SYNCHRONICITY (The Lone Wolf)

Bonus, Packing Ali's Room

Thankful that the decision had been made to remain in the house, Sebastian sat in the middle of the small room that had served as Alison's bedroom for two years. As she carefully laid various objects of immense sentimental value on he bed, he stared up at the handcrafted dream catcher and realized that the hand-painted image on the animal hide was a wolf staring, the full moon as well as various stages of the moon's trajectory situated below the Milky Way. The wolf seemed to be situated high above an imagined Native American village, complete with the traditional teepees causing him to chuckle...Typical, he thought...what did she know of Native American culture? He'd never admit to her though that it looked an awful lot like a painting that his father had created in his youth. Below the hide were three thick braided strands of hand-spun wool secured by thick black highly polished obsidian beads. It was a lovely piece of art, he thought.

When she caught him staring at it, she removed it from the wall over the bed and handed it to him. "Here. Nosy," she said bluntly with a chuckle as she shook her head. "And yes, it's authentic."

"It's really nice, Ali. Who made it?"

"My Dad and me," she said. "Mom painted it though. I told her what to paint." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not quite what I see in my head, but it's close enough. And the cat-gut? It's not real cat-gut, it's just waxed thread..."

His gaze moved to her, his jaw gaping as wide as his forest-colored eyes. He watched her nod.

"Daddy skinned the hide. The pelt had belonged to a poor little jack rabbit that someone had run over," she said as she carefully wrapped up an antique fabric doll in a suede dress with hand cut fringe, in blank newsprint paper, then carefully placed it in a box.

"I take it that your parents are into art of the South Western variety?"

She laughed. "Not exactly." She crossed the room and removed a framed photograph of two young people in a hammock. He took the photo in his hands and saw a rather decent looking Native American young man and a pretty woman with dark blond hair. "My parents," she said.

"You're half Native American," he exclaimed with surprise.

"Yeah," she said as if it was no big deal.

He watched her nod and turn around to wrap something else and place it in the cardboard box.

"Daddy raises horses, I think. I forget actually...been so long," she said; he thought her voice sounded sad...he didn't like to hear it. "And Mom...well, my mom..."

"Yes?"

"She's gone, she replied, her voice finally breaking a little.

He was almost afraid to know the answer. Still, he asked his question anyway. "Gone? Gone where?"

"Heaven, I guess?"

He lay the Dream Catcher in his lap as he felt his eyes fill up...there was still so much that they didn't know about each other. He figured that they had the rest of their lives to learn. "Well," he began then he cleared his throat, "this is going over the bed."

"You don't have to." She shook her head and waved the notion away.

"Yes I do. I used to think that dream catchers were made for the tourists because well, they really do eat this stuff up, you know? But actually, real ones, like this here, are created by loved ones and are used for protection. If your parents helped you made this, there was a genuine reason for it."

She shrugged her slender shoulders. "I guess?"

"What are the beads made of? Looks like glass..."

"It sort of is," she chuckled. "It's obsidian, which is actually volcanic glass. Dad picked them up when they were on their honeymoon in Hawaii of all places. Dad said that he asked the guy at the stand if it was really from the volcanoes and he made the guy tell him the truth."

"And...?"

"It wasn't locally obtained," she said smiling.

"Well, that's good. I heard awful things happen to people who take rocks from the volcanoes. That they'll be cursed or something?"

She nodded. "Yup. That's the story."

He understood that with at least her mother being born magical, she was at least a half-blood as well as a half-breed like him. Her skin was so fair though, but then he remembered Beth, who's skin-color was slightly darker than hers. Alison's hair was a shade lighter than Beth's too...Beth's hair was a lot like the Obsidian beads that held the hand-spun wool of the dream catcher and her hair was coarser and fuller, where Alison's hair was fine like silk and the thought made him smile. He thought about the sisters, how Alison's brown eyes were almost cat like, brown like chocolate with amber flecks, while Beth's were more round and blue like the ocean was supposed to be. He'd never been to the west coast where the water was supposed to be blue...only the east coast, where the water was more green and grey.

She elected to leave her clothing in the closet, since she had a ton of it. They still hadn't acquired a proper dresser and made mental notes to themselves to ask Sonny if they could bring down the one from the upstairs room. They'd have to acquire a proper bed as well...the mattress on the floor was alright for now, but it wasn't all that comfortable and it wasn't at all easy for him to get off of...she just sort of rolled off of it and stood up; he had to get on all fours...he was jealous of that. Maybe they'd see if they couldn't bring the bed down as well, since it was fairly new?

Armed with the new knowledge, he looked around her room and noticed all sorts of Native American decor around her room...the obnoxious beading that he thought was more hipster, were actually tiny irregular-shaped beads of turquoise, amber, green jasper, buffalo turquoise, or bone, he couldn't quite tell? He was aware that collectively, that screen was worth a small fortune and promised himself that he'd be far more careful entering the room from now on.

"I'm getting hungry, how about you," she asked as she turned and looked at him.

He was still lost in thought and she moved closer and nudged his legs with her bare foot.

"Hello? Earth to Major Tom?"

He looked up, suddenly brought to the here and now. "I'm sorry? What?"

"Food?"

He nodded and rolled slowly on all fours and stood with a bit of difficulty finally towering over her. "Yeah. I am hungry actually. What time is it?"

"Four-thirty," she said. "Oh sorry...half-four," she replied with a teasing nasal tonality to her voice.

"Smart-arse," he grumbled. "What do we have?"

"No food. Only ingredients."

He huffed. "Well, that won't do. I'm hungry now. I'll be practically starving in a bit."

"Oh yes, can't have you becoming emaciated or anything. Gunny will put me in the stockade!"

He rolled his eyes and leaned down to peck her cheek. "Come on, lets go snag a pizza?"

"I'm already there," she said smiling.

"Good." He turned his back to her and looked at her over his shoulder. She jumped up, circled are arms around his neck and then locked her legs at her ankles around his waist and he carried her piggy-back toward the living room.