1. The Woman
In the green meadow with the bright yellow flowers, I met the young woman, and I followed her toward the gleaming white City in the distance. Around her neck, I had noticed, she wore a silver pendant shaped like a six-pointed star, a Star of David, I thought. I wondered if she were Jewish. I caught up with her so that we could walk side by side. I also noticed that we were following a path of sorts that kept us from trodding on the lovely flowers. I looked over at her and asked her what her name was. Rachel, she replied, smiling.
He walked through the meadow
On a sultry summer’s day,
With a dark-haired Jewish woman,
Custodian of the Way.
2. The Flower
“Do the flowers also have a name?” I asked since I had never seen yellow flowers like these before. My experience was mostly with daffodils in the spring time and chrysanthemums in the fall.
“They do,” she replied. “They are called amaranthus, that’s the genus, I think. The single flower is an amaranth.” She reached down and picked one of the flowers, held it close to my face where I could experience its fragrance, then put it in her dark hair where it seemed to take on a life of its own. With the flower in her hair and her in the western sunlight, she looked as if she had acquired a halo. “The leaves are actually edible,” she added, looking down at the path.
She picked a golden blossom
And fixed it in her hair;
He saw her as an Angel,
Ethereal and rare.
3. The Unicorn
As we neared the small City of shining splendor, she took my hand. I thought I felt an electric spark between us as our hands touched, but it was probably just wishful thinking on my part. Or maybe not. I was hopeful.
She looked over at me; she was about an inch or so shorter than my five foot ten, putting us on equal footing, more or less, I chuckled to myself. At this point in my life, I had no real idea how I had gotten into the woods or what I was doing in this meadow with this lovely woman. “What City is this?” I asked Rachel. “And what might I expect there? You also knew there was a Unicorn in the woods. I thought unicorns were nonexistent mythological beasts or at least extinct since they were supposed to have missed the Ark.” I let my last comment slide into a question.
“Well, Jacob, you are a little mistaken. There is only one Unicorn and you were fortunate to have seen him. Not many do.”
Unicorns are magical creatures,
But only one is known to be.
Some say he’s the incarnation
Of the Holy One and Three.
4. The Man
“How do you know my name?” I asked. “I don’t remember telling you.”
“No, you haven’t told me, though I might say that it’s written on your forehead and broadcast in your smile. And everyone who knows you calls you Jake. As for the City it’s called Dominion. After the Angel that protects it.”
Angels and Unicorns—
A town called Dominion:
Next we’ll seek the Wizard,
But that’s just my fool opinion!
5. The City
We had reached the outskirts of Dominion when Rachel stopped and turned toward me, an unreadable expression on her face and kindness in her lovely green eyes. Her blue dress rustled slightly about her legs in the gentle breeze blowing through the City. There were shops of various kinds lining each side of the main street, offering for sale anything a traveler might need. After a moment’s hesitation, she said, “I must leave you for a time and a time and a half. Stay on the central way, down the main street. Buy what you need.” Here she handed me a wallet containing five or six bills of curious denomination. “When you reach the white building at the end of the street, climb the steps and enter. You will know what to do when you are in there.”
Why must you leave, I started to ask when there was an electric charge and a light shimmering in the air around her and she just vanished, disappeared in the blink of an eye, was consumed by the light that hurt my eyes as I watched, astonished.
Supernatural excitement abounds,
The lady in blue was whisked away;
The man in the street felt lost and alone,
Deserted, bereft, heartsick, on the Way.
6. The Creature
While I suffered the loss of Rachel, I understood that the only thing to do was follow her instructions. At least, I thought, there shouldn’t be any wild beasts here. That was when I saw down the alleyway between two shops on my left, a large grey Creature that looked too much like a wolf for comfort. Stay on the main street, she said, and I shall prosper. Well, she didn’t say that exactly and so far I hadn’t seen an Angel. I saw the beast disappear behind the nearest shop on the left. I hoped it wasn’t stalking me, for I had had enough of that today, and besides, night was coming on, I thought, as I saw the sun sinking lower in the west toward the roofs of the shops. I need to get to the building at the end of the street. Then I smelled a delicious aroma of grilled meat coming from the nearest building on the left. Home cooking, the sign in the window said.
Unless there’s a wolf deep in the shadows,
Life in the City proceeds at a pace;
Keep a lookout for the beast who is hungry,
Running for dear life is not a disgrace.
