The Magic Flute

by J. J. Park

  “Okay, then, let’s do it and soon,” Dyami said with enthusiasm.

  Shortly after, one late Saturday morning, the two set out for their anticipated adventure. The cold, humid air and thick clouds forecasted rain, and sensing it, squirrels and chipmunks busied themselves gathering nuts.

  The fallen leaves bristled under their feet as they walked. They hiked further up than usual, and the ground became rockier after a half-hour hiking. They began to look for a place to sit down.

  “Look, look,” Gopan said, pointing toward a large boulder.

  “A coyote!” Dyami called out in excitement, seeing it sitting on top of the boulder.

  “I take this as a sign. Let’s take the base of that rock,” Dyami suggested.

  They settled themselves on level ground beside the boulder, where fallen leaves provided cushiony seating. After a short prayer to their god, Ussen, Dyami played the flute.

  8

  WAR

  It was a brutally cold night. Dyami and Gopan were among soldiers lugging themselves through snow-covered woodland. Moving in silence, they climbed slippery rocks, passed a partly frozen stream, and sloped down the ravine. The cutting wind hit their faces.

  By daybreak, they reached the edge of the wood, exhausted. When the order came to rest, they let themselves fall on the ground.

  Through the space between the thick tree trunks, they saw a large open area extending several football fields to another wooded area. The captain of their division believed that German soldiers camped in the woods.

  The following morning, Dyami and Mike, another soldier, set out to cross the field before daybreak. The captain assigned them to gather intelligence on the enemy’s position.

  Gopan and Dyami requested the assignment together, but the captain denied it. It was an alarming situation that they hadn’t anticipated. Things were now out of their hands.

  Dyami and Mike moved forward cautiously, looking for signs of human activities. Everything was quiet. They moved further into unknown territory.

  When they reached the other side, barracks loomed over. Gasping, the two soldiers immediately began to count the number of barracks and size up the armory. They saw several cannons standing outside a barrack. Dyami tried to open the door, but it was locked.

  Now the day was beginning to lighten, and they heard stirring in other barracks.

  “Hurry, we must get back,” Mike urged Dyami in a whisper.

  As he was whispering, a German soldier suddenly emerged from behind the barrack. When he saw them, he immediately went for his rifle, and Mike shot the soldier before he pulled the gun. The camp stirred, and the alarm went off.

  Dyami and Mike ran toward their base through the woods as German soldiers and dogs chased them. When they estimated their camp was near, they ran out to the open field. German soldiers shot at them, and the American troop responded.

  When they almost reached their base, about 100 yards away, a bullet hit Mike’s left leg. Shortly after, paramedics arrived, and leaving Mike in their hands, Dyami returned to the troop quickly to find Gopan.

  Grenades and cannonballs exploded in the field where Dyami was a few minutes ago. Bullets flew overhead, and cannons blew off a good portion of the ground. Amid intense cannonade, Dyami found Gopan shooting artillery.

  After what seemed to be an interminable shooting, both camps ceased. Dyami went over to Gopan, and they hugged each other in relief.

  “It was frightening, man!” Gopan exclaimed.

  “I know. Can you imagine what could have happened if I was captured or dead?” Dyami replied.

  “I don’t even want to think about it,” Gopan shuddered.

  After a short break, rifles, mortars, and grenades exploded, and bullets flew over their heads again. They had no other option but to pick up the gun and shoot.

  A shot hit the soldier next to Dyami in the head, and he died instantly. Dyami covered his face with his helmet, then sat down, terrified. Seeing Dyami pale and in shock, Gopan came over.

  “Are you all right?” Gopan held Dyami’s shoulder to comfort him.

  “I need a break from this. I can’t continue,” Dyami said.

  “All right, let’s go back,” Gopan suggested, and immediately, Dyami reached his waist for the flute. Just then, the captain cried out,

  “Soldiers keep shooting. Keep going.”

