“She likes you,” said the Snow Tree.
“Who likes me?”
“Her name is Lady Wind. She'll guide my words on her breezes when you're in need.”
In need? In need of what? thought Zoey.
“Now,” continued the Snow Tree, “we want to understand why you were crying.”
“What do you mean?” asked Zoey.
“You were crying when you first walked into the forest,” responded the Snow Tree.
Zoey then remembered what she was crying about and the fire in her spirit erupted. “Because I can’t talk right! I get made fun of, or people just won’t talk to me anymore because they don’t know what I’m saying!”
“You can talk very well, Zoey,” the Snow Tree said as she raised one of her branches, letting the rays of the sun land upon Zoey.
“Do you feel the warmth coming from the sun?”
“Yeah.”
“That sun, its warmth, and its brightness are like you. You were created just like the sun. You are here to shine. Everyone would see the wonderful qualities of the sun in you if you allowed them to see how bright you truly are. However, you dim your light, hiding it from everybody. This is what happens when you speak with your head down, with your hands covering your mouth. It dims your voice and it dims you.”
After a moment, she added, “Your dad gets impatient with you and your friends tease you when you put your head down toward the earth, while covering your mouth when you speak. Your hands and the ground can hear you just fine, but do you think anyone else can?”
“Yeah, sometimes they can.”
“Only after they ask you to repeat yourself over and over again. Is that true?”
“Yeah, but my brother can always hear me—when he wants to.”
The Snow Tree opened her branches wide and the sun embraced Zoey even more. “The sun is seen by all of us, and isn’t embarrassed to show us its brightness. It speaks its truth by giving us warmth, and doesn’t worry about what others think about it. It lights our way because it knows that it IS light. That is you, Zoey. You shine like the sun.”
Zoey stayed on the chair for what seemed to be hours. The Snow Tree and Zoey didn’t speak for a long time. Zoey’s thoughts were on the sun. She even imagined herself as the sun. She saw that every time she talked to someone, and looked them in the eyes, she could see a ray of herself shining upon them.
She understood. She saw how simple it was. If she looked in the eyes of another when she talked, they could hear her words more clearly. She imagined herself in the middle of a field of flowers of all different colors, with her chin up and her chest out, yelling to the sun, “I am like the sun!” Then she announced to the sky loudly, “I am!”
“My dear Zoey,” said the Snow Tree, jostling Zoey out of her thoughts, “you have mastered your challenge today.”
“I have?” Zoey looked around. “Mastered? What's that mean?”
“If a child passes a test by knowing, understanding, and then correctly applying the answers to real life questions, then that means the child has mastered it,” explained the Snow Tree. “Today, my child, you have done just that. Tomorrow is another story. Nonetheless, today you've learned a great lesson, and in good time. Tomorrow, you have an important mission to embark upon.”
“Embark? Mission?” Looking up, Zoey scanned the limited dictionary she had in her mind. “I don’t understand.”
“Embark means to get on board or to go somewhere. Mission means that you have an important calling or purpose to fulfill.”
“I do?” asked Zoey, standing up and looking around at the beautiful forest around her, which suddenly seemed more bright and clear. The colors popped and the sounds were soft and elegant.
“You both do,” replied the Snow Tree.
“Both?”
“You and your brother. You both have an important mission and it will begin tomorrow.”
Zoey placed her foot on the knot and grabbed the lowest hanging branch. Then she placed her other foot on a small protrusion, about a foot above the knot, and pulled herself up to the first branch. “I don't think my parents would want me to go on a mission.” She tilted her head and continued, mostly talking to herself. “Well, if it's not too long of a mission, then I guess I could go.” She gently shifted her body back and forth to feel how sturdy the branch was before putting all of her weight onto it.
“Your mission, like any other missions you may have in your life, is yours, and only yours. You have the choice to answer its call, or to ignore it. There is no judgment,” said the Snow Tree. “It’s simply what you and The Great Spirit have planned for you.”