7. The Restaurant
I entered the little restaurant of the great smells, sat down in a booth on the far wall to the right. A large woman with red hair and wearing a brown apron over her dress, with her name stitched over her heart, approached me with a menu and notepad in her hand. She gave me the menu and asked if I needed a moment. I glanced at the menu, saw that it was an list of various kinds of omelets. “Ah,“ I said looking up at her. “I’ll have the large, five-egg cheese and sautéed onion omelet with home fries and ketchup, a large rasher of crispy bacon, a large orange juice and a tall glass of water.” The name, stitched on her apron, said “Grace.” She smiled down at me, a twinkle in her eyes, and said, “Coming up. I’ll bring the drinks directly.”
“Thank you,” I replied, as she turned to go; “you’re welcome,” floated back over her moving shoulders.
I hadn’t eaten anything all day and I was hungry. The medium omelet was made with three eggs but I went large, hoping I had enough currency to pay for all the food. I could always wash dishes, I thought, as Grace returned with the two drinks.
Good food will nourish a fine healthy body,
As well as nourish a right-centered soul;
Pleasure ignored in the act of eating
Will in the long run exact a grim toll.
8. The Knife
The omelet was excellent, I thought, as I rose to pay the check; I didn’t miss the steak I had smelled before entering the cozy restaurant. I handed the red-haired waitress the three bills required for the food and gave her an extra bill for her good and pleasant service.
“Thank you,” she said, as I made for the door, and then she added a hearty, “Stay safe,” as I walked out into the street. I turned right and headed toward the white building about a half a block farther. I passed a shoe shop, a dress shop, something that looked like a hardware store, only that one of its many tools seemed to be weapons. I entered the shop, thinking that I would see if my one remaining bill could get me a knife of some sort. I found a case filled with knives of varying sizes and shapes. A young man of indiscernible age, dressed in black slacks and a green pullover shirt with a chest pocket, came from the back of the store and asked if he could help me. I pointed to a five inch, black-handled knife with a flip-out blade and asked him how much it cost. When he said five credits, I inwardly groaned, but I thought in good faith I ought to check the wallet Rachel had given me. When I pulled it from a back pocket and opened it, I found that there were exactly five bills there, presumably, just as when Rachel had given it to me. I handed the young man the bills and took the knife. It was beautiful.
Weapons are willful, they’re cutting edge tools,
Sharp and effective, especially when thrown;
Best keep it folded and hidden away,
Lest you discover it’s discord you’ve sown.
9. The Street
Back on the City street, I passed a bakery. Through the window I saw slightly tilted shelves containing savory-looking loaves of fresh bread, as well as a variety of sweet rolls, some with frostings of varying colors and textures. Though I was no longer hungry, I was tempted to enter, since the smells coming from the shop were almost magically enticing. Nevertheless, I hurried on past, and past a print shop this side of the white building, a temple or church, I decided, though there were no signs outside to indicate which. In any case I started up the three steps leading to the heavy church doors. As I put my foot on the first step, I heard a deep growl, coming from my left side. I glanced over and saw the coming towards me. I started to reach for the knife as I dashed up the two remaining steps; instead, I grabbed the metal door handle and pulled. Thankfully, it opened just as the large wolf leaped for my back.
Every City has a church, some have two or three;
If, as many people say, there’s only One true God,
Why would a City have so many churches?
You’d think City people might find that real odd.
10. The Church
As I stumbled inside the dark of the Church, I was surprised to discover that the claws of the Wolf had raked my back. The pain was for the moment so intense that I immediately sank to the carpeted floor of the Church and passed out.
When I awoke my back burned from the claws of the Wolf, but there was intense sunlight streaming through the stained glass at the front of the Church. I seemed to have been unconscious the entire night.
The light at the front was a rich array of myriad colors surrounding a central image of a large white Unicorn, much like the one I had glimpsed in the woods. I struggled to my feet. Rachel was coming down the central aisle. She was wearing a red dress this time that fell just below her knees. She was no longer wearing the silver six-pointed Star of David. Instead she had on a golden chain with a circular gold pendant. The image on it was that of a Unicorn.
“Good morning, Jake” she greeted me with a broad smile. She no longer had the yellow flower in her dark hair but there was still a luminescence about her as if she were herself an angelic being. “I’m sorry you were hurt getting here, but I can heal you if you will take my hand,” she continued, offering me her hand.
“I believe you,” I said taking her hand in mine. Immediately the pain in my back disappeared and a fantastic series of images began to play out in my mind. The last was that of a bright Golden Gate with an intense, shining white light behind it. Still holding her hand I stepped through.
Images in the mind are real sometimes,
Sometimes again they are not.
Gates are made to open and close,
A truth some might have forgot.
