raven following, for both creatures were dependent on one another, as well as the four-leggeds, to make the spoils available for sharing.  With Raven's help, Coyote could find and open the riches; Raven then shared those discoveries for, while strong, her bill was usually not strong enough to make the first opening of a kill.

"Ahhhh, good stories," Raven croaked. "They remind me of why I have traveled so far to talk with you about a caper I'm considering. I'll need someone here as first strike to make this adventure work, someone like you."

"Oh? Why's that?" Coyote asked, trying to act like he didn't know she needed him to begin the adventure, at least if she intended to do so in his territory.

"Well, you have your famous persistence, as well as Road Smarts. And that renowned sense of humor," she flattered him.

"This escapade involves my newest obsession with a human woman. You know how I love to make mischief with these often troubling members of the menagerie we've created. Well, this one's ripe for a frolic; she's on her way here now from the great Northwest to your neck of the universe. She'll be totally out of her element!" Raven sang a trill of glee.

"She's a teacher," Raven continued. "Her name's Sunny. Perfect name, hey? You know how I love to chase that sun."

Coyote woofed a soft assent as Raven preened and fluffed out her feathers. "I propose that we teach her some lessons, roll her around a bit, create some new tales to tell."

"Hmmm," Coyote encouraged.

"There are a couple of things about this woman that interest and, I have to admit to you, my friend, worry me.  For one thing, she has this amazingly colorful dream system, full of fascinating characters.  For example, there's a ghost, named Black Bart, that likes to tickle her fancy and appears not only in her dreams but also lurks around her waking time.  He actually lived in real time a long time ago.  Yeah.  He was a Wells Fargo stage coach robber who had a vendetta against them for being responsible for his losing a Montana gold mining site back in his days.  He moved to San Francisco, in California?"  Raven rustled her feathers to make sure Coyote was listening.

"Oh, yes.  I know about San Francisco." Coyote responded.  "I'm still active there in the psychedelic headspaces of a bevy of hippy types."

"I see." Raven continued.  "Well, anyway, he got back at them by robbing their stagecoaches, using no violence against anyone, ever, although, of course, he used a gun to threaten them.  He liked to leave an occasional poem for them, mocking them.  That's probably why he and Sunny, our girl, are connected: She's a sucker for a poem, especially a funny one.  And she's attracted to this kind of dangerous man with smarts.  He's very good at encouraging her adventurous spirit, her need to try kind of dangerous missions.  I'd like to get to know more about him; he's a fairly powerful spirit and might feel right at home here in our Dreamscape.  Also, he can help us with the problems our girl Sunny brings with her."

"Ahhh.  I see." Coyote breathed.  "You're not just looking for some new playmates here, hey?"

"Well, maybe not." Raven assented.  "There's more."

"Ohhh.  More." Coyote grinned a wicked grin.

"Yes.  Sunny is able to open and enter Dreamscape!" 

"Say WHAT?  Enter Dreamscape?  No way!  That's never been done!"  Coyote leapt to his paws, hopping up and down with excitement.  "I didn't think there were hardly any humans who could do that, unless we brought them in, of course, to play our games with them." 

"Yes. Well, you're right.  But Sunny went to this mind-expanding kind of workshop a couple of years ago, and they taught her how to enter the space in her head that could actually lead her to our door.  She is pretty obsessive compulsive, and after a time, she was able to consciously enter our space, although she's not exactly aware she's done that.  Actually, because she has this human illness called "hypnoponic hallucinations," she can travel anywhere, anywhen, anywhy she likes, although she doesn't know that, either.  Yet.   There's the rub.  More of concern to me is the fact that she's not aware of it, but she brings along her Head Guide, a Monster Goddess from my part of the woods, named D'zunaqua, when she travels here."

Coyote raised his head.  "D'zunaqua, you say?  Who's that?"

"D'zunaqua's a recluse who lives in the forests of my lands in the Northwest and, according to common human legend, eats lost children that she stores in huge baskets she carries on her back."  Raven uttered a long crowing sound from the back of her throat that made Coyote feel a bit on the creepy side, but he said nothing. 

"But she's much more complicated than her reputation implies.  Some storytellers think she’s kind of stupid and that’s why little kids who she’s caught in her basket are usually able to get away before she throws them in her cooking fire for a nice meal.  I, personally, question that.  She's a Shapeshifter.  She dispenses Power to those she decides to care about, although she is careful to offer it only to those who have earned its essence.  She loves our Sunny, and seems to want to hand over some of that Power to her, if she can reach the Wisdom that is within this crazy woman.  And now they will be able to communicate fairly often, for this place Sunny is heading for is a beacon for Magic and Powerseekers; the hypnoponic hallucinations that Sunny has only experienced in her memory a few times will increase exponentially here."

Coyote looked quizzically at Raven.  “Huh?” he whuffed.

“Oh, sorry.  Hypnoponic hallucinations are dream states that highly creative people often have.  Sunny’s occurrences come in the early morning, just before she is fully awake.  A hag, like D’zunaqua, sometimes appears to her at this time and communicates with her.  This is a time when you could be with her, talk to her, convince her to do what you’d like.  She’s very open to suggestion.”

