Riley noticed how uncomfortable Sarina was becoming and wanted to help move her away from her obvious discomfort. “Do you know what causes them?”
Sarina wiped her eyes and composed herself. “My research about these pulses revealed interesting facts. I discovered that cells of the human body contain structures that store information from the beginning of time. These informational nodes are passed on from parent to offspring thus connecting us all to each other and to Source. This information is also passed on from lifetime to lifetime through a type of spirit transfer after death yet before rebirth thus ensuring the passage of information to all humans. Are you following me?”
“I heard what you’re saying, but I think it’s a fantastical story. I’ve never heard of it or read about it.” Riley was adamant about his disbelief.
Sarina just stared at Riley and continued with a stern voice, “My further research directed me toward energy imagery, and I discovered scientific data supporting the presence of auras and cellular energy unconfined to the cell walls of living beings. New technology is in place that creates imagery with sophisticated cameras and plates. These images reveal energetic light along and outside the borders of cell walls in plants and animals.”
What Sarina was saying obviously made no sense to Riley even though he was the man with the scientific/logical mind.
“The transference of cellular knowledge can be done on an energetic level. Physics tells us that matter is simply various levels of energetic vibration with atomic particles always in motion. From my research, I concluded that all energy can be exchanged from one life form to another and when the vibration is matched the information flows without resistance such as what you experienced with my sister both 30 years ago and a few days ago. In essence, Riley, you were a vibrational match with Ann.”
This explanation satisfied Sarina’s need to solve this piece of the mystery. The match explained the placement of Riley’s name in her dream. Sarina just smiled at Riley as she pieced this part of the puzzle together. She felt a warm sensation come over her and wondered if this was a feeling for Riley or possibly some sense of self-gratification for being so articulate and intelligent. Was the feeling an affirmation from her guides, which, after all, was also a sensation of love?
Riley gazed back at Sarina with a face-twisting look and Sarina just exhaled. Riley blushed when he began to sense some feelings for Sarina until now undetected by him.
Sarina reached across the table and touched Riley’s hand. Instantly, the same electricity from those many years ago jumped from her hand to his, and his eyes revealed his deeper connection with Sarina. Sarina was now certain that he had no interest in the server in the coffee shop and smiled.
Riley was less surprised when he felt the electric pulse now and his reaction was more of a peaceful sensation than that of alarm. Riley continued, “When I found Ann’s body, I was searching for any clues and noticed a small chain dangling from her clenched hand. I took hold of her hand and opened it to reveal a bracelet. As I took the bracelet from her hand, I felt the same electrical pulse I had felt 30 years ago. In fact it was just like the electrical pulse I felt when you touched my hand now. I was surprised as I knew she was dead and wasn’t expecting anything from her body let alone an electric shock.
Sarina said, “In the research I’ve read regarding the transference of electrical impulses from one cell to another, I also read that these electrical impulses can remain long after the physical death of an organism occurs. I can’t say how long they last but I’ve seen images of plant leaves where a portion of the leaf was removed but the energetic outline remained.”
“I’ve seen those images as well in a scientific journal I once read. I thought it had to be some kind of a joke and I certainly never imagined that it might be possible with humans.” Riley shook his head as if he were pondering but was not quite ready to accept this theory in its complete form. He was beginning to challenge his own logical mind, which wanted to remain in control, but the dream and the sensation he had just experienced when Sarina touched him was pushing hard against his logical way of thinking.
After a few moments of pondering this information, Riley spoke again. “To be completely honest, I was not sure it was you I needed to contact. I examined the bracelet and written on the charms was name of a person, Ann, along with your name and your mother’s name and on the other side was an inscription that read ‘Keep this bracelet with you always, it holds a key.’ Do you know the bracelet, Sarina?”
“I don’t. Ann never spoke of it to me but maybe I just wasn’t listening when she tried. I blamed Ann for what I perceived she had done. I thought she had stolen my father’s affection from me. I really did want to let that time in my life go. I guess it was too painful. It wasn’t until much later that I realized I needed to face my father’s insensitivity, which led to the deterioration of the relationship, and that it was his fault and not Ann’s at all. As for the bracelet, again I don’t remember it”
After a brief pause, Riley went on, “The name, Ann, on one of the charms had no particular meaning, but when I put the sensation I felt as I touched Ann together with her name on one of the charms, the same sensation from thirty years ago flooded back into my memory. Then when I noticed your and Mona’s names on the bracelet, the pieces clicked and I felt something like a gentle nudge against my back as if I was being pushed slightly forward.”
“Ah, your guides …” Sarina said.
“Guides?”
“Yes …” Sarina said. “Guides are around each person all the time and even if the person does not believe they exist, they remain. These guides help individuals mainly during transitional times. They offer a path during the process called ‘free will choices.’” Sarina paused waiting for Riley to show some signs of belief. “How many times have you been faced with a decision and you process your choices over and over until you finally, quite simply make a choice?”
“Okay! I never thought of it that way. I always weigh out the pros and cons and make a logical choice between two options.”
