Strange Things - Shane’s Visions
Jacob said, “Come on, all the men do it. Being invited to join them is an honor!”
Shane stared dubiously at the small shack. “It’s a what?”
“A makivik. A steam bath. It cleans your body and your spirit.”
As the damp wind whipped through his clothes, he had to admit - being warm would be great. “OK, let’s do it.”
He and Jacob paused at the door. Jacob quickly stripped to nothing, hung his clothes on a peg. “Come on, slug!”
Shane widened his eyes. All his clothes? OK, he could do that. The wind slapped his legs as he undressed.
Opening the door, then pushing the skins aside from the inner door, the smell hit him. It was rank. Body odor, seal oil, damp musty hide, tobacco, maybe even an undercurrent of honey bucket. He gagged, but stepped in, committed now.
The room was warm, too warm. He perched on a bench and sat, leaning forward, elbows on knees, to cover himself. That put his face right over the fire, that wouldn’t work. He straightened.
Jacob was there, and Jacob’s dad. Also, old Charlie Levi, the angulkuq. Charlie being a shaman creeped his mom out, but sort of fascinated Shane.
Jacob waved, “Charlie is my uncle. Do you know him?”
Shane nodded, grunted.
“Ah, Shane. Finally taking part in some of the things of men?”
Shane didn’t know what to say to that.
They all fell quiet, as the sweat began to run. The overwhelming smell, the heat, it filled Shane’s lungs and the makivik swam around him. His vision exploded.
He was falling, landing in worlds temporarily like branches in a tree.
In the first world, he lay on the ground, rent and bleeding in the dark. He felt no pain. Wolves circled him, their breath rank like the smell of the makivik, surging in a counterclockwise ritual. The alpha wolf nosed his head, snuffling.
Falling into another, he stood on a vast plain under a threatening sky, unmoving. His feet were buried, rooted like rock. He heard a thunder in the distance, and a line of dust and tossing antlers appeared on the horizon, running toward him. He couldn’t move, and the herd was flowing like whitewater, so he crouched in a ball, protecting his face and abdomen.
Suddenly, it was silent. He looked up, sitting back on his heels, and the caribou surrounded him in a circle. They tossed their heads as warm rain began to sheet down. The caribou began to melt and blur, becoming puddles around him.
Another fall into another world. In this one, he dove deeply into the ocean with the murres, the birds who could swim like fish under the water. The water was cloudy and dead, though, and glowing faintly around them. Some of the murre chose not to come back to the surface for air, but to dive deeper and deeper until they tangled themselves in the seaweed on the bottom and died in a cloud of bubbles and blood.
Falling again, he was in a kayak on the ocean, tossed wildly by the storm. A pod of whales danced around him. One young calf approached his boat, slapping its tail down on the water and sending a spray of water over the boat. As the drops hit his skin, they burned like acid, and he clawed at his face.
Another drop, and a jerk. He was laying, twisted and broken on the pebbled shore of a choppy sea. A raven fluttered up to him, cocked his head, and shrieked. Dozens more flew in, wheeling, and landed around him. The black circle moved slowly, then faster, feathers fluttering like a storm.
Another fall and he was back in the makivik. The men were staring at him.
Holding his pounding head, he ran for the door, leaned out and retched until his stomach was empty. Then he slumped to the ground.
Jacob knelt next to him, touched his shoulder. “Shane, you were there, your eyes open, but you weren’t responding. You were moaning, and wouldn’t move. It was bizarre!”
The angulkuq cocked his head like the raven, assessing him. “Where were you?”
Shane said, “Huh? What do you mean?”
“You were not here with us, so you must have been somewhere else. Where were you? Tell me about it.”
Shane exhaled. He was so not up to an interrogation. But the angulkuq was an elder, respected. “Let me get dressed and I’ll tell you what I can.”