Secrets: The Truth is Slowly Revealed

After we woke up the next morning, I immediately wanted to find out what the shaman had planned for us to do. 

“What animal are we going to work on now?” I asked. 

“None, Grasshopper, because I think we should all eat something first.  I am certain you are all hungry, so we will talk about this after we have eaten breakfast.”

As soon as he mentioned eating breakfast my stomach rumbled, so I had to concede he was right. 

“Ok, but I can’t wait to see what you have planned when we get back.”

Once again, I tried to wheedle the information out of Gramps and Pops as we headed to the restaurant, but they claimed they had no idea what he was going to do.  Once again, I wasn’t sure if this was true or if they merely wanted to give the shaman a chance to tell me first. 

I was so excited that I scarfed down my meal, but the others took their time, even Devin.  Once they’d finished eating and Pops had paid the bill, we went out and got in the SUV so we could go back to the reservation.  As we got close to the hohrahn, I noticed there was a horse tied up on the side that was partially in the shade. 

“Do you think the guy that delivers the shaman’s food is still there?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” Pops replied. 

“If it is, then this is the first time he’s arrived this late or stayed around after making the delivery, at least since I’ve been here,” I added. 

I was eager to find out if I was correct, so as soon as the SUV came to a stop, I hopped out and raced into the hohrahn.  Once I got inside, I found the shaman chatting with another man that I’d never seen before, and as soon as the shaman saw us, he spoke. 

“I want all of you to come here so I can introduce you to each other.”

“Is this the guy that delivers your food?” I asked. 

“No although that person also rides a horse,” he replied, and then he turned toward the other person.   

“You may recognize a couple of our visitors from the welcoming ceremony when Michael became a member of the tribe.  This is Isaac, the man who saved me and others from our tribe when the army was first trying to force us onto a reservation, and this is his son, Jacob.  This young man is Devin, Jacob’s grandson, and this one is Michael, the newest member of our tribe and the one I am training to be a skinwalker.” 

“Should you be telling him all of this?” I nearly screamed.  “I didn’t think anyone else was supposed to know about us.”

“Grasshopper, if you had taken the time to think about what you had heard and what you were about to say before you spoke, then you would have figured it out.  You would have realized that the only other person I would be telling this to would be my son.”

I’m sure my face must have turned red from embarrassment, but I stepped forward and extended my hand to shake his son’s hand. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said as he clasped my hand

“And it is nice to meet you as well,” he said, “and I am surprised you have finished your training so soon.” 

“You mean I don’t have any more to learn?” I asked while looking at the shaman. 

“No, I have taught you everything I can, grasshopper.  You now have the basics down, and if there is anything else you need to learn then Isaac, Jacob, Devin’s father, or Devin will have to teach you.” 

“So, I don’t have to spend the rest of my summer here?”

“No, you have been a good student and it has been a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with you.  I would also like to wish you well and express my hope that you and Devin will enjoy a very long and happy life together.”

“Thank you and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but haven’t I outgrown the name ‘grasshopper’ yet?”

“Yes, indeed you have, so this will be the last time I will call you that name,” he added before turning toward his son.  “Devin and Michael are homosexual lovers.” 

“I see, but I must admit that I was somewhat amazed when I received your note a few days ago that advised me to come here if I wanted to meet them.  I did not understand how you could have completed his training in just two months, because I assumed it would take you a few more weeks before you would be done.  I know it took me longer than this when you were training me.” 

“Yes, it did, and it actually only took Michael about a month and a half to finish his training, and if I recall correctly it took you a little more than three months to finish your training.  The difference was that Michael had a secret weapon, or should I say a secret teacher, and that is what made this possible.  It seems that Devin was able to teach Michael a great many things before they came here and unwittingly assisted in shortening Michael’s training time.  We never would have been able to do everything this quickly without Devin’s assistance.”

“I do not understand.  What could Devin possibly do to help out, since Michael was unable to transition into any of the animals yet?”

“Although Michael was unable to transition and practice the skills that Devin was teaching him, Devin instructed Michael about the physical and behavioral characteristics of wolves, bears, and cougars before they arrived.  He also managed to instruct Michael about how four-legged animals walk, trot, and run.”

