Bob Sh’aml Ellenberg

730 NE 11th St.

Gainesville, Fl.32601

352-215-4889

[email protected]

BREATHING IN MT. RAINIER

Harry was sitting on a bench near Puget Sound with a fixated stare at mammoth Mt. Rainier 50-miles away. He was feeling a connection, inwardly laughing, musing to himself: “We’re both part of this earth; she just happened to grow a bit larger than me. I wonder if there is a way to make a tangible, connection, like a feeling, for something so immense.” Harry closed his eyes and imagined the two of them, Mt Rainier and himself as one. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there staring with his eyes closed, but after a short while he sensed she was as close to him as his own breath. When he opened his eyes, standing in front of him was a tall, attractive, dark haired woman wearing slightly tinted sunglasses. She had a reddish, longhaired dog on a leash, sitting quietly next to her.

He was startled, just a bit, since he expected to see the mountain “she,” but instead this beautiful woman. She didn’t say anything and he wasn’t sure what to say until he allowed the first words to come out of his mouth: “Where,” he hesitated, “where did you come from?”

She smiled a warm friendly smile and said, “I was passing by this bench where I usually sit to look at Ms Rainier, just as you were doing.”

Harry slid over a bit allowing room for her, “Here, please share this bench with me. It’s more your space than mine.”

“Thanks, I will, but only for a moment. I have to take a friend some place soon, but I’ll enjoy the time. I come here often, but never saw you here before. This is a very special spot, how the bench was placed, so you can sit and look right at her and maybe you can feel her too. And of course the plaque.”

Harry was taken aback by the synchronicity of their thoughts. Easily feeling some connection. “Yeah, the plaque had my attention first. Hi, my name is Harry and this is the first time I’ve ever sat here. I just moved to Seattle from Florida to be close to my three year-old grandson. I came here today to celebrate my move and to be close to the water and nature. Mt Rainier was the bonus. Maybe you are also.”

“Well, thanks. I don’t know about me being a bonus Harry, but I’m Adrianna. Like I said, I come here to sit and look at her, sometimes thinking she came down from the sky, not up from the earth. I like to feel she is here for me to be close to something so magnificent that it is beyond anything we can know about in this life. Yet I try.”

Harry looked back at the mountain, pleasantly shaken by this woman showing up as she did, when she did, being on the bench with him. “I don’t know much about this stuff, but it feels like a healing energy is coming from her.”

“There is. Exactly. I knew something special was going on with you when I passed by. Shep, this is Shep,” as she stroked the dog’s soft, red, fur. “Shep is the intuitive one. She must have felt some energy coming off you, because she’s the one who stopped and began to stare at you. So I stopped and paid attention also. I apologize. It might have been a bit disturbing seeing us in front of you and not Rainier.”

“Well, yeah, not disturbing, but, well, to tell you the truth, I closed my eyes to see if I could somehow have an intimate connection with Rainier. And here you are.”

As they both turned and looked at the mountain, a man in a wheelchair approached the bench. He was disheveled, with grimy clothes; his hair, long, unwashed looking; his hands dirty; an untended beard. Harry noticed an unpleasant odor as he approached them.

Harry’s immediate thought was the man was going to hit them up for money, but instead: “Hey girl, haven’t seen you around for a while.”

Adrianna responded immediately, “I’ve been away for a couple of weeks and haven’t been able to come down to the shelter. How you been Charlie?”

“Well, you know, look at me. Life is still good. Crippled, barely any money, no place to sleep, eating out of dumpsters. Yeah, I’m doing about the same.” His voice was gravely and rough.

“Hey Charlie, I’m Harry.” Harry extended his hand, but Charlie just left his hands on the wheels of the rolling chair.

Charley immediately responded with a harsh tone in his voice, “Where’d you meet this guy?”

“We just met a short while ago and we’re getting to know each other. I actually have to leave in a few minutes. If you don’t mind Charlie, we were talking and I’d like to continue our conversation in private, but I’ll see you at the shelter, tomorrow night, my usual time there.”

Charlie moved his rolling chair a bit closer to the bench, almost touching Adrianna’s knees. He raised his voice a bit, as he spouted, “So you want the homeless guy in a wheelchair to leave, huh?”

Harry was unsure what his place was, but he instinctively reacted, “Hey Charlie, Adrianna and I were talking. She wasn’t being rude. You don’t have to be rude to her.”

“Hey man, kiss my crippled ass. Rude, crude. I’ve known  Adrianna for a year; she just meets you and all of a sudden I’m a stranger to her.”

“Charlie, what are you doing? Yeah, I help out at the shelter and have helped you, but I have a life outside of there.”

Shep, being protective, began a slow, deep, growl; got on her feet hearing Adrianna’s tone, and stood closer to her mistress staring at Charlie.

“Oh, now your dog is going to protect you from the gimp in a wheelchair?”

“Yeah, she does protect me and for you to be safe, you might want to back away a bit.”

“Oh yeah, and what if I push myself right up between your legs?” And as he spoke he pushed his chair closer touching her knees.

Shep didn’t hesitate a beat, but gave a sharp, growl, and grabbed onto Charlie’s pant leg.

Adrianna pulled tightly on Shep’s leash raising her voice, “Shep! No! Let go!”

Harry stood up right away with the energy suddenly changing. “Hey, back away from the bench. This is getting crazy.” He instinctively went behind the wheelchair and began to pull Charlie away.

“Hey man,” Charlie yelled, “what the hell you doing man, grabbing my chair. I’ll show you how crazy this can get,” as he pulled a switchblade out of his jacket sleeve and reached around as the blade came shooting out, jabbing at Harry’s hand on the handle of the chair.

The blade just grazed Harry’s hand as he reflexively pulled it off the handle. “Hey man, you cut me. Okay, where you want this to go,” as Harry stepped in front of the wheelchair and yelled into Charlie’s face?

“No place man, I don’t want it to go no place,” as he backed his rolling chair away from the bench. Shep’s growl and teeth were right back at Charlie’s feet.

Adrianna reacted immediately: “You better keep moving away Charlie, because I won’t be able to keep her from tearing you up. Put the knife away and keep going. How’s your hand Harry?”

“It’s okay. He just nicked me a bit. Man, what’s with your anger. You need some help.”

“Yeah, I need a lot of help, you gonna give it to me? I  needed help since Nam and here I am, an angry, gimp. He turned his rolling chair around, moving off in the direction he came from.

“Whew,” said Harry, “I used to work in a school in Miami and dealt with a lot of angry, erratic, behavior, but I seldom saw anyone explode so fast. He reminds me of kids on meth.”

“I’m sorry. I was a bit surprised to see you intervene so quickly. Thanks. I’ve known him for a while from the shelter downtown where I help serve meals, but I never saw him act like that before. Most of the time he’s pretty agreeable, although he has an angry temperament.” As she was talking she pulled a handkerchief out of her purse. “Here put this on the cut. It’s doesn’t look too deep.”

“Thanks. “Yeah, he’s right on the edge. You think I can pet Shep?”

Shep had come close to the bench again, laying her head on Adrianna’s feet. “Sure, go ahead, she’s okay now.”

“Good girl, Shep, good girl,” Harry whispered as he bent down and rubbed his hand down her smooth, soft, fur.

As they both sat back to relax, their hands came together on the bench. “I have a suggestion,” Adrianna said, as she took off her sunglasses and looked at Harry.

“What’s that,” Harry responded with a lighthearted chuckle?

I think we should sit here and resume breathing in the energy of Ms Rainier.”

As she said this they both looked down at the plaque embedded in the cement in front of the bench:

Relax¾Breath

Know You Are Loved