Moniqa & Magic Unicorn

 

CHAPTER 7

THE TEST

Moniqa sat quietly in her seat, the third one down from the door, as Mr. Thornton passed out the tests face down. When everyone had one then they were allowed to turn the papers over and begin. Moniqa read all the questions over carefully first to see if there were any questions that she could answer readily.

1. How did the logging industry impact the culture of the Pacific Northwest?
2. What was the environmental consequences of timber cutting?
3. How did the unions change the face of the logging industry?
4. What were the most important consequences of unions?
5. What is your opinion of unions today?

Moniqa answered the last question, then sat pondering the other questions. Just then, the classroom door popped open about four inches and stopped. Startled, Moniqa looked up, expecting someone to enter, but no one did. Moniqa glanced back at her test paper and the door opened another 18 inches. Moniqa looked at the door standing open, then quickly around the room. All the windows were closed, so it couldn't have been the wind! None of the other students nor Mr. Thornton seemed to notice. Moniqa squinted at the door and actually saw a shimmering image of a Unicorn, then felt the joyful presence of Magic. The Unicorn neighed and laughed.

"You thought you were only dreaming and I'm not real." Reading her thoughts, Magic continued, "Don't worry, no one else can see or hear me."

"Moniqa thought, "Well, if no one else can see or hear you that definitely says to me that you are a figment of my imagination."

"Oh, it's not that others cannot perceive me, it's just that they choose not to. Take Erin Bol in the back of the room. He can perceive me easily, but he chooses to surround himself with ghouls and goblins instead."

"HA!" Moniqa was so astounded that she said it right out loud. Mr. Thornton looked up. Moniqa turned red and looked at her test. Mr. Thornton started to get up, but Magic was at his side instantly. Pressing his chin on Mr. Thornton's shoulder, assuring the teacher that Moniqa was OK and no one was cheating. Mr. Thornton settled back into his chair and Magic walked back over to Moniqa, smiling.

"See? Even Mr. Thornton can hear me, when it's appropriate."

"What did you mean that Erin Bol prefers to surround himself with goblins?"

"Well, look," Magic said, tossing his head toward the back of the room. Moniqa carefully looked over her shoulder There seemed to be shadows hovering around Erin, even though he was sitting next to the window, and should be silhouetted against the light. By letting her eyes go out of focus Moniqa could see funny faces on the back wall and in the trees outside; faces with beady eyes, pointy ears, and sharp teeth.

"They are mischievous rascals, but not really bad," Magic said.

Moniqa shuddered. "I wouldn't want them hanging around me."

Magic snorted, and a low rumbling chuckle came from deep in his chest. "Oh, but you do. Everyone does. They serve as teachers. Learn to thank them for the valuable lessons they give you and let the Love of the Creator flow through you to them. In this way they have a chance to evolve and grow, just as we all do. Also, by letting the Love of the Creator flow through you to them, they cannot drain your Energy, as they are able to do when you are in fear of them."

"Magic, you don't have to evolve, and you certainly don't have any of those goblins hanging around you!" Moniqa thought emphatically.

"Yes and no. Each of us has our counter-part existing simultaneously in the Light and Dark Realms. This keeps the Universe in Balance. And don't make the mistake of putting me on a pedestal, Moniqa. The only difference between you and me is that I know and live my Life's Purpose 99% of the time, while you are unsure of your Life's Purpose and live your belief's about 35% of the time.

"The Universe is evolving and everything in it. When I do meet those who's Life's Purpose and Focus is Power-for-the-sake-of-Power, instead of Power for the sake of Love, I give them Love.

"But, enough of that! I didn't come here today to discuss Erin's goblin friends. I came here to grant your wish about experiencing History."

Magic snorted, shook his mane and stomped the floor.

"There! Now you are out of Time - it no longer exists for you. We can be anywhere you wish to be. Let me read your questions so I know where to take you." Magic quickly scanned the questions. Looking quickly around the room, Moniqa realized that everyone and everything was freeze-framed; stop-action.

"OK, hop up, Moniqa, and away we go. I'll be taking you into different Perspectives of Creation; simultaneous lives. You will be experiencing everything in the first person."