  Gopan followed the direction and returned to shooting. Dyami also tried to follow the command, but he couldn’t use the machine gun. The whistling bullets and exploding grenades continuously battered his exhausted nerves.

  When the shooting ceased, not losing a moment, Dyami reached to his waist, searching for the flute, fumbling.

  “What’s the matter? Can’t you find the flute?” Gopan asked, troubled at Dyami’s frantic movement.

  “No. I always have it around my waist. It must’ve fallen during the mission. I must go back to the field to find it,” Dyami said, panicking.

  “How? They’ll shoot you down instantly,” Gopan said in dismay.

  “All right. Let’s search when it gets dark,” Dyami suggested.

  They waited for the daylight to pass in agony. Finally, the light faded, and the two crawled on the barely visible ground sweeping it with bare hands.

  “I don’t see it. What if it’s blown up by grenades?” Dyami said despondently.

  “That’ll be the end of us. We must find it,” Gopan responded in a firm tone.

  “What a nightmare. I wish we hadn’t done this vision,” Dyami regretted.

  “It’s too late for that. Keep looking!” Gopan maintained his firm voice.

  The two continued the search throughout the shrapnel-littered ground. It became too dark to see, and Dyami and Gopan became desperate as they faced the real possibility of never finding the flute.

  Dyami collected himself and sat down to think. He retraced the path he and Mike took, recalling them running in the woods for much of the time. Immediately, he crawled toward trees waving at Gopan to follow.

  When they neared the opposite side, they heard the German soldiers talking and a dog barking. They hid behind a tall tree and stayed immobile until the talking and barking ceased. Finally, sounds died down, and Dyami and Gopan tried to rest also.

  It was a long restless night, but happily, daybreak arrived as it always does, and the two restarted their search in the dawn light. They methodically searched the forest floor, trying not to miss any part retracing where Dyami had been running.

  The sun was now above the horizon, and they could hear stirring in the German camp-still no sign of the flute.

  Dyami finally sat down under a tree to further collect his thoughts. He tried to imagine what his Grandfather might advise him in this situation. He remembered what he said at the start of his first vision quest.

  “Be attentive to movements and the behavior of animals. They can lead and help you in certain situations.”

  Immediately Dyami told Gopan to look for animals, even though he doubted that there would be any through all that tumult and disturbance. At the moment, all was quiet.

  “Look, look at the squirrel,” Gopan whispered, pointing toward the ground near a tree.

  Dyami livened up, seeing a squirrel in the upright stance. Then, they heard the sound of movements in the woods. It was heavy boots stepping on broken branches and fallen leaves and a dog sniffing and whining.

  They froze but kept their eyes on the squirrel to see what it would do. As if to see the imminent danger, the squirrel quickly moved to the base of the tree nearby. Their eyes followed the squirrel and spotted the flute under the tree.

  They ran to the tree and grabbed it, hearing at the same time,

  “Arme nach oben!” [Arms up!]

  Startled, they turned around. It was a soldier with a rifle and a dog on a leash. The dog growled at them.

  “Arme nach oben!” the soldier repeated.

  Then he asked, pointing the flute in Dyami’s hand.

  “Was ist das?” [What is th
at?]

  “Eine Flöte,” [Flute]

  Dyami said and quickly held Gopan’s hand and blew the flute before the soldier took hold of it.

  ***

  Dyami and Gopan held onto each other with their hearts pounding and eyes closed. Their life depended on the flute doing its job.

  Suddenly, the air temperature changed, a sign that something had happened. When they opened their eyes, the familiar giant boulder emerged in front of them. They were back in their forest.

  “Whew! That was close,” Dyami said, letting out a big sigh of relief.

  “Wow! We’re back,“ Gopan followed.

  Then, “Wee---Yee---,“ a whimper of a dog.

  Alarmed, Dyami and Gopan turned around and saw the German soldier standing behind them, looking utterly confused and bewildered with the whining dog next to him. The stunned soldier started looking around, searching for his camp.

  “Was ist los?” [What’s happening?]

