Into the Jungle

By Michael T. Mayo

"Into the Jungle" is an Odyssey, beginning in a Bamboo Jungle, and ending in a Jungle of Time, where Time is the challenge. Time is the weapon, and Time becomes the ultimate arbiter of all things.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Queens Army LLC
• Release date: Apr 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9798986216683

Book preview

Into the Jungle

A True Story

By

Dr. Michael T. Mayo

Queens Army Tucson, Arizona

Copyright© 2024 Michael T. Mayo

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be copied, shared, reproduced, transmitted, or stored electronically or by any other means without explicit written permission from Dr. Mayo.

ISBN 979-8-9862166-8-3 e-book

First digital Edition, May, 2024

ISBN 979-8-9862166-9-0 print softcover

Published by: Queens Army LLC

5362 E. 3rd Street

Tucson, Arizona 85712

Our website is: queensarmy.net

e-mail: [e-mail]

Distriuted by Ingram

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Gigi, my dear friend and lover.

Introduction

Into the Jungle is an Odyssey, beginning in a Bamboo Jungle, and ending in a Jungle of Time, where Time is the challenge. Time is the weapon, and Time becomes the ultimate arbiter of all things.

Dr. Mayo’s Mantra

Nothing is what it appears to be, ever.

Don’t take it personally, even if it’s meant to be.

Every challenge brings an opportunity. (The gift)

The secret is to focus on the opportunity…

Not on the challenge.

Expect nothing… and you will never be disappointed.

The only thing between you and your dreams… is you.

Give yourself permission to fail…

So you can give yourself permission to succeed.

Treat yourself the way you want others to treat you.

Learn to say ‘Thank You’… and mean it.

Forgive others… So you can forgive yourself.

Into the Jungle

Life and Death... What matters?

Every night, I talk with the Source. I ask, what should I do, what do I need to know and where should I go? Last night he said … Into the Jungle!

I had no idea what jungle he was talking about. Then, I remembered the picture I had taken of my dog’s grave in the backyard, still fresh from its digging, still raw and painful, where Morrie, my Corgi of seventeen years now lay frozen, tumbled in death beneath its surface. I call my backyard a Bamboo Jungle, where wild animals come to play at night.

Later, in the dead of night, when I returned. Towering behind his grave stood a young man, barefoot, clad only in a ragged thong.

Who are you, I asked.

I am the enchanted Human spirit of your dog Morrie.

Out of the thick bamboo jungle beside him, stepped a duplicate young man, clad in similar attire. He said, I am his identical Twin. We were bewitched by Louisa the powerful sorceress, along with her daughter Clarissa, as she stepped out from the bamboo shadows as well. What were three spirits doing in my Bamboo Jungle?

Who were they, where did they come from, what did they have to do with my dog Morrie, what did they have to do with me? Answers to these questions must lie with the Sorceress, Louisa. I sought her out, in the Bamboo Jungle. She provided me with some information. She was quite small, not much over four feet tall, and definitely an Indian. She said she was Aztec, so her daughter Clarissa was also an Aztec. The twin boys were light-skinned, with blue eyes. They were also native Indians, but not Aztecs.

The Sorceress admitted she had cast spells upon all three of them because her daughter insisted on marrying both twins. Clarissa could not tell them apart and both twins refused to be separated from each other in life, or death. So be it! Louisa shouted, and cast her spells in anger, and in haste, passing down through generations, as Louisa pursued them relentlessly through time.

What does that have to do with me, I asked. And what does that have to do with my Corgi, Morrie?

You have broken my spells. Now I must return to their Place of Origin to cast yet others, Louisa said.

I followed her at a distance of one day. Females need at least one day, to cool their wrath. Small women are given to meanness and are slow at forgiving. When I arrived, Louisa was busy at her cauldron, perhaps she is but a Witch and not yet fully a Sorceress. I monitored her every move. I had no way of knowing how long she was absent while in pursuit of her daughter and the Twin boys. Louisa seemed uncertain for some reason. Was she contriving more powerful spells, or reconsidering those past actions? She wandered over to an ancient tree, squatted down, leaned her back against its trunk, and fell asleep, or deep into a trance. This was my chance to meet her on neutral ground in the Dreamscape, so I joined her in her dream. She seemed to recognize me at once and greeted me as her equal, then she explained many things, unknown or unrealized by me.

Her Totem was a hawk, as was her fledgling daughter Clarissa’s. Dogs and Crows were held in great disdain by Aztecs and they were considered nothing more than scavengers. She asked me about my Totem. I was uncertain, so I told her I was a shape-shifter and could assume any form.

Look into my eyes, so that I may clearly see you, she said.

So, I did.

Louisa squinted and said, Your eyes appear black as night, you are a Sorcerer… no, now they are fire-red, you are a Wizard… no, now they are sapphire blue, you are a Magician… now, they are pulling me into them, you are magic. I smiled and said, I am neither here, nor there, nor anywhere, but everywhere, for I am a time traveler. I am just passing through.

