Just a little Fruity
These good fellows don't belong to me but I promise when I'd done to pick um up, dust um off and with a kiss on the cheek return them safely home.
"The Lakota Great Spirit Prayer"
Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, Who's breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others.
Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy, Myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame."
Unknown.
AN: I have spent days reading and researching before writing this chapter. I have found that the Lakota culture is strong in tradition and belief. I write this with no intent to desecrate or mock their deep spiritual beliefs. This is written for fictitious characters as Kanda's gift to Johnny. After reading about this incredible culture I feel I am only the better for it.
Chapter 16
Kanda held the small wooden box close to her as she ran back into the ER. When she opened the door to his room her heart sank.
"Get that epi in him now," Brackett yelled as Dixie drew it up.
Dixie pushed in the medication as Carole changed out the IV fluids. Kanda's eyes met Roy's as he quickly turned his head while doing chest compressions.
"We need to buy him time for the antidote to do its job," Joe said but deep down he knew that Johnny was already gone. He could hope, right? They all could hope that some miracle would happen. That it would circulate through his blood stream a little faster and turn off the chemical reaction of the cyanide that was stealing his life away right before their eyes.
Roy stopped the compressions to see that Johnny's heart rate was holding at 50. Not good but holding for the moment.
Kanda walked up to Joe, "I need to do something." Her voice was barely audible above the chaos of the room.
Joe looked at her, holding a brown box. "Do what?"
"It's a healing ceremony of my people. Please," her eyes pleaded with him.
He glanced over to Kel who gave a deep breath of resignation. He didn't know what else to do for the young man. The compressions and medications were just delaying the inevitable. Beside it wouldn't hurt at this point. They both nodded to her.
She glanced over to Dixie, "I need the others. He needs to know everyone is here."
Dixie quickly went to the waiting room to get Johnny's friends and shift mates. Running up to Hank, "We need all of you in the room right now."
His heart sank.
She pulled a silver tray up to the head of Johnny's bed and put the wooden box down on it. As she opened it the others filed into the room in silence. They assumed they were coming to tell Johnny goodbye and were a little surprised to see everyone's attention now on Kanda.
"This is a healing ceremony of our people. It was taught to me by our grandmother who was a tribal elder. This isn't the ideal place to perform it but I have faith in the love and friendship in this room to let Johnny know we are here."
She took out a long eagle feather, a small abalone shell, and a fist full of dried leaves and stems. Taking the first item she placed it in the shell, "Sweet grass, the grass that never dies, from the mountains, a gift from the Creator." Taking the next one she placed it in, "Sage, the cleanest smell of the desert, also given to us by the Creator." She took a deep breath. The last one was then added, "Tobacco is yet another gift of the earth to our people."
Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a matchbox, pulled one out and struck it. Once lit she dropped it into the bowl,.
"Smoke becomes our words; it goes out and touches everything. Our thoughts and prayers are carried on the smoke. They are carried on the wings of eagles. We must remove the negative energies so peace and relaxation may occur. Healing cannot occur without peace."
The aroma of the ingredients penetrated the senses of everyone in the room, bitter, clean, refreshing. Filling their minds of the mountains, desert, and the earth all at the same time. There was something mildly intoxicating about it as she began to speak softly in Lakota, almost singing with her voice, soft and alluring. She didn't seem aware of anyone else in the room as she spoke.
After a few moments she looked up at the group intently watching her. She didn't feel ashamed, awkward or intimidated. She was doing this for Johnny and she believed deeply that it would help him. "Everyone come close to him and place a hand upon him," she said with a voice that seemed to float in the air around them.
Each person in the room moved to the bed in silence and made physical contact with this person that meant so much to them, in many different ways. Roy and Kanda stood at his head, their hands on his shoulders. Hank and Mike placed their hands on his arms. Dixie and Carol held his hands. Marco and Chet rested their hands on one leg while Joe, Kel and Morton stood at the other.
"I ask for you to repeat this during my prayer, Wakan Tanka kici un. It means May the Great Spirit Bless You."
