A Mystical Trip Into the Sandburg Zone
“Who are you?” the spirit Blair Sandburg asked the young Shaman.
“I am Blair, Shaman and Guide to the Sentinel of the Great City,” Blair
responded with confidence.
“What do you seek?” His spirit self morphed into the image of Incacha, the
deceased Shaman of the Chopec Tribe of Peru.
“Guidance,” Blair replied. His confidence was waning under the intense scrutiny
of the Shaman.
“What do you seek?” the Shaman demanded once again.
“The truth! My truth. My Sentinel has met someone and I think she has stolen his
heart. I thought I could find my answers in the spirit world. Am I truly the
right one for Jim?”
“Jealousy?” The spirit of Incacha instantly morphed into a younger version of
Blair. And this spirit Blair was laughing at Blair’s dilemma. “You don’t make a
spirit quest to this plane just because you think your Sentinel has a new
girlfriend, man. This world doesn’t work like that,” spirit Blair mocked.
“Was I really this annoying when I was your age,” Blair asked his younger self.
Blair held up his hand. “Don’t answer that.”
Blair sat on a nearby boulder. His spirit self morphed again into the grey wolf,
Blair’s spirit animal. The wolf sat next to Blair then looked up at him with
soulful eyes.
“I don’t suppose you have any advice for me?” Blair asked the wolf. The wolf
snorted then laid down on the forest floor. “Didn’t think so.”
After a while Blair decided to meditate. After all, back in the loft he shared
with Jim, his best friend, his Sentinel and partner, Blair was meditating.
That’s how he got to the blue-tinted world in the first place. He climbed down
from his perch then sat lotus style next to the wolf.
“You’ll watch out for me, won’t you, boy?” Blair asked the wolf who sat up to
take a lookout stance. “Thank you,” Blair said as he patted the wolf’s head.
“Maybe I haven’t been going about this the right way,” Blair mumbled to himself
as he began to slow his breathing. He concentrated on the sounds of the jungle
as he put himself into a trance to seek his answers. Blair became oblivious to
his surroundings as he looked within for the answers he sought.
“Chief? Blair? Come on, buddy, you’ve been at this for hours. Time to come back
to me.” Wherever Blair was he could hear his friend’s voice, the whimper of his
spirit wolf and the roar of the black panther, Jim’s spirit animal.
Blair yawned and stretched. Jim could hear each vertebra protest as he helped
his friend up off the floor. The candles Blair had lit to help set the mood for
his mediation had long since melted down into waxy puddles in their dishes.
“Oww,” Blair said as he rubbed his backside. “How long was I out?”
“Six hours.”
“Six? Wow, that’s one of my personal best. No wonder I feel so stiff,” Blair
commented as he began to clean up his mess.
“Did you learn anything, Chief?” Jim asked. He knew his friend was troubled but
didn’t know what it was all about or how to help.
“Yeah, I learned that the blue-tinted world has a wicked sense of humor, and
that sometimes direct communication is the best way to go.”
“Does that mean they kicked you out?” Jim asked with amusement.
“Something like that. I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when she realizes
that she was better off looking for her heart’s desire in her own backyard.”
“I’m not sure what you mean, Darwin.”
“Sit with me,” Blair requested as they both moved to the sofa.
“What’s going on, Chief? I know you haven’t been happy for weeks now.”
“And what was your first clue, oh great detective?” Blair asked with a smirk.
“Or did you use your great enhanced senses to detect changes in my physiology?”
“Nope, didn’t need to use my senses at all, except for my eyes and anyone who
knows you can see the difference.”
“Difference?”
“It’s the bounce factor, Sandburg.”
“Bounce factor?”
“Let me be the guide and teacher for the moment, okay?” Blair waved his friend
on. “A happy Sandburg is a bouncy Sandburg. The rate of your bounce is in direct
proportion to how happy and contented you are. The more happiness the greater
the bounce,” Jim smugly informed his friend.
“You transformed my emotional happiness into a mathematical equation? That’s...”
“Ingenious, I know.”
“Wasn’t going to say ingenious.”
“I know that too. But I decided to save you from saying something stupid.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“Chief,” Jim began as he took his friend’s hands into his own. Blair looked down
as his smaller hands were enveloped in Jim’s larger ones. “Blair, I know I don’t
always talk about my feelings.”
“Try never.”
“Fine, I rarely talk about my feelings but I have to make sure you know what you
mean to me.”