Raven nodded to herself.  “I didn't know that Sunny was bringing a Power Goddess as powerful as D’zunaqua when I first got her moving this way, and I didn't know about the potential for increasing her access to Dreamscape and the Power.  I'm just a little bit worried about this D'zunaqua; her Power is greater than ours, and the fact that she can help Sunny navigate in Dreamscape is, I think, possibly dangerous to the rest of us." 

Coyote sat on his warm rock, scratching his butt with its edges, and then stretching out his paws, oozing confidence as he reclined.  "Huh, I'm not so afraid of monster goddesses.  Sounds like that BigFoot character humans have such an obsession about.  And BigFoot is a total wuss!" 

"Don't be so sure about that," Raven warned.  “Power is always a double-edged leaf that can be turned for and against, on a whim, and maybe D'zonaqua uses the human legend to hide her girth.  The only way we can protect ourselves from its danger is to steal it whenever possible.  Maybe Sunny is the wrong vessel for D'zonaqua's bounty.  We can control her, play with her, so that she'll never be strong enough to accept the Power D'zonaqua offers.  And in the process, we can access it for ourselves!" 

"Ahhh.  And what could I do with this kind of Power?"

"I'm not certain yet.  That's another reason I need you.  You can enter Sunny's hypnoponic hallucinations - to find out what the essence of this Power is, how to access it, and then how to use it to our advantage.  But I'd think this kind of Power would take us to another level of importance, maybe bring back our former Strength in the minds of humans."

Coyote yipped.  "Oh, yes!  And then, once I stole it, I'd share it with you, hey?"

"Well, of course!”

Raven leaned forward, her beak pointing to Coyote’s brain.  "So?  What do you say? Want to play?"

"Sounds interesting to me," Coyote yipped delightely at his understatement. "What would I have to do?"

"Well, we'd start by throwing Sunny some mesquite, if you know what I mean.  Just follow my lead. Sunny says she wants her life to take on some kind of meaning beyond the mundane. She's bored with her existence. The poor thing is depressed and confused about her identity. At the same time, she thinks she's pretty smart, a bit on the arrogant side, as a matter of fact.  And, get this:  She believes she can find all the answers in a book. She's read all about Indians with a capital I, and she's on her way here to show these Noble Victims how to improve their lot. Don’t get me wrong; she’s very smart, highly creative, and loves being challenged.  She has a daughter who is part Native; actually, that's one of the other reasons I'm interested in jostling her mother.  This kid is an old soul, and maybe knows more than she lets on.  Her name's Stormy.  What a thing with names this pair has, huh?  Sunny begets Stormy.  Duh. The kid won't be with her, though, until we set that up."

Raven voiced a number of knocking sounds, punctuated at the end with a dull 'thunk,' and then resumed. "The idea is to give this Sunny tidbits and then take them away. Or make her wish she hadn't accepted them in the first place. Oh, and, at first, affirm her thinking she knows more than she does.  What I like about this woman is that she's a lot like us: she loves the unusual, the whacky, the unpredictable. Let's provide as much of that as we can. She's impulsive; she'll jump right on just about anything we throw at her. She believes in Magic, too, but she hasn't a clue about what to do with it.  She's a storyteller, but she doesn't know that the best ones come from her own experience, so let's give her plenty of that kind of gristle, too. She's lost her connection with her daughter, and she's not sure how to regain it. Maybe she doesn't even understand how important it is that they find one another again, and I believe Stormy is an important key to the kind of Wisdom D'zonaqua wishes Sunny to acquire.  Finally, this Sunny's looking for love.  Big time.  I'd like to make that the big hook."

"Oh? Why's that?" Coyote asked, reaching back to give his ear a good scratch with his back paw.

"Well, though I'll admit she's a compassionate soul, always out to help others, she truly doesn't know what love is!" Raven crowed. "She thinks it's only about passion and romance. That she can own it. But she doesn't really think she deserves it. You know that country song "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places"? That's her. So we need to find just the kind of guy she needs to love.  That should throw some flies in the ointment, don't you think?  Anyway, she's headed, right now, as we speak, for what I had thought would be the best place to find the perfect wrong place and person - right near here. You'll find it easy to enter her inner cave; she has an unusually strong pre-Dreamscape world and is used to having visions then.  It's right between her sleeping and waking state.  Just jump in and program her with our messages.  I've got a cache of tricks just waiting for her." Raven cackled.

"Hmmmm," Coyote yodeled a quiet song while he thought to himself, "Uh huh. I'll bet you do."   He nuzzled his lovely penis, giving it a quick lick, and jumped up.  Aloud, he declared, "Well, I'm ready! Where is she now?"  He pranced around in a tight circle and gave a short yip.

Raven uttered a delighted high-pitched knocking that sounded like the rhythmic beating of a metal drum. "I'll show you. Look into my right eyeball. See her there?"

"Oh, yeah!" Coyote yowled. "Here she comes! Hey, this might be fun, partner. Let's do it!"