Zoey looked wide-eyed at the tree. “The Great Spirit?” This was sounding even weirder now. For sure her brother wouldn’t have any part of this. He won’t think this kind of stuff is real, especially if it comes from his sister. He'll just make fun of me like he always does.
“The Great Spirit is the creator of everything you see around you, and everything you don't see. There's nothing that The Great Spirit hasn't touched. It has been here since before the beginning. It's full of truth, patience, and love. All of nature honors The Great Spirit.”
Zoey looked around with amazement at the large, twisted branches and bright, glowing green leaves. She suddenly felt important for the first time in her life. She rubbed her hand on the branch, feeling the cracked bark. “Where does the mission start?”
“Do you see the long line of blackberry bushes to your right?”
Zoey twisted around the tree to see blackberries thriving under the sun, just off in the distance. “Yeah, I think I see them.”
“There’s an entrance where the blackberries grow. You can walk through that entrance and take a peek.”
Zoey climbed down the tree and stood on the knot. “Take a peek at what?”
“At your mission,” said the Snow Tree.
“You want me to walk through the blackberries? Won’t that hurt?”
“The entrance isn’t through the blackberries. It’s at the beginning of the blackberries. It won’t hurt because the entrance is large enough for a human to walk through,” replied the Snow Tree. “You’ll soon see for yourself.”
Zoey nodded. She wanted to ask what it was an entrance to, but for some reason she held her tongue. She felt an odd and happy trust in the Snow Tree that seemed familiar to her, but she couldn’t place where the familiarity was coming from, just like in her dream.
With that trust, she walked several yards, feeling the breeze from Lady Wind lightly caressing her as it cooled her off from the heat of the day.
She crossed her arms as she continued to walk, her mind showing images of her mom wagging her finger at her, telling her not to go into unknown places.
Her stomach felt like it had nervous butterflies trapped within it as a wave of uncertainty slowed her movement toward the blackberry bushes. What if this is a joke? What if she gets totally lost, never to see her parents or brother ever again?
Zoey stopped, taking a deep breath. Her mom wouldn't mind if she just took a peek. She suddenly knew, beyond any doubt, that the Snow Tree had her best interests at heart. Her mom wouldn’t disagree with that, would she?
"Ouch!” Zoey’s leg brushed against a sharp shrub beneath the edge of the Snow Tree’s outstretched branches, snapping her back to the moment. She had a mission and she was about to get a peek at it. A sudden feeling of excitement pushed away any doubts, hurrying her along.
There she stood, staring at the opening of a large circle slightly overgrown with blackberries. Peering deeper into the circled entrance, she could see that it was more like a tunnel created by the growing blackberry bushes. The whole blackberry tunnel seemed to be about two school buses long.
She took her first step inside, watching her foot hit the ground, and wondered if she’d feel the tingling sensation that the Snow Tree gave her. But, as she took her second step into the tunnel, nothing happened.
She looked left and right, making sure everything w
as safe, then cautiously proceeded forward.
As she walked through the tunnel, she noticed that the ground consisted of wilted, dry grass. Her father had once told her that grass can go dormant when it doesn’t get enough water, which seemed to have happened to the grass in the blackberry passageway.
About halfway through, the normal sounds of the outside forest became quieter and different. In fact, there seemed to be very little sound at all. Where were the birds she had heard moments ago? The light had even changed. Instead of it getting fainter from the shadows of blackberry vines blocking the sun, the lighting became a bit brighter. The air, too, seemed to have changed. The air felt much richer, and it was a lot easier to breathe. It was as if each breath brought with it a mouthful of pure energy. She took in a long, deep breath. Yes, her body screamed! Zoey felt like she had needed this type of air her entire lifetime.
Taking several more paces forward, Zoey paused as she heard someone humming from somewhere beyond the other end of the tunnel. “Snow Tree? Is that you?”
The humming ceased.
“Huh?” said a male voice. “Who said that?”
A rustling of grass and the sound of heavy steps vibrated through the tunnel. Zoey crouched down and stared at the exit of the tunnel nervously, waiting for someone, most likely a young man, to appear.