Suddenly, everything blurred. Moniqa felt as if she must be traveling at the speed of light and accelerating. "You are," came the thought. "You are.... I am...." Then, decelerating, floating, dancing light...happy BEing. Dancing in the breeze. Rejoicing with Heaven's Blessing, drinking in the moisture and light. Peaceful, joyous, dancing, growing to fruition, maturity.

Then breaking loose. Free at last. Dancing on the breeze, carried on the wind. Then darkness but not death; transition. New growth. New life. A deepening, growing, coming into communication. True freedom. The ability to communicate and BE.
"Draught. Oh, Heaven's Blessing withheld, only the heat, the anger. Anger turn to rage. Fear! Fear! Fire! Fire!"

"The raging fire sweeps the trees, the forest. My older sheltering comrades are destroyed by the fire, but I am spared. Then the Heaven's Blessings comes again. I grow and flourish in the new light. My arms outstretch to the golden, nourishing light. I grow to be old, tall, stately; sheltering the land below me.

"Then in my prime a new fear comes; a petulant and blight on the land.

Uncommunicating creatures with no honor in their souls, only power and greed. The Dark-Uncommunicating-Blight sweeps through the land. Slowly felling my brothern and then me. Dissecting us into shameful pieces to be reassembled in horrible, unnatural shapes. The Dark-Uncommunicating-Blight living within our dead shameful corpses. .....

"Things going black...blank. I'm accelerating again and burst into light. I wake up under a tree. Someone is calling my name. It's a sunny summer afternoon. I go back to camp to help clean the day's catch. The fish were divided equally among all the families, so that everyone was fed. My people lived in harmony with each other and our world. Our Mother, the Earth, looked after us and all of Creation, providing life for all. After the evening meal around the central hearth is my favorite time of day; story time. The Elders tell the stories of the days of Old, when the Animals and Plants could talk. And all Peoples of the Earth could speak the same language. Then Anger and Disharmony came to the Earth, separating Plants from Animals and Animals from People, and People from each other. Disharmony and misunderstanding clouds our Minds and Hearts and now we must purify ourselves everyday to live our life in such a way that we might regain what was our original Birthright. Then it was to sleep and the other life of dreams where I learned how to integrated my Peaceful-Self with my Conflictive-Self, so that each morning I can wake up refreshed in body and wiser in Mind and Spirit. When the cold winds began to blow the People needed food more substance than our Plant friends could provide and so the fathers and young men journeyed deep into the Great Forest to hunt for meat. The People spent many days in celebration preparing our Spirits to be in harmony with the Animal Spirits who were preparing their selves for sacrifice. The women and children and all those left in the village continued communing with the Mother Earth, so that ALL might be in Peace and Harmony with the cycles of life. The Hunters return victorious and all the People shared in the feast. Then preparations were made for preserving the rest for the future colder days. Sometimes if the weather is terribly severe the Animals come close to the village for mutual protection and we share the Plants which we have gathered and stored for them. The old or sick or weak then give their lives in exchange so the others might live more healthily and fulfilled.
When the Earth is renewed and all Life is re-born the whole cycle begins anew. I am joyful, peaceful, working and playing in the warmth of the Life Giving Light. I stretch my arms outward and upward to the Light. The brightness fills me as I joyfully spin. Spinning, turning as a seed boring itself into the Mother Earth, sprouting into a joyous plant, small plant or tall plant as one of the stately, honorable trees of the Grand Forest. Spinning and turning in the Light, I become the Light, spinning, swirling, accelerating, decelerating and finally come to rest.

I wake up on a hard board bed, my thin blanket is not nearly enough to keep me warm. I shiver inside my clothes. The nights are cold and damp. I get up and stoke the fire in the bunk house, then go back to bed to sleep. It's Friday and after work tonight I'll ride the logging train back to town with the other fellows to see my wife and family. Just the thought of holding my darling warms me from my heart out. Soon I'm asleep, dreaming of her, until dawn. After breakfast, we all walk to the edge of the forest to work. The guys are laughing and joking along the way. I pause, just for a second, to look up at the stately trees. Is it sadness or guilt I feel for cutting them down? Some of these trees were tall before Jesus walked the Earth. Having made my humble apology, I proceed with my work of cutting them down. The work is dangerous and exciting because one wrong move can mean your life.