“You do use your logical mind, sometimes referred to as ego, and it serves you well. But that is all it does, serve you. Your essence is made up of four bodies, the Mind Body, the Emotion Body, the Soul Body, and the Spirit Body. Each of these bodies is of equal importance, none greater than the other. Balance occurs when these bodies are all in alignment. Does that make sense?”
“I suppose.”
“Look, here’s an example. You’re faced with a decision and you think you ought to choose one direction. The direction appears like the logical choice but you just don’t feel good about it. When you follow the Mind Body plan and you are not aligned in the Emotion Body, the plan you follow does not work out so well and morphs into some sort of altered outcome, which can be frustrating or disappointing. Does that sound familiar?”
“Sure, this happens a lot to me as a detective. I look at the evidence and weigh it all out for clarity. Even as I think I know what occurred and who is involved, I sometimes have a hunch that something is missing or simply not right. Every single time this has happened and I follow my hunch, I discover some truth that had been hidden from me. When I don’t follow that hunch, I rarely feel right about the outcome.”
“That’s what I mean. One of my sons applied to an art school for drama. He said he wanted to get in and we scheduled an audition. He seemed prepared and enthusiastic about the audition. We went and he did his audition and we were all convinced he was going to make the cut. A few weeks later he got the rejection letter and I was stunned. It turned out that his decision to audition had come solely from his mind body and was not aligned with his emotion body. He later admitted that he was doing the audition, not for himself, but for me. And because of that mind-emotion conflict, he did not get accepted into the program. How’s that for an example?”
“Okay, maybe there is something to this but I’m not sure,” Riley said. “I’ve never looked at these experiences this way before now.
“No, not really,” he shrugged.
“I can see your energy has shifted and you have changed from being closed and shadowed to expansive and bright. Do you have a sense of connection to everything?”
“If I let go of what I know, then maybe I may have just felt a gentle nudge again. Are these my guides or did I just feel uneasy in my stomach?”
Sarina said smiling, “I’d say likely so, uh, the former. As you embrace these sensations, be with it. Try not to allow your ego to attempt control. You may feel thoughts in your mind telling you this is nonsense and the logical part of you may try to explain this away. There is a phrase people who are unsure of these invisible sides of life use when discussing these feelings. Maybe you have heard of it, ‘Woo-woo’?” Sarina laughed.
Riley also let out a chuckle. “Yeah, I’ve used the phrase and I have been known to twirl my finger in a circle next to my head at the same time, although you make it sound so believable.” His face opened up with a wide grin.
A sweet moment between Sarina and Riley emerged to reveal a sense of deeper connection that took Sarina by surprise. As a woman, Sarina knew this feeling all too well. This attraction to Riley made her ponder the mixed feelings and her thoughts (getting a bit too close, aren’t we?), but she wasn’t able to ignore the warm gentle nudge of her guides pressing her to move in closer to Riley.
“I have some questions for you, Sarina.”
The feeling faded as Sarina shifted from her Emotion Body solidly back to her Mind Body. “What?”
“Have you found out about your mom yet?” he asked.
“Uh, no, I mean sort of. I called her minister and he was of little help. He seemed self-centered and I could tell that he was more interested in my mom’s lack of church attendance because he was missing her tithing.” Sarina paused to gather her thoughts away from how handsome Riley was with his flowing hair gracefully graying along the sides.
“I received a call from my old partner last night. She said you had called her with questions about your mom. She said I ought to talk with you about the conversation you two had had.” Riley was also fending off thoughts about Sarina’s beauty and how she was more beautiful in her middle age than she was as a teen. As a child she was lanky and hardened, but as an adult, Sarina had become attractive and sensuous. Yet he could tell that she was closed off. He wondered if he was letting down his own barriers and was more able to feel as opposed to think his emotions.
Sarina took a deep breath. “I called the police department and talked with Detective Banderas …”
“I haven’t heard from Jennifer in a long time. Was she helpful?” he said with a smile. A slight feeling of jealousy came over Sarina. For just an instant, Riley thought he noticed a change in Sarina’s expression. Her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
For the briefest moment, Sarina looked away as she told Riley her story. She related all of what Jennifer shared with her about the case. Riley trusted Jennifer and was able to see the events of Sarina’s mom’s disappearance from a different angle given his new outlook from his conversation with Sarina. Jennifer had already known about Mona and her family’s history and Riley had been gone for thirty years so there was little or no information Riley was able to offer to assist in her investigation.
“She was very helpful and put two and two together and remembered about the incident at my house those thirty years ago. She seems to be a good detective.”
Riley pondered this for a brief moment and said, “She is actually a great detective. In light of this new evidence of Sarina’s mom’s disappearance, Riley asked, “Do you want me to go with you to the coroner’s office?”
“Yes, thank you.” She reached out and took Riley’s hand in her own in gratitude. The electricity was very intense yet not painful.
