Shaman, Healer, Heretic (22 page)

“Nice to meet you,” Livvy ventured, but Carmen was already turning away.

Livvy looked at SK, who looked down at the ground where she was standing. Livvy looked at the floor but didn’t see anything.

Carmen had gone to sit in a well-worn recliner that looked like it was permanently in a semi-reclining position.

Livvy looked back at SK, and he pointed downward and mouthed the word “sit”. After a quick look around, she realized the only two chairs in the place were now occupied. She sat down cross-legged where she was standing.

Livvy looked over at Carmen, who was fidgeting her fingers. She had heard this about Carmen from her former clients. In fact, clients were one of the few ways for shamans to get information about one another, but the woman would not make eye contact. Livvy looked over at SK, but he returned a blank look to her.

Carmen started to calm down, her fingers moving less frantically. Livvy took the opportunity to look around the cramped space. Carmen used fake electric candles with tiny flickering LEDs perched along the exposed two-by-four joists in the walls. As her gaze drifted upward, though, Livvy was shocked.

In the vaulted and unfinished roof, hundreds–possibly thousands–of tiny skeletons were suspended. Most of them had wings, small
Dia de los Muertos
, Day of the Dead, angels. Some were painted in neon colors that glowed faintly. The tallest might have been a foot in length, but most were six inches or shorter, suspended horizontally as though they were flying to and fro. Some wore sombreros. One ghoulish couple was dressed as a bride and groom. There were even entire families. Livvy was familiar with the Day of the Dead skulls and skeletons, but the sheer volume of this display was overwhelming. They filled every space from the plywood of the roof right down to three or four feet below it, like a floating ocean of brightly colored bones.

“Maybe you see my army,” said Carmen.

“Your army?” asked Livvy.

Carmen looked up. “My army of light. These are my helpers, my little people,” she said, smiling up at them.

Livvy looked up. “They’re beautiful,” she said.

“Ha,” said Carmen, smiling. “Maybe only another shaman would think so.”

Livvy felt some of her apprehension fall away.

“How’re you doing, Carmen?” asked SK.

Carmen tore her gaze away from the army and waved her hand furiously in front of her face, as though a bee were buzzing there.

“Sorry,” she said, her hands calming down but her fingers fidgeting again. “Very bad. You know.”

“Yes, I’ve heard,” he said.

“Maybe you know,” Carmen said, pointing at Livvy.

“Yeah, I know.”

Carmen nodded, gravely serious.

“Livvy may have an answer,” said SK.

Carmen stopped nodding and looked at him, then at Livvy.

“I know a way to hook two goggles together so that two shamans can work together,” she said. “I was also able to work with a kachina.”

Carmen’s eyebrows flew upward at the mention of the kachina.

“What are you doing with a kachina?” Then realizing how blunt she’d been, she quickly followed up with “Sorry!”

“That’s okay,” said Livvy. “Don’t be sorry. I don’t really know what I’m doing with a kachina, actually. He kind of found me.”

Although Livvy didn’t understand it, it seemed to make perfect sense to Carmen, who nodded once.

“Sorry, what do you do when you get over there?” she asked.

Livvy had been about to say ‘not to be sorry’ again until she realized she’d be saying that a lot.

“I haven’t worked with a shaman yet,” said Livvy. “That’s why I’m here. I need someone to try it with me.”

“Ohhh,” said Carmen quietly, rocking in the recliner.

Livvy looked between SK and Carmen and waited. Carmen hadn’t said no, like the others. Livvy had never heard bad things about her but some of her clients were uncomfortable with the neighborhood and sometimes weirded out by Carmen herself. As Livvy looked up to the roof in the claustrophobic little garage, she understood why. Even her apartment was better than this. She felt pity for the poor woman.

“Sorry, I can’t help you,” Carmen said, shaking her head. “No, I don’t think I’m the one. I’m sorry.” She kept shaking her head. “Sorry.”

“But I’m never gonna be able to do it if somebody doesn’t help me,” said Livvy, disappointment in her voice.

Carmen put her hands to the sides of her face and rocked in the chair. “Ohhh,” she moaned.

Livvy looked at SK but he only shrugged.

“Please, Carmen,” Livvy said. “I can’t do this alone.”

Slowly, as though her own hands were moving her head, she shook it from side to side. “Maybe, I have to think,” she said finally.

That had not been what Livvy was expecting to hear.

“Oh, okay,” she said, smiling. “Yeah, definitely, think about it.”

Carmen went back to fidgeting her fingers in her lap. SK stood up but Carmen remained seated.

“We’ll see ourselves out,” he said.

Livvy took that as her cue and stood up.

“Thank you for taking the time to see us,” said Livvy.

But Carmen didn’t acknowledge either of them. She was glancing up at the ceiling and fidgeting.

As they left, SK said, “I’ll call you later.”

When they were back in the car, Livvy asked, “Do you think she’ll do it?”

“Hard to say,” he said.

“Well, I think we’re getting closer. I think she’s gonna do it,” Livvy said. “I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.”
 

LIVVY LOOKED DOWN from the windswept bluff and its commanding view of the Malibu coastline far below it. They couldn’t be farther away from Pacoima if they’d been on the other side of this ocean, she thought, gazing toward the horizon.

After hugs and air kisses, Sunny had ushered them in from the atrium with its sculptured stone water feature and Zen rock garden to this room, where the far wall was one large expanse of glass to take advantage of the view.

She was statuesque with long, honey-colored hair, and was wearing what looked like a yoga outfit underneath a gossamer white silk robe that seemed to flow around her like wisps of smoke. Several small aquamarines dangled from each of her delicate earrings. She might be in her late forties, but she worked hard to look decades younger–with no small amount of success.

