BANANA PATCH FANTASY PRODUCTIONS
FACING SUNRIZE, part II
Chapter 8, page 1
Harmony awoke slowly before sunrize. There were still stars in the sky, with the faint hue of lavender glowing luminously on the fringes of the horizon. As the blackness of the night became the light of dawn, dreams and memories sifted back into her consciousness. In endless patterns, overlapping each other, the ancient drama of her soul's journey was revealing itself.
She could hear clearly beyond the shifting visions as light swallowed the darkness. She wanted it to make sense. "Life is not pointless" she thought. She could hear her voice echoing in the cathedral of her mind. Who was this person, numb and out of control? She was seeking refuge, unwilling to be derailed by this absurd 20th Century reality that soiled everything it touched.Birds cooed in their nests again. They too waited for the dawning. All night the lovers in their tree nests had slept in sweet embrace. Maji and
Harmony too within their bamboo dome beside the lively waterfall, fell asleep embracing, but as dawn approached, they had pulled away, each into their own dreams.
Harmony looked at the man beside her. Could she measure up to his love? His incredible beauty rested now. There was no strain or frustration in the eyes or lips. Where did he go? Was he reaching deeply into his essence, as she was, trying to find the meaning of his being. Of his great individual Self. She looked up through the poles of the bamboo dome as a flash of light caught the side of her eye. Long golden fingers of light were reaching the tops of the trees. The mango grove was old and the trees were very tall, reaching 60-80 feet or more. Greeting the dawn, all the forest birds took flight together. It was as if the trees exploded with feathers and light. They flew in diamonds across the
sky in delirious delight, calling to the Sun to witness their morning offering of flight.
Harmony's heart too exploded with wordless ecstasy. Light...after so many years of darkness. She forgot that now. She was remembering her dream. Her pulse rose with the ebb of morning light. She sat, still in the shadows of the night within the dome. The light was beckoning her to hillside.
The sound of the waterfall was incessant. It bounced from the rocks in every direction. It's melody was ever changing and she listened to the joyous overflow of sounds. Something was in the air. All of life was stirring. Scuttling, scurrying, slinking, surveying ....Everything was so alive. She felt so invigorated. Her heart was beating in her chest. But she was not ready to let go of her dream yet, and felt as though she were free falling back into it. So she lay back and closed her eyes. She sighed deeply and floated comfortably
without straining to see or hear. She was just feeling the forest. The air was so sweet. She was perhaps dreaming when she smelled the familiar odoriferous pine of her village forest.
She was running through the forest when she stopped suddenly. She saw the ocean before her, the great brilliant blue depths, stretching forever to where it joined with the sky somewhere at the end of the horizon.
Suddenly she was back in the dome on Maui in the forest with Maji. Her eyes were out of focus, so she stepped back, what seemed to be a few feet, but found herself hovering over the whole island looking down. Strangely, she could still see their camp. Beyond that image, there was another more ancient view of Maui. There were great masses of land then, that now have collapsed back into the sea. Then there was the great city of Oulda, capitol of the fabled land once called Lemuria. She was seated upon her flying Pegasus
Kuivato, observing. Someone inside of her knew the meaning of this vision. Harmony did not. But recalling it made her chuckle. She could see herself beside Maji, inside the little dome sleeping, so well hidden in the sacred little gorge. Could all this really be true. How could she be Jzurlea and Harmony...and Lemurlalo? Was it some kind of joke or just insanity.
How could she be so much here now, inside of Harmony, knowing her thoughts, discovering life with her, feeling and loving through her, knowing she was Jzurlea also, there in the piney forest of the first plateau. She could feel and hear the intoxicating beat of the drum, pounding in her mind. Her thoughts evaporated into the tribal chants that erased her restless wandering.
******************************************************
Lali's dear grandmother, Sittingjing-gongala was sitting by the hearth, shelling the seeds they used for porridge. The fire was burning nicely, and the rocks were almost ready to transfer to the water in the ceramic pot nearby. Lali was sitting nearby, grinding the seeds to a fine flour. Tumbala watched from the mat near the hearth where she waited for Gongi to throw her a tidbit. Jzurlea could still see these things. It felt like she could just step back into that life and time and forget that she was someone she knew now as Harmony. If only she could find the little flying machine again.
"It must still be on the beach somewhere" she thought. "I'll find it today. I really have to get back to Grandma." Being in the jungle helped her remember a lot of things. "It seems, all I have to do is listen and all the secrets naturally unfold," she mused. Safely hidden in the depth of the jungle, she felt like there was a precious secret about herself she was ready to know. She felt like a seed within a stone, within the fruit... undiscovered by the world... still pure, sweet, uncontaminated. She would be ready to know soon. But for now, she drifted in her cocoon spinning her fantasy.
