“Like what kind of word?”
He pointedly turned his head to her and glared. Apparently, he would not be sharing.
“Okay fine,” she said. “Where are we going?”
“Next stop, Palm Springs.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
SOMEHOW, PALM SPRINGS wasn’t what Livvy had expected. She had thought it might be like Beverly Hills, with rows of giant gated estates, posh restaurants and exclusive shopping. But the town itself had one main drag, a one-way street at that, and then another one-way street that went in the opposite direction. At the beginning and ends of the main street, several of the storefronts were empty and there wasn’t a high rise in sight.
Nobody was out with their dogs and nobody was sipping lattes outside the cafés. In fact, it was mostly deserted. As the buildings thinned out, SK took a road that angled off to the right, toward the steep mountains. Enormous boulders that centuries of earthquakes had tumbled down lay in disarray off to the side. At the end of the pavement, SK took a dirt road past a chain link fence that warned about trespassing on tribal land.
He passed a few small houses and derelict vehicles and finally pulled in front of the last one in the group, set apart from the other houses. When they got out of the car, Livvy understood why nobody had been on the street.
“Oh my god!” she said as the heat flooded over her.
Sitting in the air-conditioned car as the miles had rolled by, she’d had no idea how the temperature was changing. It had to be well over one hundred degrees and felt like stepping into a furnace.
“Here,” he said, giving her the box of cigars and bottle of scotch that he’d bought in L.A. “When you present these to her, make sure to use both hands.”
SK had explained that the token offerings were a standard and polite way to interact with the Cahuilla, part of the customs and the centuries-long traditions that they had developed here. He’d made it sound as though it didn’t matter if the person even smoked or drank. Even so, he’d bought the best that the liquor store had to offer.
He knocked on the front door, and Livvy watched a shadow cross in front of the peephole. She could already feel the sweat starting to trickle under her t-shirt and knew that her face must be flushed. The door opened, and an ancient woman with hair that was completely white looked at them.
“Goodness, you made excellent time,” Alvina said, smiling.
She wore a simple cotton dress with a bright floral print but also a long, pocketed vest of finely woven material, done in earth and desert tones that were difficult to bring into focus. Livvy was about to offer the cigars and scotch when the old woman reached down to a small table next to the front door. A tightly bunched bundle of sage was already smoldering in a large ashtray. She picked it up and traced the edges of the front door with the smoke, all the way around. Livvy noticed that around her wrist she wore a thin but solid bracelet of gold, encrusted with small diamonds.
When she had finished and set the bundle back in the ashtray, Livvy offered her the box of cigars and bottle of scotch, presenting them with both hands and bowing slightly, although she wasn’t sure if that was needed or not.
“Come in, friends,” said the woman, taking them and smiling. “Come in.”
She checked up and down the street and then looked up at Livvy.
“Best to get out of the heat, dear.”
She watched Livvy as she passed, followed by SK.
“You better get in here before the young one melts.”
She closed the door behind them saying, “Sit down, dear, take off your coat.”
The air conditioning was a relief, but it wasn’t as cool as the car had been. Livvy had only been outside a few minutes, but the heat had penetrated through everything. She took off her bag and her coat.
“I’ll just get some iced tea,” said the old woman, heading to the kitchen.
“Are you all right?” asked SK.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Livvy, wiping her forehead with her fingers. “It’s just so hot.”
The woman came back with two tall glasses full of ice cubes and tea. She wore her white hair short, matching her petite frame. It was combed directly back from her furrowed forehead and tucked behind her ears. Her skin, deeply tanned, was almost as deeply wrinkled. The diamond studs in her earlobes drooped but sparkled.
“This will help,” said Alvina, handing one glass to Livvy and the other to SK. “Just sip it though.”
Livvy did and then held the glass to her face. The old woman wasn’t drinking anything.
“How do you stand the heat?” Livvy asked.
The woman laughed and gave her a little wink. “You should be here when it’s hot.”
