(1) SAADI'S QUEST: Chapter 1 Red Velvet Pillow

VISION QUEST

BOOK ONE

Chapter I. RED VELVET PILLOW

I’m in a dream, wandering feeling really unhappy inside; sorrow so real can feel its weight like a chain squeezing my heart.  I’m lost.  Where is this place?  What is this place?

Brutha Ibram walks up to me. Tall and lanky, lean like an African runner, his long locs flow in the breeze over his African Caftan, rich in browns and golds.  He’s the driver of the bus, a school bus!  You have to catch it at a certain place and an exact time.  Brutha Ibram is not at all clear about where the bus will be or about what will happen when we get to this place that he calls the other side.  He tells me that he understands what I’m feeling.  He’s felt this way before, that’s why he’s come to get me, to take me to this place on the other side.

It’s not easy to catch this bus but I know its very important and that I need to go.  The people on the bus look downtrodden, forlorn.  Wow, there’s San, my best friend from college. And a dark skinned man sitting in the back in the corner.  He’s slumped over like he is drunk or something.  He looks familiar.  Is it Daddy?

The school bus has to pass through an opening that looks like a picture frame.  There is a precise moment when it must pass through the portal.  I want to go.  I can’t take this sorrow anymore.  It’s not sadness out of desperation; it’s more like a permeating lack of hope.  I have to go. I jump.

The scene completely changes and I find myself inside a hotel. I don’t see the outside; the room we’re in has no windows.  No, its not a hotel, it’s a school, an elementary school and at the same time it’s a spa, a retreat, a place to heal.  I have my own room.   There’s an altar.  I don’t chant first. I unpack, and pitter around in the room.  Then I sit and chant though I am not sure what I chant about.  The altar’s shape and color are vague but there are beautiful red velvet pillows on the floor in front of it.  I think we fly in this place.

I return to this spa, retreat, school, over and over.  Brutha Ibram is always our guide.  My life starts to heal more and more with each trip.  It is time for my next trip but for some reason I begin to doubt going.  

Maybe I don’t need to go. 

I go to a restaurant instead, a couple of blocks away from the jump site.  I’m sitting there eating my sandwich when it hits me,

“What a fool! These trips are my last chance. I have to go.  Oh gosh is it too late?

I begin to panic as I race to the jump site running with all my strength but like in a dream world, I’m moving through thick honey. The harder I run the slower I move. Everything is in slow motion.

Will I be too late? What’s wrong with me? Am I crazy?  I know I need these visits.  I’m going to miss them.  It’s an exact place. It’s an exact time.  You can’t be late! 

To be continued...

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Welcome to my story of Saadi, a young woman in our time, navigating the rough waters of living.  She’s not so different from you or me.  Maybe, as we read her journey, we will see lessons that she did not and hopefully we will cheer her on as she seeks a path amidst lovers, inner demons, family, friends, and foes... 
                      Saadi's Quest by Minerva

 "The Tales of Saadi" graphic by Paulo Canabarro (pvpcanabarro@gmail.com)