KING SOLOMON'S JOURNEY Excerpt: The Pueblo

"Hold on to what is good, Even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe, Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do, Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life, Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand, Even if someday I'll be gone away from you."

Pueblo Indian Proverb

... "Imagine with me Antonio, step back and see it as it once looked." Amanda used her hands to show Antonio where to look and see what she drew with words.

            "A large rectangle, made up of 50-70 rooms. The largest tower room would have been built at the base of that large western boulder. Even before its construction, the boulder could have been used as a place for rituals and calendrical forecasting. From there they could have observed the changing settings of the sun in anticipation of the winter solstice as the sun moved across right where we are standing."

            "People often say Pueblo Indians as if they were saying Cherokee or Apache, but they are wrong. They were never a particular tribe; Pueblo is a word that should be used correctly, as it was meant to be. It is a term that describes the wonderfully unique Indian Culture of the Southwest…more specifically, the Indians of the Four-Corner region.

            Did you know that they did not as many people believe, build these great Pueblos by adding on rooms as the population expanded? They built from a plan, a blueprint that was a design of how it would look from start to finish. How did they do that without a written language? I am studying that issue, and one day I will find the answer."

            That last was said as a promise, to him or to her, Antonio was not sure; but he had no doubt she would figure it out.

            Breaking out of her reverie, Amanda laughed and took his hand. "Come on my poor baby, let us go feed you, and let us go exploring!" They almost ran back to Raven, and quickly spread out a blanket and set out their lunch.

            Maria was right, everything had stayed cool and fresh, and it was thrilling to watch Amanda try to eat and talk at the same time, as she explained more of the ancient peoples history.

            Antonio laid back and just watched and listened until her hurried eating frenzy was over. She stood abruptly and wanted to go now. "I feel something here Antonio, something I cannot explain."

            "Take it easy now. No rushing off by yourself. There are rattlesnakes' here and they could be curled up anywhere inside the ruins." Antonio hurried to join her as she set off exploring.

            Inside the ruins, he watched her poke her nose into every crack and crevice, muttering to herself, and then he saw the notebook come out of her ever present purse, and she started making notes, and even asked him to measure off sections where she pointed. Finally she settled down to a slow pace and he sat down on a low wall to watch her.

            Unlike Pueblo Bonito and others, there were no sunken Kiva's or underground rooms, and he felt safe allowing her to wander around on her own. He could see her pass between breaks in the walls as she bent over or exclaimed over something that thrilled her. He saw her pick up sandstone block and admire it and laughed. Only Amanda would find pleasure in a brick.

            Antonio watched her bend over and crawl into another room via the low break in the stones at ground level, when she could just have easily walked around the other end of the wall. He could hear her murmuring to herself and settled back and closed his eyes and let the peace of the moment take him.

            Amanda crawled beneath the wall just to see if it felt like something they would have done at this point. Once she stood on the other side, she looked around and realized she had entered the tallest tower section of the ruin. It was easy to imagine the rituals that had taken place here in this structure. She turned to exit at the broken edge of the wall, and that was when she saw it; the bluish fog had returned, and this time it rose up around her until she was encased within a bubble of flashing light.

            "I am not afraid." She said, and waited for whatever was coming through the other side. She knew the veil between the worlds was said to be weakest here, and she knew she had invited this presence by entering a room held sacred.

            From out of the fog stepped a man, but to her surprise he was not one of the People, 

he was dressed like a priest, with linen trousers, a blue robe, plain white linen belt, an ephod 

and a breastplate covered with 12 stones, the agate stone shone brighter than the others... 

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