SK nodded agreement, but Livvy could not imagine it.
“Even the Water Baby usually comes at night,” Alvina said, nodding at SK.
He set his drink down on a small doily and hopped up into a chair. As Livvy wondered about the strange nickname Alvina had used, she noticed several sage bundles on the bottom shelf of the end table near SK.
“Better to travel by day right now,” SK said. “By the way, Alvina this is Livvy and Livvy this is Alvina.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Livvy, smiling.
The old woman smiled back. “Likewise, dear,” she said, taking a seat on the couch. “What’s this all about then?”
Livvy gave her the same explanation that she and SK had given to Ursula, but this time Livvy mentioned the kachina and how they had worked together. That had seemed to peak Alvina’s interest.
“A kachina you say,” she said, sitting back, gazing out the front window. “A kachina. Hmm.”
She considered it for a minute.
“Well, of course we don’t have kachinas here, but I don’t suppose you’ve got them in Los Angeles either.”
Alvina had smiled and nodded during the whole explanation, and Livvy had done the same. Unlike the meeting with Ursula, she felt welcome, as though she were bonding with another shaman, and one of some repute.
“I know this can work,” Livvy said.
“I’m sure you’re right, dear,” said Alvina, smiling. “Do let me know when it does.”
“Well, that’s why I’m here,” said Livvy, confused. “I need another shaman to do this with me.”
“Oh, dear one,” said Alvina. “I’m not even a techno-shaman.”
“You’re not?” asked Livvy, looking at SK.
“Well, that’s not quite true,” said SK. “Alvina’s being modest. She’s been all kinds of different shamans in her time.”
Alvina chuckled and shrugged.
“So, you’ve used goggles?” asked Livvy.
“Well, I might have used them once or twice,” said Alvina with a wink. “When they first came out, you know. But most of my people here like the old ways. Traditions can be time consuming, but there’s a different feel to it. I’m sure you know, dear.”
Actually, Livvy didn’t know. She’d gravitated immediately and gratefully to the technology. She was about to reply when SK finished his tea with an exaggerated, “Ahhh.”
“Thank you, Alvina,” he said, standing up. “As always, a pleasure to see you.”
She stood and smiled as well–a genuine smile, it seemed to Livvy. And yet, the meeting was over.
“It’s good to see you too, my friend,” said Alvina, nodding at him.
Livvy automatically stood as the other two had risen. “But…” she started to say to SK.
“We’re going now,” he said, cutting off conversation.
“Good luck to you, dear,” said Alvina.
“Um, thank you,” Livvy said, picking up her jacket and bag. “Thank you for the tea.”
When they were back in the car, Livvy turned her air conditioning vent directly toward her as SK started the engine.
“I wasn’t done yet,” she said. “I hadn’t even asked her.”
“Yes, you had,” he said as they pulled away from the house. “And she said no.”
“But…”
“Not in so many words,” he said. “But she knew where you were going and she wasn’t going to play. And, in her own way, she had already told you no. It would have been rude to ask again. The folks here have a very…non-confrontational style, you might say.”
Livvy looked at the houses they were passing. A curtain dropped as they drove by.
“We left the door open to some help down the line, some reciprocity for our proper behavior. At this point, that’s the best we can do here.”
“So, you never thought she’d actually go for it?”
“Oh no, she very well may, but Alvina may think about it a while first. She’s always been one to try new things, to experiment. But she’s always very careful to protect her people.”
Livvy sighed. “Well, I don’t know how we’re going to get anybody to help. It’s like a Catch-22. I can’t do it without somebody’s help and nobody will help until I do it.”
“Think of it like casting a net,” he said, as the car bounced onto the asphalt. “We may yet catch a shaman or two when Tiamat starts driving them into smaller and smaller waters.”
“By then, it might be too late,” she said.
The heat had sapped her energy and with it some of her certainty.
“You thought this would be easy?”
