15 March 2012
Nelson's eye was drawn by the sight of garment racks moving in his local department store. He investigated to discover a small boy huddling at the base of one such rack.
"Young man, are you lost?," asked Nelson of the boy. "May I help you find your parents?," he offered.
"No, I know where they are," answered the boy quietly. "I'm just hiding out, checking on the people who go by. They're not all really people, you know...hey, you're one of them, aren't you?--Why, you're a FOX!," declared the child.
"Good lord," thought Nelson, "this boy has 'the Sight!' "
"You're not gonna bite me, are you, Mister?," asked the boy, crouching deeper within the rack of garments.
"Indeed not, young man!," reassured Nelson. "How long have you been able to discern those people guided by animal spirits?," he asked the boy.
"All my life," replied the child. "My Mom said I'm not to talk about it, though. The last time I did, I was taken to a head doctor and put on medication."
Nelson touched the boy on the shoulder, and was able to see through his eyes. He beheld in the passing crowd lions and bears, and every variety of predator and prey animal, everything that walked, flew, or crawled on two or four limbs. Nelson shook his head in awed wonder. The child's gift was great, but would need refinement and shaping.
In the years ahead, Nelson would find ways to remain in contact with the youngster as his teacher and mentor...and in the fullness of time when the very fabric of society would unravel, that child would grow into manhood and eventually become the leader of the great Northern Tribe that would give hope and a new foundation to many in the dark times which lay ahead...
The Sight • Opuss № I