“Wait!  How could he possibly do that if Michael was unable to do it as an animal?”

“Devin had me do it as a human moving on all fours,” I explained.  “It wasn’t easy, and I had quite a few less than graceful accidents as I was learning, but I had the basics down so it wasn’t hard to transfer those skills to the animals I transitioned into.”

“I wish I could have seen how he had you do that.”

“Just watch the Disney animated version of The Jungle Book and it will give you the basic idea.”

“Anyway,” the shaman stated as he took over the discussion again, “it made my job much easier and shortened both the training time and practice period required when we first started.”

“I am beginning to understand how you got everything done so quickly.  Good work, Devin, and I would like to welcome all of you into a very small and select group of good skinwalkers.”

“Oh, and that reminds me about the best part of their time here,” the shaman continued.  “After Michael learned how to transition into a white-tailed deer, they all went out together for a couple of days so Michael could see what living as a deer was like.  And it seems that during this time they were confronted by one of the evil skinwalkers.”

“Here on the reservation?”

“Yes, and after Isaac and Jacob had transitioned into bears so they could stand against it, the evil skinwalker easily brushed them aside and got past them.  When this happened, I was informed that Devin and Michael each transitioned into a Bigfoot next.”

“Really?  What made the two of you do that?” his son asked. 

“It was the only thing I could think of that was as large, as strong, and as fast as the evil skinwalker,” Devin replied.  “After we transitioned into Bigfoot, we moved to opposite sides of the evil skinwalker and this caused it to stop and watch us to see what we were going to do next.”

“Yes, I do not imagine that it had ever seen a Bigfoot before.” 

“And that is not the best part,” the shaman continued.  “While they were distracting the evil skinwalker, Isaac transitioned from a bear into a white-tailed deer again so he could run the deer’s antlers through the back of the evil skinwalker and kill it.”

“He actually killed it?  Wow, I wasn’t sure if anyone or anything could kill one of those abominations.  I have read articles and heard stories about people that said they shot one of the evil skinwalkers with a rifle or a shotgun and it didn’t seem to faze it at all, so I wasn’t certain if they could be killed.”

“Apparently it is possible, although it might not be possible using a bullet from a rifle or a slug from a shotgun.  Isaac used the pair of antlers on the deer and drove both of them into the evil skinwalker’s back at the same time.”

“And not only that,” Pops interjected, “but as I drove the antlers into the skinwalker’s back, I twisted the antlers to do the maximum amount of damage possible.”

“And they also told me,” the shaman continued, “the evil skinwalker’s body decomposed very rapidly until all that was left was its bones.”

“That is incredible.  Congratulations, because I am certain that feat is unlikely to be duplicated anytime soon.”    

“You never can tell,” Pops stated, “because I never expected it would happen either.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.”

“Have you ever seen an evil skinwalker?” Devin asked. 

“Not in person, but I have seen a video of one running beside a car and easily keeping up with it, and I have seen other videos that people have claimed were skinwalkers moving around on the rocky outcroppings in the Ute’s territory.” 

“Were they scary looking on the videos too, because it certainly was when we ran into one in person?”

 

“The videos that were taken on the Ute’s reservation were difficult to make out because they were either taken at sunset or in dim light and the videos were quite dark and grainy.  The one I saw where it was running beside the car looked really scary.  In fact, it appeared quite similar to what Professor Lupin looked like when he changed into a werewolf in the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, only ten times uglier and scarier.”

“You’ve seen the Harry Potter movies?” Devin gasped.

“Yes, I have read the books and seen all of the movies.  Does that surprise you?” 

“Yes, I just didn’t expect that you’d be familiar with them, since the haatali didn’t seem to know about them.”

“Yes, he would not go with me when I saw them.  Father, how many evil skinwalkers does that leave now.”

“There were five haatali that turned into evil skinwalkers to begin with, so it should leave four, unless they have found a way to reproduce and have created even more.”

“Do you think the evil skinwalkers might have had children?” his son asked. 