They had all taken off their shoes before entering the room. The floor was made of woven bamboo mats and had an aroma like fresh hay. At one end of the room the wall had a small niche holding a spare flower arrangement in a slim, clear vase.

Sunny brought out three thin cushions from behind a sliding paper door. They all took their seats.

“Now, what is it that I can do for you and your friend?” Sunny lilted, favoring them both with a practiced smile.

“Well, it’s what we can do for each other,” said SK. “Livvy is a shaman.”

Sunny’s smile faltered ever so briefly, but her recovery was smooth. Earlier, she had only been available through social media channels–not a place to talk about shamans meeting shamans–so he hadn’t told her about Livvy.

“Really, SK, I’m surprised at you. I thought you played by the rules.”

“In times like these,” he said, “the rules are changing. Livvy might have a solution.”

“A solution to what?” Sunny said, looking at Livvy and then turning back to SK. “I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”

SK frowned.

“When was the last time you were in the Multiverse?” he asked.

She looked like he’d asked her weight, and then she shot a look at Livvy.

“I hardly think–”

“More than a couple of weeks,” he said. “Has to be. Maybe even longer than that.”

“It’s none of your–” She stopped as she realized what she was about to say but SK heard it nevertheless and bristled. In fact, it
was
his business.

“I guess DVD sales and Reiki stones are doing pretty well for you,” he said. “I forget that there’s nothing really wrong with most of the beautiful people you see.”

Sunny sat back, the polite veneer gone. “Are you getting to a point soon?”

“If you haven’t been to the other side recently, then no, I guess I’m not.”

He turned to Livvy. “Let’s go.”

“Well, wait a minute,” said Sunny as SK got up, with Livvy following suit. “You came out here for a reason didn’t you?”

“Yes,” he said, heading for the door. “But you wouldn’t understand.”

Sunny lithely rose to her feet. “What wouldn’t I understand?” she demanded.

SK was already out the door and slipping into his shoes. Livvy grabbed hers, not having time to lace them up.

“You’ve got my number,” he called over his shoulder, already on the other side of the atrium.

Livvy followed in her socks as the door closed behind them.

“What was that about?” she demanded.

“She’s too busy with her Hollywood clientele,” he said. “She hasn’t even been to the other side in…who knows how long.”

They got in the car.

“Well, then,” said Livvy, exasperated, “why did we come here?”

“Because when she wants to be, she’s a top-notch shaman. Don’t let appearances fool you.”

He pulled onto the winding road that would lead them down off the bluff and back to the Pacific Coast Highway.

“But really, if I’d known,” he said. “I wouldn’t have wasted the time.”

“So that’s it?”

“Not quite. We’ve got one more stop–an important one.”
 

“DO THEY ALWAYS feed you?” asked Livvy.

SK slurped his noodles and nodded his head yes.

“Wow, must be nice,” Livvy said, as she picked up an egg roll and dipped it in the sweet red sauce. It was almost like syrup.

“Happy stomach, happy SK,” he said.

Livvy glanced around the restaurant. They were the only non-Chinese people there, although nobody looked at them. Another plate of food arrived, garlic pork.

“Good grief,” said Livvy. “Are they ever going to stop?”

SK picked up the pork and scooped some onto his plate.

“Nope,” he said, grinning. “They’ll keep bringing food until she calls for us.”

“Wow,” she said.

“Well, look,” he said, between bites. “The food is cheap for her. She owns the place.”

“I guess so.”

“And it always pays to keep SK happy.”

Wan-li’s rooms were on the second floor, but there was a chain across the bottom of the stairs, to the right of the large aquarium. When they had arrived, the hostess had told them that Wan-li was with someone. They had then been invited to take a seat at one of the tables. Livvy had thought the pot of tea had appeared for the sake of politeness–until the food started arriving. They hadn’t even looked at a menu.

“I always order the same thing anyway,” said SK.

Although the room was full, it wasn’t particularly loud. Everybody used chopsticks and it cut down on the noise of metal cutlery clanging against the dishes. The conversations were all hushed as well. They were there for the food, but it was as if they knew who was working upstairs.

Even Livvy knew who was working upstairs. Among shamans, Wan-li was famous. It didn’t matter what form of shamanism you practiced, you’d heard about Wan-li. She was a techno-shaman now. A lot of shamans had converted when the technology became available. Virtually all of the shamans who had learned their skills before the invention of the goggles were equally adept at a number of traditional methods. Wan-li had studied in China, in mountain monasteries and high desert villages.

Livvy sipped her tea and watched the fish in the aquarium.

“You don’t eat enough,” SK said. “How do you expect to get a man when you’re so skinny?”

She put her cup down.

“Who says I even want a man?”

SK chuckled but continued eating. He looked over at the stairwell, and Livvy turned to see what was going on. Two men were coming down the stairs. One unlatched the chain, and the other passed him and proceeded out the door. Nobody else in the restaurant looked.

“We’ll be on soon,” SK said, stuffing more noodles in his mouth.

The man at the stairs glanced at Livvy, reattached the chain and went back upstairs. Livvy turned back and saw that another plate of food had quietly arrived.

“Eat,” he said.

“I’m full just watching you eat.”

A few minutes later, the man came back down the stairs and over to their table.

“Wan-li will see you now,” he said, with a thick accent.

The upstairs rooms were sumptuous. A large, nearly circular portal of black lacquer led from the landing into a large foyer that was ringed with life-size bronze statues of Chinese gods who looked like warriors. They were festooned with garlands of real flowers, and offerings of all types of money were strewn about their feet. Beautiful ceramic bowls, filled to the rim with black sand, had thin sticks of incense protruding from them. Several small tendrils of smoke rose from the incense, swaying after them as Livvy and SK made their way down the central aisle.