Blair looked up into his friend’s ice blue eyes. The eyes that the criminal
element of the city of Cascade feared the most. That steely gaze could get a
confession out of practically any guilty person who was unfortunate enough to be
interrogated by James Joseph Ellison, Detective, ex-Army Ranger and Cop of the
Year. But all that Blair could see from the crystal blue eyes was love.
“What I mean to you?” Blair asked in a whisper that he knew his sentinel could
hear loud and clear.
“Yes, Blair. You’re more than my friend and guide. You’re my best friend, my
buddy and...”
“And?”
“And if, I mean I hope...” Jim turned away; he didn’t know how to do this.
“Jim, would you like to kiss me?” Blair asked, hoping he was reading the signs
right.
Somewhere on a different plane of existence a black panther roared triumphantly
as the grey wolf yipped and howled with glee.
Jim nodded his head as he gazed into Blair ocean blue eyes. He dreamt of kissing
Blair but never had the guts to follow through, fearing the changes that might
occur in their near perfect relationship. Now that the cat, panther, has been
let out of the bag, there was no going back now. Jim dipped his head to capture
his guide’s lips.
With a blinding flare of light, the men were instantly transported back to the
blue-tinted world surrounded by the jungle. The black panther and grey wolf were
cuddled together watching.
“Ah, Chief,” Jim said as he disengaged his lips from Blair’s to look around.
“Well, this is interesting,” Blair responded when he caught his breath. Who knew
that kissing Jim could be literally breath-taking.
“I’d say it was more than interesting. Looks like we took a little trip.”
“I’ll say. And I didn’t have to meditate for hours and have my ass go numb to
get here. Um, why are we here?”
“Beats the hell out of me, Chief. You’re the shaman. Uh oh, we have company.”
Jim inclined his head toward the line of trees. Out of the trees came Incacha.
“Enqueri, you have found us,” the spirit of the great Shaman stated with an
endearing smile for the Sentinel and his Guide.
“I guess we have, my old friend,” Jim replied. Incacha smiled at his old protégé
then turned his sage eyes toward the young Guide. “You have found your answers.”
“Yes, I have, or maybe they found me.” Blair bounced excitedly as he brightly
smiled. Incacha place one hand on each shoulder then looked up toward the sky.
“The spirits have blessed this bonding. Let no one in this world or in yours,”
Incacha lowered his gaze toward the men, “separate you. This is as it should
be,” Incacha declared in a strong voice. The black panther roared. The grey wolf
howled.
Incacha turned the men so that they were looking at each other then patted their
backs. In another flare of white light their spirits merged just as the panther
and wolf had done when Jim saved Blair from the fountain and from death.
“Whoa!” Blair said as he shook his head sending his wild curls flying. He looked
down as he realized he wasn’t on the sofa. Well, he was but he was laying on top
of Jim who was laying on the sofa. “Hi Jim,” Blair greeted his mate with a
smile. Jim’s ice blue eyes were smiling back up at him with amusement.
“Hi yourself, Chief. That was some trip we took.”
“Yeah, it was and without chemical enhancement. Which is a good thing cause then
we’d have to arrest ourselves and wouldn’t that make an interesting report for
Simon.”
“You’re right so I think we’ll keep this little report to ourselves. You know
how he gets with the sentinel stuff.”
“I hear ya, man. Uh, Jim, you all right with all this?” Blair wiggled a finger
back and forth indicating himself and Jim and what had happened to them.
“Yeah, I am. I could have done without the whole blue-tinted world stuff but
it’s nice to know we have the spirits’ blessings and it was good to see Incacha,”
Jim stated. “Besides, they’re happy,” Jim said as he pointed toward the door. On
the floor just before their front door, the panther and wolf lay entwined, happy
and apparently asleep.
“I didn’t know spirit animal guides could snore,” Blair stated with an amused
gleam in his eyes.
“Neither did I. So, um, do have you any idea what to do about this new aspect of
our relationship?” Jim asked as he found himself suddenly aroused by the scent
of his Guide, the feel of Blair’s soft curls in his hands. Blair appeared to be
just as aroused as he was.
“Yeah, I do,” Blair purred as he lowered his head to kiss his Sentinel. “Let me
guide you, Jim.”
“To another trip into the Sandburg zone?” Jim smiled as he met Blair’s lips.
“Yeah.”
-end-
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