Chapter - Six
Riley released Sarina’s hand and noticed a tinge of red in her face. They got up from their table in silence, catching a glance at each other not knowing what to say. They walked the few blocks to the coroner’s office a little closer to one another than normal and soaked in the morning breeze as the San Francisco fog slowly receded out to sea revealing the top of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. These moments, as they walked, somehow showed them the beauty of their world despite the numbing duty Sarina was about to perform.
Dana was watching from a distance, his shadowy form distinctly approving what he had just witnessed. Dana slipped away into the hordes of commuters and tourists content to wait for the phone call he knew was about to come.
The final autopsy revealed nothing to help solve the mystery of Ann’s death. Given the unusual nature and circumstances of Ann’s murder, the chief medical examiner was particularly thorough and left no stone unturned. She found no lacerations or wounds anywhere on the body and the body showed no signs of a struggle. No known toxins had been introduced into her body and all her body chemistry had been normal. This stumped the medical examiner. She had never seen anything like this in her 35 years working in the greater San Francisco area. The cause of death on the death certificate was listed as “unknown.”
Sarina and Riley walked through the process of claiming Ann’s body. Sarina’s decision to have it cremated felt like the appropriate choice given the situation. Sarina and Riley stood over Ann’s body and in silence they both reached down and touched her hand, first Sarina and then Riley. The electrical pulse was faint but still present for both to feel. Sarina sensed it was Ann’s way of saying good bye, for now.
As they turned to leave, both felt a slight tremor from the floor. The rumble rolled through for a second or two. They turned towards the medical examiner, but she was busy preparing Ann’s body for cremation apparently not aware of any tremor or rumble.
San Francisco, so well-known for earthquakes, was a city of constant transformation. The occupants of the city were so familiar with ground movement that a slight tremor was as natural as opening a door before entering a room. Still, this tremor unnerved non-natives Sarina and Riley for a brief moment. The idea of feeling something so obvious to them and seemingly not to others was unsettling.
An appointment was made for Sarina to retrieve Ann’s remains the following morning, which gave her some time to reflect on the events of the morning.
Riley turned to Sarina and said, "Generally the cremation process takes 48 hours, but there are exceptions and I was able to expedite the process.”
“Thank you Riley. The sooner I can get past this, the better I’ll feel. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and the idea of this process getting completed relieves some of the stress I have been feeling lately. I hope that does not sound too callous, but I don’t operate so well when I’m not in control of the situation.”
“No. not at all. I can only imagine how you must feel with all of this to shoulder.” Riley had some catch up to do in his office so they said their goodbyes, this time with a gentle hug, the pulse was ever present. Sarina had turned towards home and had begun to walk away when Riley turned and asked her out to dinner. This took Sarina somewhat by surprise yet not completely. She looked a Riley for brief second and said “Yes.”
Riley beamed. “I’ll call you later with the details!”
Sarina smiled, turned, and walked back towards her apartment. She mentally paused to reflect on a jumble of feelings. Her anger, frustration, and grief caught up with her. Ann had been murdered the day before. Her sadness was real and yet Riley’s asking her out made her happy, a feeling she had not experienced in a long time.
She walked by The Academy of Music and paused. The familiar flute music was not playing, having been replaced by an upbeat song with drums and vocals recounting the beauty of the spiritual world by an unfamiliar artist. The music was fun and she decided to stop in a find out more about the artist. The owner said hello and gave Sarina a big hug. The owner was a native South African of some g
reat size who said in her sweet Zulu accent, “I have never seen you so bright. What has happened to you? Are you in love?” Sarina released from the hug that squeezed the breath from her body. “Siphokazi, let me catch my breath! I don’t know what I feel other than light and breezy. What is this music?”
“Ah…the music of the Sangoma, Yes, very, very healing.”
“I love this music. Is it available as a CD?”
“Oh no, sister, it is music from my land and is not for sale.”
“Can I borrow the music and make a recording for myself?”
“Oh no, sister, I will give you a copy only for you. As my name means gift, so shall this be a gift for you. Now go home and the gift will be waiting.”
Siphokazi was originally from Africa and moved to the States as a way to share her culture with Westerners. Her agenda was to help expand the minds and hearts of the Western world and to open a mystic music shop.
Sarina met Siphokazi some years ago and wrote an article about her for a magazine her publisher, Mary owned. Sarina learned quite a bit about Siphokazi’s Sangoma roots through interviews and they became fast friends but even as their friendship grew, the large woman remained somewhat of a mystery to Sarina.
Siphokazi talked about her home land and often referred to “Greater beings” but never elaborated on what that meant. Siphokazi often motioned with her hands toward the sky when she spoke of the greater beings, but when Sarina asked about these beings Siphokazi only put her index finger to her mouth and looked at Sarina with great concern in her eyes and told her, “all in good time.”
Sarina thanked Siphokazi and walked out into the street. Sarina wondered why Siphokazi was not playing the flute music she loved so much. As Sarina left the store, Siphokazi turned and greeted Dana, who had materialized from a far corner of the store. They laughed together and embraced, as if they knew each other.
The Song_A mysterious tale of the Mayan spirit world and the Mayan calendar Page 12