“I can not imagine who would have been willing to mate with them, although they may have been able to force a woman to have sex with them or mated with a wolf.  I believe that might be the only animal that would be compatible with it.”

“Would they be able to use the same curses that they had used on the others and cursed even more individuals or haatali and turned them into evil skinwalkers as well?” his son followed. 

“I suppose that is possible as well, if they can still speak intelligibly when they are in their deformed human shape.”

“Well, no matter how many evil skinwalkers there are, we shall deal with each one as we encounter it, now that we know they can be destroyed.”

“They’re really strong,” Devin told him.  “It knocked Gramps and Pops aside using only one arm when they tried to stop it as bears, and it did it really quickly and quite easily as well.  That’s why I thought only a Bigfoot would be able to stand up against it.”

“I take it that Isaac and Jacob are Gramps and Pops?” the shaman’s son asked for clarification.

“Yes, I am Gramps,” Jacob responded, “and my dad is Pops.”

“Those are definitely not names you would ever hear a Diné utter, but I guess it is all right if it works for you.”

“Yes, your father told us the same thing,” I concurred.

“I am certain he did, because he is a stickler about showing respect for your elders,” his son said with a chuckle. 

We then spent more time chatting with the shaman’s son and finding out what his life has been like, and then he asked the four of us more questions about ourselves. 

“I cannot believe my father told you that he was the same haatali that had performed the ceremony on Isaac back in the 1860s.”

“I didn’t tell them,” his father replied.  “Michael and Isaac both figured it out and then I merely confirmed their suspicions.

“How did they figure it out?”

“It seems as if I made some minor verbal slips when I was talking to them and they picked up on my miscues immediately.  They are both very intelligent and extremely observant.”

“They must be, if they caught on to you, father, because you are usually very guarded.”

“And I thought I was being guarded with them as well, but they both proved me wrong.”

“Did they do this together?”

“No, they figured it out independently.”

“Then Isaac and Michael have both done something I could never do.  I was never able to figure out any of his secrets unless he decided to share them with me.”

“I guess we were just lucky,” I said, “but now I wish to ask your father another question.  Since I have been here, I have noticed that you never use contractions, and now I’ve noticed that your son doesn’t use them either.  Is there a reason for that?”

“I told you he was very observant,” the shaman said to his son before he answered my question.  “Yes, I had a definite reason when I first started doing it, but please allow me to give you some background information first.  As I was growing up, and even as I got older, I only spoke the Diné language.  Over time, I also learned enough about the dialects of other Native American tribes so I could converse with them, but I was not proficient in those languages by any means.”

“You mean you don’t all speak the same language?”

“No, although the Apache, and all of their subgroups, and the Ute’s languages all originated from the same family as the Diné language, they evolved differently and there are many differences.  The Pueblo language began from a different family, along with the Shoshone, but I learned the Pueblo language around the time of the Pueblo Revolt.”

“Like when the Pueblo were teaching the Diné about how to raise crops.”

“Yes, that is correct.  When the Spaniards came to our lands, they expected all Native Americans to learn their language and worship their god, so I learned some of their language as well, although now I refuse to speak it.  When the first European settlers came to our lands, we had to learn their language if we wanted to speak with them and understand their treaties.  Being a proud Diné, I only learned what was necessary, and I refused to use their contractions.  I did not want them to think I was comfortable enough with their language to do that, and I also found the practice somewhat confusing.  Why shorten ‘they are’ to ‘they’re’ when they already have two other words that sound the same: their, meaning it belongs to them, and there, referring to a place or used to get attention or to comfort someone.”

“Yes, the spelling of those different words is still confusing to some people even today.”

“I also didn’t see a great deal of time saved by saying it’s, rather than it is, or the reason they combined the word not with a variety of other words.  I also have not figured out how will not became won’t or the true evolution of the word ain’t, although I have learned it can stand for am not, are not, or is not.”

“Yes, but we are encouraged not to use ain’t when we start school, unless our parents have drummed it into our heads already.”

“And that pretty much answers the second part of your question about why my son does not use contractions either.  Since I taught him myself and refused to use them, he never picked up using them as well, although we both might slip and use one from time to time.”

