My phone rang, I answered it and the recorded voice of a concerned sounding woman informed me that my car’s insurance had expired. “ I don’t have a car! “ I said out loud, and hung up. Wahca was out of sight, I heard a shuffling coming from my bed room, I walked in to see Wahca trying on a straw hat with artificial red flowers. I felt a mixture of emotions, “What are you doing with my hat?” “How do I look?” She looked at me with a big smile, Beautiful, “ I said, but I think you should go back to your home through the silver window, I need to be alone ”
Wahca looked at me, “Justina, I want you to come with me, the sickness that is here does not exist on the other side, just come for the day, I promise I can bring you back. “
Wahca took my hand in hers, “ you are my sister in the silver window and you must come with me!” I sighed, it couldn’t hurt to hang out with her for a couple of hours, she had kept her promise and retuned me, was there any indication that she was up to no good? Not far as I could tell.
I decided to bring a small back pack with some basic necessities: sweater, tooth brush, this and that. I accompanied her back to the bathroom mirror. I felt anxious, was this a good idea?
Wahca removed the straw hat, but I stopped her and placed it back on her head, “ I want you to have it.” Wahca smiled at me and intensely looked into my eyes, “ Come, “ she said and again held my hand and pulled me through the mirror. The surface rippled and vibrated as we moved through it.
The room on the other side of the mirror was much the same as we had left it, accept that the sun was lower on the horizon, it was late afternoon. Wahca was beside herself with joy that I had returned with her, she skipped and danced about, showing me the other rooms in the house which were mostly empty aside from a few curiosities, old photos in frames of the previous owners and a grand father clock which I attempted to wind. It worked for about 3 seconds and then abruptly stopped.
“ With proper tools it could be fixed ” I said, “ only the people who lived here need this to tell time, I can look at the suns position or look at the stars, why must every minute be counted? Wahca didn’t expect me to answer, I closed the glass door on the clock and we left the house. We walked across a big open field and down a hill to a rushing river, where we walked along the rivers edge for a while until we came to a simple wooden bridge.
On the other side of the bridge a man waved to us, Wahca, waived back, “This is my uncle, ” When we had crossed the bridge she spoke to him in their native language, he admired the hat I had given her, he was bare chested and wore tan skin pants, his dark hair hung down around his shoulders and he smiled wide and brightly to me with an honest open energy that made me blush.
I paused and looked up at a beautiful tree by the river, the wind swished through the branches, for a moment I felt like I was the tree, lost in the wind in a wonderful way.
We continued on through a field with very tall yellow grasses that made a swishing sound as we walked through them. “ How do you know English?” I asked her, ” I mean it is not your first language, is it? ” “No, I was sent away to a school for children of the tribes, it was very hard, very sad, I ran away, it was not a good place, but I learned English, also some French, now I can listen when white people talk, they don’t know I can understand them. We are close to the village now, “
By now the sun had completely set and the sky darkened to reveal thousands of stars twinkling and vibrating. I was completely in awe I paused for a moment and Wahca stopped with me and together we appreciated the great vastness of space. After a few minutes, In unison be began to walk again.
I could hear voices chanting in the distance, as we got closer to the source, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, Wahca, must have sensed my apprehension, because she slowed her pace and took my hand as we approached a group of huts made of bent saplings, mud and tree bark.
In the twilight a fire sparkled and fragrant smoke filled the air, and as we stepped through it I saw a large group of people dancing in a circle, they were decorated with paint and feathers, their voices rose and fell chanting over the deep thuds of a large drum, the drummer was naked and had vertical white stripes painted on him which appeared to shimmer as he undulated to the rhythms.
Wahca sat down on the grass and I followed. Suddenly the crowd fell silent. Chirps of crickets and night creatures filled the void. Just at that moment, my cell phone alarm went off, frantically, I dove my hands into my backpack to find it and turn it off, when I looked up I noticed that every person in this large crowd was staring at me.
I froze, a woman’s voice called out, Wahca! And then others repeated her, a bunch of people rushed towards us and all began to excitedly talk to Wahca who talked back and then gestured to me, “Justina,” she was introducing me, “ Hello, hello, I said sheepishly “ How do you do? ” a man said in a thick accent, a few could speak a few words of English but most stared back, some smiling and some not, whispering among them selves.
Their eyes glinted in the firelight. It was completely dark now, suddenly I felt homesick, I spoke to Wahca in a whisper, “ I want to go back, ” Wahca, stood up and pulled me up with her, “ not tonight, we will go in the morning, we must eat and you can stay in my Wegabey, that is my family’s dwelling.
“ My tribe has seen white people before, we trade with them and some trappers even stay with us, but you look different, more..” she paused, “ refined? ” I offered, we shuffled through the darkness and paused at a big hut and she pulled back a flap of skin that was the door and we entered, two women were tending a fire, and there were other shadowy figures against the walls. Animal skins and herbs hung from the curved ceiling,
Wahca motioned me to sit down by the fire next to an old woman. I could see the wrinkles of her face and her intense eyes illuminated by the fire light. She looked at me and reached out her hands. I took them and said my name, “ Justina “ she smiled and said, “ Abeysos “, Wahca leaned in and spoke to her, and her eyes widened as she stared at me and listened, then she spoke back to Wahca, another woman handed me what seemed like dried meat in a wooden bowl. “Abeysos wants to know if you are married?” ” No I’m not, someday, who knows? ” Wahca continued to translate for us. Wahca told her that we had met at the abandoned farm. “Tell her the truth,” I said, I was sampling the dried meat, it was a bit spicy but I was enjoying the texture. “ she already knows the truth, said Wahca, ” she called you: Time Traveler”
I stopped eating and stared at them. “Wahca, you brought me here, I have never done this before.” Again they chatted in their language, Wahca looked up at me with an infectious grin, “ she says: experience is a good teacher, ” I laughed, and so did they, I felt welcomed and they didn’t care about what ever circumstances had brought us together, they just wanted to enjoy my company. I began to relax and enjoy being there with them as I listened to the gentle crackle of the fire.