Free Outview by Brandt Legg Page A

rode shotgun, while I worked on
meditating in the back seat.
    Each time my mind got close to clarity, the
depths of my situation obliterated it. How could we get Dustin out? My dad
hadn’t died of a heart attack; he’d been murdered and his killers might be after
me. Clear, clear, clear. What is happening--the pops, auras, paranormal
visions, voices, and shapeshifting? Focus, focus, focus. All at once there was
a shift and control. I was unprepared for the calm, a feeling of vanishing into
the universe yet being connected to everything. It’s hard to say how long that
state lasted, probably no more than ten minutes. Next, a voice spoke like the
ones I’d been hearing for so long, but it was clearer and saying more than one
word, much more. It was like hearing three voices at once, with the words
condensed so four words came in the space of one. Surprisingly, it was easy to understand,
and what it said was almost too fantastic to believe.
    “Where were you?” Linh asked.
    “How long was I gone?”
    “Almost half an hour,” she said.
    “That was a good meditation,” Kyle said
slowly, unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth.
    “Do you ever hear voices when you
meditate?” I asked.
    “Sure.”
    “But like a bunch, all talking at the same
time, and you’re able to hear everything?”
    “No, that sounds like a Nate original. What
did they say?” he asked deliberately.
    “They said I could do anything.”
    “Sounds like my uncle,” Kyle eyed Linh.
    “Yeah, but they meant stuff we think is
impossible. If I remember my soul, the universe will be there and all human
limitations will vanish.”
    “Do you have to die for that to happen?”
Linh asked.
    “They said there are many things coming and
that I must be ready.” I sounded possessed, and wondered if they believed me.
    “Go on,” Kyle urged.
    “They said I needed to be ready to face
evil.”
    Kyle’s eyes widened. “Then let’s get someone
to buy us beer.”
    “I’m serious,” I said.
    “So am I.”
    “No, you’re not,” Linh said. “I believe you heard it, Nate.”
    I couldn’t tell if she meant she believed
it happened or just that I thought it did.
    “I believe you, too,” Kyle said. “I’m just
not ready to fight off Hannibal Lecter this weekend.”
    “I wish I could explain how it feels to
know something so bizarre with absolute certainty. On an incredibly deep level
I know it’s all true, and I’m not just worried, I’m terrified.”
    “These will help.” Linh tossed me a pack of
almond M&M’s.
    “That, some Twizzlers, and a Coke will
almost have the same effect as beer,” Kyle said.
    Everyone laughed.
    I passed the stuff from my Dad’s desk
around, but beyond a cursory glance, Kyle couldn’t really focus on them because
he was driving, and Linh was as baffled as I.
    A state trooper passed us. Linh put her
hand on Kyle’s shoulder. For the next mile or two, he checked the rearview
mirror compulsively. We were riding through thick forest now. Linh commented on
the beauty of the trees. I knew she was still trying to lighten the mood, but
it was my topic and I took the bait.
    “Do you know what the world’s largest,
oldest and tallest living things are?”
    “Haven’t you told us this before?” Kyle’s
quizzical eyes narrowed.
    “I haven’t heard it,” Linh said.
    “Trees,” Kyle said.
    “It’s no surprise the tallest living thing
is a tree, a sequoia sempervirens , better known as a coastal redwood not
far from here in northern California. Its name is Hyperion.”
    “It has a name?”
    “Most of the tallest trees do. They’re
important. But the largest living thing is a grove of aspens in Utah called
Pando. They count as one thing because all the trees in the stand are connected
by a single underground root system . Pando
covers over a hundred acres and is probably eighty thousand years old. Some say
it could be much older because when one tree dies, others grow up out of the
same roots.”
    “So that’s