The day passes swiftly and soon the whistle blows. I hurry back to the bunk house to gather my bed roll. Then grab something quick from the mess hall to eat while waiting in line for my weeks pay and on the train back to town. We huddle inside the boxcar. My clothes are wet with sweat and rain. I join in the banter to keep my mind off the fact that I'm cold. It's long dark by the time the train pulls into the yard. I'm one of the first ones to hop from the box- car. We are met at the gate to the train yard by an angry bunch of men.

The leader yells above the noise of the train yard, "Men, join us! Throw your bedroll on the bonfire. Show the Timber Lords that we stand together. We must Strike! We must stand together to bring the Money-and-Power-Hungry-Timber-Mongers to their knees. It is only right that they provide us bedding in exchange for us risking our lives to cut their nice profits for them while they sit snug and warm in their mansions."

Several of the men throw their bedrolls on the fire; but they're single, foot-loose and fancy-free. It's fine for them, but the rest of us have families to think of, hungry mouths to feed. We couldn't afford to be out of work for God-knows how long! Myself and several others try to push our way thought the mob. Suddenly, an all out brawl brakes out. Our blanket are stolen from us and thrown onto the bonfire. I watch the black smoke rise to the sky, taking with it my hopes and dreams.

Monday comes, I have our wedding quilt under my arm. It will be much warmer than the blanket I had, but it leaves my beloved wife with only one thin blanket. At the train yard I'm met by the same Union, as they call themselves. It's no use. I can't get through the mob. I return home a broken man.

The next morning I set out for the next town along the coast. But, as far as I travel, it's always the same. I go to the unemployment office. They ask, "Do you have a bedroll?" I show them mine. They hand me my work slip and I go to the train yard And at the train yard there is the "Union" stopping the men who would work from even getting near the train yard The Sheriff and Deputies are up against it, too. They have filled their jails until there is standing room only and still there is more "Union" men to stop honest hard working men from getting to work.

After weeks of trudging from town to town, I return home. A month and three days after the "strike" started, a law was passed by the state legislature, stating that each Timber company must provide and maintain mattresses and bedding for all its employees. There was celebration in the streets for a week at the Peoples Victory! It was still another three weeks before the camps were ready for us to go back to work. But, in the end it all worked out fine.

Again, I was accelerating. though Time and Space. This time I landed back in my body in the classroom.

Moniqa looked around, slightly disoriented, she saw Magic standing beside her, tossing his head. She smiled at him. "Thank you," she thought, and began to write. She wrote as fast as her pen would fly. The words seemed to pour onto the page. The bell rang just as she finished the last of eight pages.

Stapling the massive, Moniqa laid it on the pile with a triumphant smile. She had done her best and she was satisfied. She followed the others out into the hall way. Magic walked through the wall beside her.

As Moniqa walked down the crowded hallway, being jostled in the mad mill between classes. She glanced at Magic prancing beside her.

"Doesn't it bother your to have people walk right through you?" she mindspoke to Magic.
"No." he replied telepathically.

"Well, it does me!" Moniqa retorted.

"Why? They cannot see me or feel the passing of our atoms," Magic said, bafflement tinting his mindvoice.

"Yes, but it does. I understand that you are my Imaginary Friend, a figment of my imagination"

"Not a figment of your imagination," Magic interrupted. "The word figment implies a fraction. Rather, say, an aspect of your imagination. Wholeness. You see? The whole of the whole, with specific-individual-focused-intent," the Unicorn ended triumphantly.
Magic pranced beside her for a few quiet minutes. Then he said, "I can see that my presence troubles you. I'll see you in your dreams, later." Before Moniqa could respond Magic was gone. Then she felt guilty for being so unkind, especially after he had come to help her with that test.

Just as quickly as he had vanished, he was back. His chuckling rumbled down the hallway like thunder. A merry glitter danced in his eye. "Guilt, the gift that keeps on giving! Please, Moniqa, don't carry that Dark weight. It is no earthly good. I forgive you for being troubled by my presence. You are not crazy because you can see and hear me and feel my presence when no one else can. I am with you always, whether you perceive me or not. Everyone has a Guardian. I am yours. But, you are different. You're special! You are gifted with the ability to perceive beyond the illusion of the mere physical Realm. Some people call that imagination. Don't ever stop imagining, Moniqa. For it is your imagination which reveals who you are." He disappeared again.

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(c) 1991, 2001, Sharri Lorraine~