“And I guess that pretty much takes care of answering my question.”

We continued talking until it was time for supper, and then we asked the shaman and his son to join us when we went out to eat. 

“I am afraid I will not be able to go with you,” the shaman’s son replied. 

“Why not?” I asked. 

“I rode a horse here and I am afraid the coyotes will attack and kill it if there is no one around to protect it.  I think the only thing that’s saving the horse now is that it is tied up so close to the entrance to the hohrahn and we are all inside, which is causing the coyotes to keep their distance.  I am convinced they would attack the horse as soon as we left, if I were to go with you.”

“Did you borrow the horse from someone around here?” Pops asked next.  “If you did, then we will follow you in the SUV as you take the horse back to its owner, and then we can all leave from there to eat.”

“Yes, I suppose that would be acceptable if you don’t mind driving so far out of your way, because the horse’s owner does not live close to here.  It is just that he has a secure barn where he keeps the horses.”

“Then it’s settled.  We will follow you there.”

“Will we all be able to fit into your vehicle, because I would not want you to go to all of this trouble if it is not going to work?”

“The SUV has room for six adults and that’s exactly the number of people we have here.”

“Ok, then I am willing to do it, although it will depend on where you are planning to go, since my father and I are unable to eat some of your normal food.”

“In that case, we’ll let you and your father select where we’ll go to eat, because the rest of us can eat anywhere.” 

“As long as we don’t have to eat bark, roots, or insects,” I added and then giggled.

“Do not worry, because my father and I do not eat those things either, unless we absolutely have to.”

They eventually chose an out-of-the-way local diner that seemed to have a little something for everyone.  There were meat dishes on the menu, including fried chicken, pork chops, and strip steaks, and they even offered hamburgers and a variety of side dishes.  In fact, we’d be able to select two of the following as side dishes with any entrée: mashed potatoes, French fries, corn, peas, sliced carrots, beets, or a side salad, and during the summer they also offered corn on the cob.

For those who didn’t eat meat, the diner offered a small selection of vegetarian entrees and a fairly extensive soup and salad bar.  The salad bar included three different soups, one with meat and two without, along with a green salad with nearly every item you might want to add to it, including a variety of dressings.  In addition to those items, there was also potato salad, cole slaw, macaroni salad, a fruit salad, watermelon slices, and melon balls, and that wasn’t all.  They also offered celery sticks, whole baby carrots, and cauliflower and broccoli florets.  There was a separate container of ranch dressing that you could drizzle over those items or add to a small cup so you could dip those items in it, if you wished.  

“This is perfect,” I said once I’d looked over the menu.

“I am glad you approve,” the shaman stated.  “My son and I do not eat out often, but when we do we usually come here.  We are both vegetarians and this place offers some of the best selections for us.”

We all found something we wanted and we had a very friendly conversation as we stuffed ourselves with the tasty food.  When we finished, Pops paid the bill and then we got in the SUV and rode back to the ceremonial hohrahn.

It was late, so we all decided to remain at the hohrahn for the night, including the shaman’s son.  I offered my blankets to the shaman’s son to use, and then the rest of us transitioned into wolf pups to sleep, so we didn’t take up much space.

The training had taken less than two months, which meant Devin and I still had some time left before classes started again, and this gave us some options.  I thought we could spend some time with both Devin’s family and mine before we had to return to Fort Collins for our sophomore (2^nd) year. 

When we woke up, we gathered the items we had at this hohrahn and loaded them into the back of the SUV, and the shaman packed up the things he wanted to take back to his personal hohrahn.  After we’d done that, Gramps drove to the diner where we ate the previous night so we could all have breakfast together, and when we finished eating we took the shaman and his son to the shaman’s personal hohrahn.  Gramps, Pops, and Devin then collected the rest of their belongings and loaded them into the SUV, and then we thanked the shaman again and bid him and his son farewell. 

“So, what did you think of the experience?” Pops wanted to know as we were driving back to Colorado.

“It was more difficult and a lot scarier than I expected.  I didn’t realize there would be so many times when I might have been killed or injured, and I want to thank you and Gramps for watching over me and saving my butt on each of those occasions.”  

