condition which had deteriorated. Picking
myself up, I walked out the door and into a
hot sunny oasis. Lying on the ground, I
closed my eyes. As I did so, my garments
and body became that of the medicine
woman. From the ground came timbers and
a leather sheet to hold my body as I realized
that I was being laid out for burial in the
Native American way. Baking in the hot sun,
my consciousness receded to
unconsciousness as I surrendered to my ill
health. "It's the barometer," the angels
whispered in my ear, "the barometer has
dropped due to the storm and will affect
your heart badly. Be careful." Nodding, I
ceased.
Traveling through the wilderness, I
was trying to keep up with the others but
deathly aware of my inability to do so. My
heart failure situation was simply making it
impossible for me to do what I had done in
the past. As we approached the familiar
wilderness retreat which was the home
ground of the infamous haunted mansion of
which I had visited and worked on
extricated members many times, I realized
that we would have to stay in unheated huts