She shifted in her seat, trying to avoid direct sunlight, and draped her coat over her right side.
“No, not easy,” she said, watching the vacant storefronts pass. “But I think we’re running out of time.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
AS LIVVY FOLLOWED SK up the driveway, she wondered why they passed the front door. Although she felt as though she was in more familiar surroundings than Palm Springs, the grinding poverty of this part of Pacoima was shocking. She felt at home with all of the Latinos and their businesses but, without the high rises of downtown, the city had a flat border town look, pushed up against the hills of the northeast valley where the smog was thickest.
At the end of the driveway was a detached one-car garage. A rickety gate spanned the gap between it and the house.
When SK had mentioned that they’d be coming to see Carmen, he had sensed her apprehension in the car.
“Have you ever met her?” he had asked.
“No,” she had said. “But…”
Livvy didn’t think of herself as a poacher and, really, she wasn’t. The clients had sought her out.
“But what?”
“Well, a few of her clients have come to me and they’re…well, kind of my clients now.” Without waiting for his reaction she had rushed on. “I didn’t seek them out. I wasn’t hunting for them or anything.”
“All right,” he had said. “It happens. Does she know?”
Livvy didn’t know. Maybe now she was going to find out.
SK knocked on the gate. Livvy heard a door on the garage open and then the gate bolt sliding. A short, rotund woman appeared.
“Hello, Carmen,” said SK.
“Gallito,” she said to SK, then checked the driveway. She looked at Livvy, eyes lingering on her hair and then on her bag.
“She’s clean,” said SK.
Livvy couldn’t help but smile. Gallito, little rooster–how appropriate.
“Sorry,” said Carmen, as she pulled the gate open. As they passed by she said, “No guns, no knives, no drugs.”
The converted garage was barely more than a real garage, with a few pieces of furniture, a carpet remnant and a couple of floor fans, one of which was running. Overhead were a couple of long fluorescent tubes in a flimsy metal fixture. Carmen closed the door behind them. It was stifling.
“Livvy, I’d like you to meet Carmen,” said SK, hopping onto a folding chair.
Carmen offered her hand but Livvy hesitated. She hadn’t shaken hands with any of the other shamans and this opportunity had taken her by surprise. She hadn’t discharged the static electricity to anything.
As Carmen started to withdraw her hand, Livvy quickly clasped it. The spark was clearly audible and Carmen jerked her hand back.
“Sorry!” said Carmen, before Livvy could even mention the Santa Anas.
Carmen wore an off-white muumuu that nearly touched her feet. Hanging from her thick neck were a silver chain and a small pearl pendant. She looked as though she colored her own hair since Livvy could see the gray that was right on top.
“Nice to meet you,” Livvy ventured, but Carmen was already turning away.
Livvy looked at SK, who looked down at the ground where she was standing. Livvy looked at the floor but didn’t see anything.
Carmen had gone to sit in a well-worn recliner that looked like it was permanently in a semi-reclining position.
Livvy looked back at SK, and he pointed downward and mouthed the word “sit”. After a quick look around, she realized the only two chairs in the place were now occupied. She sat down cross-legged where she was standing.
Livvy looked over at Carmen, who was fidgeting her fingers. She had heard this about Carmen from her former clients. In fact, clients were one of the few ways for shamans to get information about one another, but the woman would not make eye contact. Livvy looked over at SK, but he returned a blank look to her.
Carmen started to calm down, her fingers moving less frantically. Livvy took the opportunity to look around the cramped space. Carmen used fake electric candles with tiny flickering LEDs perched along the exposed two-by-four joists in the walls. As her gaze drifted upward, though, Livvy was shocked.