As she crouched, she placed her fingers on the ground to give her more balance, but felt something cold and soft. Snow? She looked down. It was definitely snow that she was touching, but how did it get there? It wasn’t there a moment ago. She paused. She had the feeling that someone was staring at her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up straight and she didn't want to look. But, she had to. This was her mission.
Slowly, she lifted her head to see who was spying on her at the end of the blackberry tunnel. When she saw it, her mouth fell open. She wanted to scream, but couldn't.
Chapter 4
Zoey slowly inched her way backward from the enormous elephant staring back at her. He leaned on his front legs to get a clearer look. His eyes looked as wide as hers.
It didn’t look mean, but Zoey had only seen elephants on television. She didn’t know if it would bite or stampede her and she didn’t want to stick around to find out. But, then she remembered what the Snow Tree had told her. She had a mission.
She took a couple of deep breaths and looked into the eyes of the elephant, seeing that they were friendly. But, what does an elephant have to do with a mission? Plus, the voice around the corner she’d heard was from a young man. Maybe this is the young man's pet?
She looked at the elephant's gray hide, seeing a strange beauty in it. Just like the gray wolf, the elephant had a glowing crystal on his forehead, and one on his chest as well. But, the elephant’s crystals were orange, rather than violet like the gray wolf’s.
A warm feeling of love suddenly washed through her. She straightened up and smiled. She loved animals and wondered how she could ever have felt scared of this one. This elephant was beautiful and seemed very friendly. The young man she had heard from beyond the tunnel exit must have trained this elephant well.
She knew now that this creature was as harmless as a fly and all of her fear melted away. “Aren’t you just a beautiful looking elephant?” Her voice was like a child talking to a baby.
The elephant looked to the left, showing his profile, and then to the right, showing his profile again, almost as if he was posing for her.
He turned in a circle, wiggled his rear end, and then turned all the way around again, until his gaze met Zoey's. Then he smiled. Zoey blinked a couple of times to see if her eyes were tricking her.
“Well, thank you for saying so,” said the elephant. “I think I’m a rather fine looking fellow, if I do say so myself.”
Zoey yelped, dropping to the ground and backing away.
The elephant flinched at Zoey's startled fright, looking confused. “Oh, yeah,” he stammered, “sorry about that.” He cleared his throat, just like a human would do. “Ahem.” He proudly pulled himself up taller and opened his mouth. “Meeeeeeeooooooooowww?”
If Zoey hadn’t been so startled, she would have burst out laughing. A talking and meowing elephant? However, this bizarre behavior prompted her to resume her backward crawl.
“Wait, no, no, no.” The elephant tilted his head and let out a reasonably convincing, “Mooooooooooooooooooo!”
He looked intently at Zoey, waiting for another compliment. When none came, he asked, “Isn't that the sound I'm supposed to make?” He frowned. “Did I do it wrong?”
But Zoey had bolted, and was already past the halfway point in the tunnel. She looked behind her to see the elephant simply disappear, vanishing into thin air. The shadows from the blackberries were blocking out the sun and the normal air had re-introduced itself. Zoey ran the rest of the way out of the tunnel, back to the Snow Tree, as fast as she could.
Panting, she threw herself onto the Snow Tree’s knot, landing with a loud thump.
“What…was…that?” she gasped.
“That was an elephant,” replied the Snow Tree.
“Yes, I could see that! But it talked!”
“You had a glimpse of Ohm Totem—the land beyond the Cornell Forest. It’s a place, just like this, teeming with life, emotions, lessons, and experiences.”
Zoey looked up at the branches. The sun glimmered against the green leaves and the squirrel that she had seen earlier jumped from tree to tree. “Huh? Ohm Totem?” She shook her head. “But the elephant talked!”
“That place is different than this one. The elephant you met is a Being called a PureLight. The PureLights have many human qualities, especially speech.”
The squirrel jumped from another branch and glared at Zoey. It made a high-pitched chattering noise, the sound they usually make when annoyed or protecting their territory.