Taking the eagle's feather she dipped it into the ashes of the abalone shell. She then brushed it across Johnny's forehead and began her Lakota prayer. As she moved down his body she brushed the ashes out of the bowl with the feather. They couldn't understand the words but someone they felt them and knew what they asked for. When she looked up to them they repeated the blessing with her. Slowly she continued as a sense of peace moved through the room. The only sound was her soft musical voice and the beeping of Johnny's heart monitor. Moving in between each person she continued to brush the ashes onto him and recite the sacred prayer she had learned as a child. It never occurred to anyone in the room to question what she was doing or even think of stopping her. They were each and every one entranced by her spiritual gift to Johnny and her deep belief in what she was doing.
No one noticed that the hallway was quiet, the phone didn't ring and Hanks radio never went off. The steady beeping of Johnny's heart was the only sound in their universe right then. And Roy heard it change.
She ended the ceremony with a kiss on her brother's cheek and stepped back from the table, "Thank you. Johnny is only blessed to have you in his life."
Dixie wiped the tears from her cheeks when no one was watching and looked over to see Roy staring at his monitor. "Kel?"
The firemen stepped back as the medical personnel moved in to quickly work again. Kel listened to his chest while Dixie took another blood pressure and Carole adjusted his IV rate.
Roy was at a loss for words.
In the business Kanda simply gathered her supplies and left the room, she was exhausted.
"Doc?" Roy asked. They all wanted to hear him say the words. They could see the monitor but they needed to hear it from the doctor first hand.
Kel shook his head, "Something has worked Roy. His heart rate has stabilized at 80."
Dixie looked up, "BP is 115/60 Kel. He's breathing on his own some now."
Roy just wanted to hug someone as he looked around for Kanda he suddenly realized that she wasn't there. He stepped into the hallway and looked down the hall to see her at the nurse's station desk. She was startled by the door and the running but relaxed when she saw the big smile on Roy's face.
"Kanda, he's stabilizing. It worked. His color is better and his oxygen level is up," Roy felt like he was rambling but didn't really care. She smiled back at him but didn't get up. Instantly he was worried, "Are you alright?" He moved beside her.
"Just tired," she said softly as she rested her head on his chest.
He nodded, "I can only imagine what that took out of you."
They looked up to see the three doctors coming down the hallway in a mild debate. When they saw Roy and Kanda at the desk they stopped arguing. Roy knew the medical part of them would never acknowledge the possibility of what Kanda did for him. It wasn't in a textbook so it probably wasn't possible.
"We're going to move him up to the ICU. If he continues to improve at this rate we'll take him off that ventilator this evening."
Roy took a deep breath, "Thanks doc, for everything."
"Roy, I don't know what worked but something did and he's responding to it rapidly now," Joe said. That was followed by another quiet debate. The epi took effect, the compressions gave him time, the antidote started working."
Kanda cleared her throat, "Will there be any long term damage from the cyanide?"
"Reversing its effects usually prevents any long term damage but this dose was high. We'll have to see when he wakes up. He has a lot of recovery still to do," Brackett said.
Roy watched his shift mates move back out to the waiting room and walked down the hall to see them.
"Cap, their moving him to ICU next. Kanda will stay with him so I can finish my shift."
Hank just nodded, he knew how hard it was for Roy to leave his best friend after all that had happened. "We'll head back to the station and I'll call you in some help. Just stay 10-8 until that help arrives."
"Thanks Cap," Roy said.
Chet moved over to him, "Roy, about what happened in there."
Roy didn't have the interest in hearing Chet razz on the ceremony, "Chet don't go there alright?"
But he actually looked hurt, "Roy, no. I was going to say that what she did was, well, incredible. I mean, I never knew that a Native American ceremony would be like that."
Roy found himself smiling. He patted him on the shoulder, "Just don't let Johnny hear ya say that, he'll never let you live it down."
"Oh, I'm amazed and in awe, but not stupid Roy. What do you take me for? Johnny's pigeon?"
With relief in their hearts the men headed out to Big Red and returned home.