Previously: The three occupants were discussing the problem with wildfires and how they could be prevented.

Somehow we got off-track. Liz, you were telling about your experience when you two first got to this area. You said your car was stalled on the road somewhere behind us. So who was this Kai Zita you mentioned?"

*************



Liz knew she had to tell the surreal story of Linda and her having a strange Native American woman gift them with acorn bread and blackberries.

"First of all, when we found we were stuck in our car out in the middle of nowhere..."

Linda helped out by jumping in. " Then I started rummaging through her grody backpack..."

"Yuh, it was my backpack from work..."

"You have to understand, she hasn't worked for over six months, so you can imagine what I found."

Everybody laughed.

" So I told you about my scary experiences. It's you ladies' turn to tell about what you found."

Linda was more than happy to tease Liz by announcing the unidentifiable substances she touched in Liz's backback.

" The package said it was a granola bar. Actually it was a crushed up granola bar. A tiny bag of stale granola. I was hesitant to look at the expiration date."

"We never did, did we? But we ate it anyway." Liz teased Linda back.

Linda retaliated. " Should we tell him about the potato chips?... I mean potato dust?"

"What were you two eating? It's a good thing you're having some fresh food here. I'm so glad I found you. What would you have done?"

Tommy's words struck a deep note of gratitude in Liz and Linda. They had never thought any further than where they would plant their next footstep.

In unison, they both thanked him for his generosity. They admitted they hadn't really thought ahead. They had spent their focus and energy grappling with their dilemma in progress.

"We don't want you to think we haven't had anything to eat. We've had a couple occasions to be fed. One was when we returned the girls to the Reservation where Chief Lavendar fed us."

"Oh, and Linda found a bag of bottles of water." Liz added to the conversation.

"We had berries on a few occasions. One of the times was when Kai Zita mysteriously walked out of the fog carrying a basket containing bread and berries..."

Tommy leaped in. "What did this mysterious woman look like?...Was she in a very ancient dress?"

Liz was stunned. "Yes, exactly and very time-worn intricately decorated moccasins."

"Was she wearing a simple headdress too?"

"Yes, now that you mention it. I'd forgotten, she did have some feathers, maybe from an accipiter like a Coopers Hawk. They were quite lovely."

"Ah, I do know who you are talking about. There are many stories of a mysterious woman who looks as if she is from a much earlier time. It has been reported, she steps out of a hazy background carrying a handwoven basket with nourishment. She knows these travelers are in distress."...

Linda chimed in. "She knows more than that. She knew stuff about us that she had no way of knowing. She knew I call my relatives my kin. Now only my friends know that. I don't know how she would know that."

"As I understand, she is not your usual hostess. Another interesting bit of information is people have said she identifies herself as someone carrying the name of their loved ones who have passed over."

Liz was aghast. "Oh my goodness. She identified as Kai Zita, the two women I have loved the most who have passed over. Kai was my former partner and Zita was my mother."

A reverent silence permeated the interior of the car like a sweet sustaining balm. Liz's understanding morphed into exhilaration. She knew they were being watched over through any trying moment they might have. Little did Liz know what Linda and she would encounter.

Zita, her mother appeared as a deer several times right outside her daughter's kitchen window. She knew Liz would be daydreaming as she did her dishes.

The night before Zita passed she promised to give everyone a gift. She'd be a guardian angel presenting others with a beautiful sight, a rainbow, something in nature.

She got the sense her former deceased partner, Kai was watching over her when she randomly smelled cigarette smoke. There was no one nearby to be the source of the wafting of that familiar odor. And here she was making herself known through this ethereal guest.

Linda understood, why she's dreamed of the angel. She could envision her loved ones who have recently passed, encompassed within the message given her by the beautiful angel who spoke.

They knew of her love, dedication and care for her children and all of her kinfolk. She felt embraced by them.

Tommy was the first to speak. "She didn't by any chance give you something to drink to help you relax and sleep, did she?"

Liz gulped.

Tommy made it a little easier when he said, " People have said the dreams were either of the underworld or of the otherworld."

"I guess we could say Linda dreamed of the other world and I experienced the underworld. My dream reminded me of some of the underworld journeys some of my favorite characters in my books by the Gears, Michael and Kathleen.

"After drinking the black drink they would travel to the underworld to gain self-insight. They would be consumed by the horned serpent or the winded panther to resurrect renewed.

My encounter was with a murder of crows. But I felt different after I woke up behind the steering wheel, whole in body and soul. I was pleased to hear Linda report being covered with white, not black feathers.

Tommy gave more enlightening and reassuring information. He told of how some have given reports of her vanishing as she left their presence. They saw only a coyote jumping into the woods.

I only saw that she had vanished, but had taken no other form. "Wait, now that you mention it, there was a coyote. I'd forgotten that bit. That was how I knew she was a Shape-shifter."

Liz realized she still hadn't answered Tommy's original question.