  The soldier mumbled. It wasn’t a question. He began to walk into the woods, pulling the dog toward him.

  “Warte!“ [Wait!]

  Dyami called out to the soldier, but he kept walking away. Dyami and Gopan stood in place, lost.

  “We should take him with us. We can’t leave him here,” Dyami said.

  “How are you going to do that, and what happens after that?” Gopan asked.

  “I’ll ask my father or grandfather what to do,” Dyami conceded.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We should take him back to where he was,” Gopan said.

  Dyami saw the plausibility of what Gopan noted, but the soldier was disappearing into the wood by then. They ran after the soldier calling out,

  “Wir bringen dich zurück.” [We’ll take you back.]

  It was no use. The soldier went out of sight. Despairing, they sat down on the forest floor.

  “What do we do now?” Dyami asked.

  “I don’t know if there is anything we can do. We can’t call the police. No one would believe us,” Gopan said.

  It was mid-afternoon when they entered the village. Dyami and Gopan went directly to Kuruk. After hearing the gravity of the situation, Kuruk called Dyami’s father and Taza into the teepee. Dyami and Gopan repeated their experiences.

  Three men became visibly upset when they told them about almost losing the flute, but when they heard about the German soldier and his dog wandering in their forest, they were beside themselves. After a short silence, Nantan recited what he heard in disbelief.

  “Let me understand correctly. Are you saying that there is a German soldier from the past wandering in our woods?”

  “The flute brings back everyone who’s near it,” Dyami said.

  “Is there anything we can do?” Gopan asked.

  The three men sat dumbfounded, digesting what they heard. Finally, Kuruk broke the silence.

  “It’s becoming too dangerous and complicated. I forbid you from using the flute any further. You must not lax on your studies,” Kuruk said firmly.

  “We must discuss how to handle the situation now,” Nantan said, dismissing them.

  Dyami and Gopan understood the seriousness of the situation better than anybody else. The two exited the teepee, feeling remorse yet grateful, knowing that their elders would take care of the problem.

  Meantime, the two elders and Dyami’s father concluded that the best thing to do was to leave the event to follow its natural course. They notified the Bureau of Indian Affairs Police about a strange man in a German soldier’s uniform with a dog and a rifle, wandering in their forest.

  A few days later, they heard the news that the police found “a deranged man.” He ceded without much struggle and was now in the custody of the state mental institution for evaluation. They were all relieved when they heard the news.

  “I wonder if there is anything we can do for him. Maybe, we can try to take him back,” Dyami said, feeling responsible for the soldier’s predicament.

  “That’s not an option at this point,” his father responded.

  “Maybe we can at least ask for permission to see him. I think he would like to have someone visiting him. However small it might be, we’re the only connection he has with his former life,” Dyami said.

  “Yes, he needs friends,” Gopan agreed.

  “What will happen to the dog?” Dyami asked his father.

  Nantan called the Bureau of Indian Affairs and volunteered to foster the dog until they knew what the man’s future would be. The Bureau approved his request knowing that Nantan had a good standing in the community.

  Dyami and Gopan got permission to visit him since they found him in the forest. They learned his name was Karl.

  “I guess this is the best we could ask for under the circumstance. At least we can take care of the dog for Karl,” Dyami’s father said.

  Taking care of Karl’s dog, Donner, became one of Dyami’s projects. When he took his horse to the prairie for grazing, he took Donner and Kitchi with him. Nantan and Dyami took them both to hunting, and Donner, having been trained as a search dog, was natural in finding downed games.

  BLOWN OUT OF TIME

  In the meantime, Karl grappled with the drastic split, the second occurrence in his life. One moment he was in the German Army, then in a blink of an eye, he stood in a forest in America and now in a psychiatric institution, labeled mentally deranged.

  It was 1942 when Karl entered the army fresh out of college. He believed in Hitler then.

  Karl was on patrol duty on that fateful morning when he encountered two young enemy soldiers. One of them played the flute, instantly taking him decades ahead of his time, while he remained 23 years old. The memory of his family and Germany was still fresh and real.