She became aware of herself again when Maji, still asleep, turned onto his stomach so she had to shift her position beside him. She had been so absorbed in her own drama within, she forgot she was still in the dome with Maji, and felt as though she'd been ripped apart. For a moment she struggled with the distraction from her deep concentration, but was pleasantly aroused when she opened her eyes and saw him laying there beside her. His black curly hair was tousled about his muscular golden shoulders. He made her body throb. She longed for him to share her fantasy. To remember...or at least try to believe he really was Hokami. She wanted to believe in Hokami...that such a being existed; a being that was the unspoken part of herself, that which complemented the wholeness of her soul. A lover that would not abuse or deceive her. A lover that would protect her virtue and guide her when she reverted to weakness of character.
A collaboration of inspired friendship. If only they could learn to play music together. If only they could create a union that would be a benefit to all Humanity. So many relationships only served to degrade her in the past. She knew Maji was different. He was the one with conscience and integrity. He was the compassionate sage that proves God's Grace. Would he ever remember his real Self? Will he find the passageway within himself and go through it? Would they ever go back to the pine tree forest together?
Fruit flies were already busy, and the whole forest was humming with them. The Overture began slowly. She listened. She could feel the love, everywhere. She felt like she was in a cocoon. She was looking out and the world was like a crystal; shiny...and safe. She would have to break through soon though. The time would come for miracles. Although she wanted to stay with Maji, time would not stand still. She realized that. But she did really want to stay a little longer within this little warmth they had woven together. And
although she dreamed of the moment of chrysalis, she could not, or did not know how, to take the giant step it required to break through her own illusions. One cannot just go thru the motions...one must "feel" the positive vibration deeply in one's own heart. One's motivation is key in transforming from innocence....to Being the Guardian. Bringing the blessing....If only one could find the love in one's own heart....."I must allow the bliss to wash away the burden each one bears just to draw a breath" she thought. "One has passed
thru the nights of weeping, of fretting...just letting it go...That is the path of healing."
Maji moved again, and groaned. He was waking up. He reached over and tickled her. There was something so pleasing about his touch. He seemed to know when and how to touch her. He was sensitive and physic. She ran her palm along the curve of his spine. She saw his skin pucker like chicken skin. She felt the wave too. He turned over and smiled, rubbing his eyes. He sighed and sat up and gave her a quiet tender kiss on the lips before getting up to take a leak. Quickly he disappeared through the dense foliage, leaving her alone.
She lay there in the cool morning, peacefully moving through the layers within her that Time had deposited over millenniums. The images were coming and going freely, even as the leaves of the trees moved the shafts of light that were finally reaching the forest floor.
She could see herself as a child again, and Sittingjing-gongala was sitting on her great grizzly bearskin, endlessly plaiting sheaves of long grass, her nimble fingers seeing now for her eyes, as she told Lali stories of old. Stories so old that very few persons alive in the village remembered them. Slowly Harmony began to be aware of a sound she was hearing off in the distance, like many owls hooting, or chanting. It intrigued her, so she listened
more closely as it became more audible. Suddenly, Lali saw the Owl Woman again, and a girl lay on the ground near her with a bite on her ankle. The girl was rubbing her leg because it hurt so much.
Then the Owl Woman manifested a beautiful ouva fruit and approaching the girl, handed it to her. The fruit was different from any food Lali had ever seen before. It was red and juicy and deliciously sweet. It looked and moved like cherry jello. She could sort of see through the flesh of the fruit like a frosty window.
Harmony knew she was that girl and that girl was Lali (Jzurlea). Then she saw the Pyramid. As Lali was eating the ouva, the Owl Woman began doing a jig around the pyramid. As she did this, she changed from her human form to a small owl. The owl's claws scratched the ground as she danced, revealing a golden orb, inscribed with hieroglyphic images. In the center of the orb,was the eye, that the hieroglyphs encircled. Harmony brushed the excess earth away from the orb so she could see the exquisite detail better. As she did this the orb
began to rize on hinges, and the hooting sound was loud, and no longer muffled. She could see there was a chamber beneath the pyramid, and began to peer through the tiny opening. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the interior, she realized she was inside now, standing in the vestibule where long tunnels, branched out in all directions like hallways, leading to destinations unfathomable. There was a light shining eerily down a tunnel where the hooting seemed to be coming from. It revealed compartments along it's length all hand
carved from the rock.
Harmony sat up. She was trembling. The tunnel reminded her of the long hallway that led to her Grandmother's apartment on Thompson Street. That's where she mostly lived while growing up. That's where her grandma told her the stories of Peaciwawala and Sittingjing-gongala on those bitterly cold winter nights. Harmony shuttered to remember that frightening hallway from childhood. She ran her hands over the hand hewn rock wall. It felt like the textured walls of the hallway, embossed in designs that could no longer be
distinguished, because of the filth that had accumulated on their crevices over the years.
One naked light bulb shining high up in the darkness of the domed ceiling, dimly lit the space below. The brassy mailboxes glittered in it, casting their reflection on the stairs that led upwards. Harmony called thru the smelly darkness for her Grandmother. “Abuelita” she called loudly. Then the door would open. First with the chain as the grandmother checked to see if there were any drunks behind the garbage cans hidden below the stairs. Then the
door would close, and reopen. That's when Harmony would run fast as lightning into the apartment as her grandmother immediately closed and bolted the door behind her.
Please go to: Chapter 8, p 2