Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 08:16:48 -0800 (PST)
Title: Azi the Guide

"No, I'm not powerful, and I'm probably not a relative of the 'Ancient
Ones'.  I'm a Hopi runaway.  I fled the reservation long ago simply because
I felt -
crowded..."

I interrupt Azi and ask, somewhat sarcastically,  "Did you  after Bell
left, or did we all leave together?"  Sis gives me a sour glance.

He looks at me, then Sis, pauses, shakes his head as he explains, "I left
Bell, you kids, AND the reservation.  The whole setup had me trapped. I took
off on a jury-rigged Hog for places unknown and alone."

"How did you live?  What did you do?" Sis asks.

"I lived on my wits, attempted a spartan existence to appease the guilt of
abandonment. I began growing and experimenting with natural psychoactive
herbs and plants.  It didn't matter to me if I never returned from the
alternate worlds I concocted for escape. After while, I offered myself as
a guide to anyone who wished to venture inward. In a sense, I became a modern
lotus-eater.  Trouble is, the word spread and I was in demand.  I got offers
from university researchers to teach them the inner languages of
hallucination and how to travel within one's self."

Sis adds, "You wrote a couple books, didn't you?"

"Three books, with three different researchers, three publishers.  It pays me
a total of $330 a month, before taxes.  I made more as a guide."

*1. Spar.tan \'spa:rt-*n\ \-.iz-*m\ n 1: a native or inhabitant of ancient
   Sparta 2: a person of great courage and fortitude - Spar.tan.ism n
2. Spartan aj 1: of or relating to Sparta in ancient Greece 2a: marked by
   strict self-discipline and avoidance of comfort and luxury 2b: LACONIC 2c:
   undaunted by pain or danger.

*lo.tus-eat.er or lo.tos-eat.er \'lo-t-*-.se-t-*r\ n : one of a people
described in the Odyssey of Homer as subsisting on the lotus and living in
the dreamy indolence it induced.

later,
d.

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                               ,^_ ,-.
                            ()'  \_/()

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success
is to labour. -Robert L. Stevenson
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