“You’re welcome, and it can be quite daunting when you’re first learning how to transition into all of those different animals, but it gets easier over time.  There’s a chance that you may never have to transition into some of those animals again, but it’s always good to know you have the option and you’re capable of doing it, just in case it’s ever needed.”

“And there’s always the risk that something might go wrong,” Gramps warned, “so you’ll learn to be extra careful and extra observant as well.”

“You mean like not transitioning into a deer when there are mountain lions around or transitioning into a squirrel or a porcupine when there are coyotes in the area.”

“Yes, as well as taking other precautions, such as being ready to transition into a larger predator when you know there are no other humans around.”

“Yeah, I knew that, but I just kept forgetting to do it.”

“Then you’ll have to start doing better in that regard.”   

“Yes, I know that too, and I’m really glad the shaman explained how Mother Earth makes it possible for us to transition into animals that are larger and smaller than we are.  I always wondered how Devin was able to do those things and now I know.”

“Yes, and even though Jacob and I had done those same things many times before, it was the first time we’d even been told how it was possible,” Pops concurred.

“I’ve been thinking about what the shaman told us,” Devin chimed in, “and I think I can offer an explanation that ties the Diné beliefs in with a more scientific view about how it happens.”

“Great, we’d like to hear what you have to say,” Gramps responded. 

“I’m not saying there is such a thing as Mother Earth, but if there is I can understand how she’d be able to do it.  Seeing I’ve had to take a lot of science courses, I believe she could take the elements such as carbon, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium, to name a few, out of the ground.  She could then take oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and other gases out of the air and give us what we need to increase our mass.  Then, when we are done, she could release those items back into the ground or the atmosphere until they are needed again.”

“That’s very interesting and it helps to explain the process even more,” Pops stated. 

“Yeah, and it gives me a better explanation for the question that I’d asked the shaman,” I agreed. 

“So, Mac, what are you going to do when we get back to Colorado,” Pops followed. 

“Since we have a few weeks left of our summer vacation, I think I’ll spend a week and a half at the cabin first, before I go home.”

“That will allow us more time to work with you on transitioning into a few other animals,” Devin added. 

“Really!  Like what?”

“You’ll see,” Devin teased.

“You’re as bad as the shaman,” I replied, and this caused Devin to giggle. 

After that conversation ended, we sat quietly for about twenty minutes before I began talking to Devin again.

“When I first started working with the shaman, I thought I had all of the answers and had it all figured out about how the transitioning worked.  I believed that wearing the pelts on my body during the ritual gave my body plenty of time to absorb the animal’s DNA and store it in the parts of the double helix that some people refer to as junk DNA.”

“I guess that might be possible,” Devin agreed.

“But when the shaman started shortening the time I was wearing the pelts and then he was teaching me how to transition into other animals, it made me reconsider my assumption.  After thinking about it a little more, I concluded that possibly our bodies were only storing the DNA strands that were unique to the other animal species instead.  Then, when we did the smaller animals and I didn’t have any pelts or hides to wear, it blew that theory all to hell and I had to come up with another theory.” 

“Yes, that would mess things up,” Devin agreed.

“I now believe that what the shaman was doing was training my DNA to adapt to different situations by using the strands of animal DNA that I’d stored up already so I could transition into other animals as well.”

“Yeah, I guess that could explain it.”   

“Don’t try to over think this,” Pops stated from the front passenger seat.  This surprised Devin and me, because we didn’t think either he or Gramps had been listening to our conversation.  “As you have learned, much of being a skinwalker has to do with Navajo beliefs, including that Mother Earth is merely granting us the ability to do these things.  Science apparently doesn’t have much, if anything, to do with it.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” I conceded. 

Devin and I then started talking about what we were going to do when we reached the cabin, as well as about our return to my house.  We also discussed what we were going to do when we got back to Fort Collins and what we thought our sophomore year was going to be like.  Almost before we knew it, Gramps was pulling up in front of the cabin and we were home again.  Yes, this place is as much my home as the one I share with my parents, and I was thrilled to be there again.