In the vaulted and unfinished roof, hundreds–possibly thousands–of tiny skeletons were suspended. Most of them had wings, small Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, angels. Some were painted in neon colors that glowed faintly. The tallest might have been a foot in length, but most were six inches or shorter, suspended horizontally as though they were flying to and fro. Some wore sombreros. One ghoulish couple was dressed as a bride and groom. There were even entire families. Livvy was familiar with the Day of the Dead skulls and skeletons, but the sheer volume of this display was overwhelming. They filled every space from the plywood of the roof right down to three or four feet below it, like a floating ocean of brightly colored bones.
“Maybe you see my army,” said Carmen.
“Your army?” asked Livvy.
Carmen looked up. “My army of light. These are my helpers, my little people,” she said, smiling up at them.
Livvy looked up. “They’re beautiful,” she said.
“Ha,” said Carmen, smiling. “Maybe only another shaman would think so.”
Livvy felt some of her apprehension fall away.
“How’re you doing, Carmen?” asked SK.
Carmen tore her gaze away from the army and waved her hand furiously in front of her face, as though a bee were buzzing there.
“Sorry,” she said, her hands calming down but her fingers fidgeting again. “Very bad. You know.”
“Yes, I’ve heard,” he said.
“Maybe you know,” Carmen said, pointing at Livvy.
“Yeah, I know.”
Carmen nodded, gravely serious.
“Livvy may have an answer,” said SK.
Carmen stopped nodding and looked at him, then at Livvy.
“I know a way to hook two goggles together so that two shamans can work together,” she said. “I was also able to work with a kachina.”
Carmen’s eyebrows flew upward at the mention of the kachina.
“What are you doing with a kachina?” Then realizing how blunt she’d been, she quickly followed up with “Sorry!”
“That’s okay,” said Livvy. “Don’t be sorry. I don’t really know what I’m doing with a kachina, actually. He kind of found me.”
Although Livvy didn’t understand it, it seemed to make perfect sense to Carmen, who nodded once.
“Sorry, what do you do when you get over there?” she asked.
Livvy had been about to say ‘not to be sorry’ again until she realized she’d be saying that a lot.
“I
haven’t worked with a shaman yet,” said Livvy. “That’s why I’m here. I need someone to try it with me.”
“Ohhh,” said Carmen quietly, rocking in the recliner.
Livvy looked between SK and Carmen and waited. Carmen hadn’t said no, like the others. Livvy had never heard bad things about her but some of her clients were uncomfortable with the neighborhood and sometimes weirded out by Carmen herself. As Livvy looked up to the roof in the claustrophobic little garage, she understood why. Even her apartment was better than this. She felt pity for the poor woman.
“Sorry, I can’t help you,” Carmen said, shaking her head. “No, I don’t think I’m the one. I’m sorry.” She kept shaking her head. “Sorry.”
“But I’m never gonna be able to do it if somebody doesn’t help me,” said Livvy, disappointment in her voice.
Carmen put her hands to the sides of her face and rocked in the chair. “Ohhh,” she moaned.
Livvy looked at SK but he only shrugged.
“Please, Carmen,” Livvy said. “I can’t do this alone.”
Slowly, as though her own hands were moving her head, she shook it from side to side. “Maybe, I have to think,” she said finally.
That had not been what Livvy was expecting to hear.
“Oh, okay,” she said, smiling. “Yeah, definitely, think about it.”
Carmen went back to fidgeting her fingers in her lap. SK stood up but Carmen remained seated.
“We’ll see ourselves out,” he said.
Livvy took that as her cue and stood up.
“Thank you for taking the time to see us,” said Livvy.
But Carmen didn’t acknowledge either of them. She was glancing up at the ceiling and fidgeting.
As they left, SK said, “I’ll call you later.”
When they were back in the car, Livvy asked, “Do you think she’ll do it?”
“Hard to say,” he said.
“Well, I think we’re getting closer. I think she’s gonna do it,” Livvy said. “I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
LIVVY LOOKED DOWN from the windswept bluff and its commanding view of the Malibu coastline far below it. They couldn’t be farther away from Pacoima if they’d been on the other side of this ocean, she thought, gazing toward the horizon.
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