Louisa explained our connections in this way. She had cast one brother as a Dog, and the other as a Crow. Her daughter remained unchanged as a Hawk. When their host perished, they were forced to find another, another dog, another crow, or another hawk, living parasites as such, upon others, forever. My magic was too strong, her spells were broken by my obsession to bury a Dog, a Crow, and a Hawk as one, together in one space, but at different times. Louisa and her daughter were Aztecs. The twins were Mayo or ‘Yoreme’ Indians from land destined someday to become the northern states of Mexico, in southern Sonora, northern Sinaloa, and Durango.

I had a dog, Morrie. He passed away while I was out of town and was wrapped in a blanket and placed in the freezer by my dog watcher, awaiting my return. I had a pet crow, Jeremy, for fifteen years. He and Morrie were best of friends. Jeremy would share his food with Morrie and stand close by watching him eye to eye and making strange sounds. He died last year of complications from the West Nile virus and was ceremoniously buried several months before Morrie passed away, in the same grave, which was prepared for Morrie’s eventual departure after he had a stroke. I found a young Harris hawk, dead on the pool deck with no signs of injury a few days before Morrie died. The hawk was also buried ceremoniously there in that same grave with great respect.

The keystone came to me as I entered the house after placing Morrie’s remains in the grave and tumbling the earth back over to close it. A full-grown adult Harris Hawk swooped down to attack me. It barely missed and flapped around under the roof of the porch where I was standing, and stared down angrily at me from inside the sky-lite. I never saw anything like that happen before. It made no sense to me until Louisa admitted, she was the hawk. She was furious I had destroyed her spells, releasing her daughter Clarissa and the twin boys from her curses.

I don’t know where Clarissa and the two Twins are situated at the moment. Perhaps their location should remain a secret. Perhaps they are lost somewhere in time, or trapped in a place of danger. Before I seek them out, I should first determine Louisa’s intentions. She is, after all, a mother first, but still a sorceress. Nonetheless, two sons-in-law are better than none. I asked the Source last night what he thought I should do next.

He hesitated, ran through several possible options, and then finally said I should see if I could find Clarissa. I happened to be in California at the time. After much effort, I finally found her underneath the Car at my home, in the Garage, in Tucson, Arizona. One hand was barely visible, protruding from below the driver’s door. I asked her where the Twins were, and what she was doing under the car. She said two monsters came, so she hid beneath the car and the Twins ran off. She couldn’t stay there under the car in my garage. I couldn’t leave her with the others in the Sixth String because Clarissa was in training to become a sorceress. She wasn’t trustworthy in my eyes, for I knew nothing about her except that she was on the run with Twin boys. I didn’t know what to do with her. There was no telling what her mother might do to her if she had the chance, and the same applied to the Twins. I would have to take her back to California with me until I could come up with a more palatable solution.

By the time we finally arrived in California, what little clothing she wore when we left was now, long gone. She was frightened by all that had transpired and insisted that I hold her. I didn’t think that was such a great idea. When I mentioned that to her, she volunteered to sleep on the floor next to my bed. That wouldn’t do either. I suggested she sleep behind me and put her arms around my back, which was bad enough but she seemed to be OK with that compromise. Tomorrow is another day. Maybe I can come up with a better solution by then.

She was dirty. Her hair was a mess. She had to be cleaned up, so I put her in the shower, scrubbed her down, and shampooed her long dark hair. I had no idea how old she was. When you are on the run in the jungle your skin gets pretty beat-up. I checked her teeth. They can help determine your actual age. She had fully erupted 12-year molars with significant wear facets. That meant she was at least 14 years old no matter what her diet had been. A reasonable natural diet would push her age up into the twenties. The skin on her elbows suggested she was younger than thirty. No stretch marks suggested she had never had a baby. We communicated telepathically. She was intellectually intact and quite intelligent. There was something strange about her hair and the texture of her skin, it didn’t feel normal. Her hair dried quickly and completely without the use of a hair dryer. Her skin was smooth and dry to the touch but felt artificial. Her skin had somehow become blemish-free, as if by magic. I needed to find those Twins and unload her with them as soon as possible.

I gave Clarissa one of my T-shirts to wear and we went in search of the Twins. We finally found them at the edge of a jungle. I don’t know where or when it was, but we found them. Clarissa discarded the T-shirt and stood statue-like in front of them. Out from the dense jungle behind the Twins stepped another identical Clarissa. What was going on here?

The two naked young women embraced each other and they became one, tall, thin, beautiful woman. The two young men turned and embraced each other. They too were transformed into one person, tall, and powerful, a magnificent specimen. He and Clarissa embraced, held hands, and vanished back into the jungle from which they had come. I climbed up onto a rocky outcropping to survey the surrounding landscape. Where was I? How could I get out of this place?

I came upon the shriveled carcass of what appeared to be a tiny horse, no bigger than a jackrabbit. Its glassy eye stared up at me. That eye should have been clouded, shrunken, not smooth and shiny. Perhaps it was not yet dead from dehydration and lack of sustenance. I carried it over to a