  He tried to acclimate himself to the new place, but strange machines - computers, cellphones, laptops - made him feel awkward and inadequate. Still more, his dog, Donner, the only connection he had with Germany, had been taken away from him.

  The institution’s schedule and rules dictated his life. He met the psychiatrist regularly. He tried to convince him about his past life and how he came to America. It was no use. It didn’t change the psychiatrist’s view, and instead, he prescribed activities to relieve his mind from the delusion.

  Eventually, he gave up trying to convince anyone about his true identity and decided to let things unfold themselves spontaneously and see where it went. He started English lessons and improved steadily. He had a regular visit from the Lutheran chaplain; in the end, he started going to Chapel on Sundays because he had nothing else to do.

  He began to read the Bible as a pastime, but it became necessary for him as time progressed. He wanted to understand what happened to him; he sought answers in the Bible and Divine Providence.

  He had an interpreter, Mila, from the German Society, who helped communicate with the psychiatrist and the chaplain. Karl would have been happy only to see another German in this strange land, but she was also attractive and kind.

  She dutifully translated his bizarre story, and whether she believed him or not was anyone’s guess. Adjusting to the confinement in the sanatorium was difficult. It was a dull and lonely existence, and having Mila there to help him was refreshing and comforting.

  The young soldiers, whose names were Dyami and Gopan, visited him regularly, bringing Donner with them. It gave him a bit of a lift. They were sympathetic and kind toward him, and Donner looked well.

  He began to look forward to their visits. Besides, if anyone had any clue about what happened, it would be them. However, they remained elusive whenever he attempted to bring up the subject.

  APACHE CHRISTMAS

  Time moved ahead swiftly, and before anyone could anticipate it, Christmas arrived. Dyami and Gopan’s family observed Christmas along with the winter solstice.

  Dyami did not know how his family came to celebrate Christmas; nonetheless, the season’s joyfulness swept them away, even his Grandfather. He loved the feast around the table with his family.<
br />
  To begin the celebration of the season, Kuruk, Nantan, and Dyami turned the teepee toward the east to face the rising sun. Sun was an essential and integral part of the Apache’s past nomadic life.

  Another custom was to invite an elder for the feast and hear him narrate traditional stories. Dyami’s family always asked Taza. Each year, he received the choicest tobacco bundle, and he and Kuruk smoked throughout the storytelling.

  This year, Karl was among them. It has been almost a year since he got transported to another continent fast-forward. He had now acclimated to the change somewhat. Throughout, two young friends and their family have been exceptionally kind to him. Now he was with them on Christmas.

  Dyami’s mother always prepared sumptuous Christmas meals. She made venison rump roast, acorn bread, Algonquin vegetables, corn chowder, pumpkin bread, pudding, and strawberry cake.

  Karl couldn’t help but think about Christmas with his family in Germany back in time now beyond his reach. He missed them.

  “How are you feeling? Are you enjoying the food?” Dyami asked, seeing the pensive and saddened look on Karl’s face. He understood what Karl was going through.

  “Oh, I like food. Your mother is a good cook,” Karl assured Dyami.

  “It must be very different from what you’re used to,” Dyami speculated.

  “Your mother’s bread reminds me of Stollen,” Karl said.

  Dyami and Chenoa tried to cheer him up, telling him about Donner’s hunting expeditions with Kitchi. It was moving to see Donner contentedly sitting next to Karl, looking at him now and then.

  It snowed on Christmas Eve. After the feast, Dyami and Gopan invited Karl for a snowshoe hike, and Karl brightened up at the prospect of being out in the snow with Donner and kind young friends.

  Donner and Kitchi ran through the snow-covered forest; their joyfulness was infectious, and the snow-laden branches sparkled under the sun.

  Karl thought back to when he wandered through the same forest looking for his troop. He has almost given up ever going back to his previous life, but the idea resurfaced from time to time. He was sure that his two new friends held the answer.