The Snow Tree shuddered, dropping snow onto the squirrel, and on Zoey. The squirrel raced off to a higher branch, busying itself by staring at the cedar tree many yards away.
“That’s Dinzy. He was telling you not to climb my branches. I reminded him that it’s not up to him.”
“Oh,” responded Zoey, somewhat bewildered and wanting the Snow Tree to explain more to her about Ohm Totem.
“Ohm Totem,” continued the Snow Tree, “can only be reached by going through the tunnel hidden within the blackberry patch. This is the only entrance and exit to Ohm Totem. Otherwise, it’s concealed from this land, covered by a thin shroud.
Puzzled, Zoey raised her eyebrows. “Shroud?” she asked.
“Shroud means hidden or covered by something, be it rain, a cloth, and in this instance, spirit. When you saw the elephant, you had walked through the Shroud of Ohm Totem.
“For example, if a waterfall was safe enough to walk through, you could walk through it and see that it actually conceals a rock wall. The water acts as a shroud concealing the rock wall hidden behind it. Does that make sense, Zoey?”
“I think so.”
“The waterfall is like the shroud that covers Ohm Totem.”
Zoey’s attention was momentarily distracted by an unusual beetle crawling toward the tree. “But an elephant talked to me,” she persisted. “How did it do that? It meowed, too! How weird is that?!”
“That’s something you’ll learn about, soon. Remember this—not everything is the same from one place to another, or one time to another. Everything is always changing, sometimes in small ways, and other times in big ways. Before today you didn’t know about a talking elephant. Now what you know has changed, and as a result, you have changed, too. Many people fear change, and fight against it. What people must realize, even you Zoey, is that change is the only thing that you can count on in life. Nothing is ever exactly the same from one moment to the next.”
Zoey was still having a hard time with the idea of a talking, meowing, and mooing elephant. “But, since when do elephant’s talk? I don’t get it.”
“You will, Zoey. This I promise.”
She sat on the Snow Tree's seat and took a breath as the world opened up to her again. She saw the blue, white, and purple balls flying around, dodging each other as if they were playing. She saw the wind's slight breezes nudge the leaves and plants. She saw that all of the forest glimmered with joy, in constant motion, living peacefully under the sun's rays.
“Wow,” she said in a whisper. Then she noticed that the sun was starting to drop lower in the sky. It was later than she thought and she needed to get home.
“Yes, it's time to go,” said the Snow Tree, as if reading her thoughts. “Tomorrow your mission begins, as does your brother’s.”
“Okay, I don't know if he'll come, but I'll try,” replied Zoey, turning to go home.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” promised the Snow Tree.
Chapter 5
“There’s no such thing as a talking tree,” Coda protested, as he and Zoey entered the Cornell Forest that began at the end of Cornell Avenue, one block away from their home. She’s always making up fantastic stories for attention, snorted Coda, rolling his eyes.
It was a vast forest rich with 144 acres of trees, such as Ponderosa Pines, Western Hemlocks, and some well-established clusters of Oaks and Cedars.
Zoey jumped onto a large rock. “I swear, Coda.” She hopped off the rock and picked up a pine cone off the ground. “She talked to me and she wants you to come with me today.”
Coda’s blue eyes flashed with anger and he scratched his tousled brown hair. “I know mom talked about the walking trees in Jamaica, but they didn’t really walk. It was the way their roots grew that made them look like they were walking.” He scratched his head again. “Maybe you heard the roots making sounds?”
Coda was tired of his sister creating stories that weren’t true. He stopped in stride, pointing his finger at her. “No, you’re making this up,” he said sternly, sounding just like their dad. “You always make things up.”
“No, I don’t,” Zoey said, stamping her foot on the ground. Then she started walking, following the dirt path that led from the paved street to the creek. At the creek, it forked into three directions. She turned left to follow the same path she had taken yesterday, when she had met the Snow Tree for the first time.
The PureLights of Ohm Totem Page 4