The Rock Child by Win Blevins

in tongues?
    Now, I had never taken seriously the Mormons speaking in tongues. Still, I couldn’t help wondering. Maybe there was some other world, one seen only with an enchanted eye.
    I swam in the river like a creature of the waters. I swam through huge times and huge spaces, ages and worlds.
    I sipped the tea again. I had a sense that I’d seen and heard magical places and doings I could no longer remember. I looked at the river. The ages and worlds weren’t there. I knew I couldn’t recapture those sights and sounds by jumping back into the water. But maybe, maybe …
    This world seemed dull. Next to the river world, very dull.
    The tea didn’t taste so bad now. I held the warm liquid on my tongue and savored it. China Polly isn’t dull .
    I had heard a new music. I pondered that, a new music. I could whistle any music I heard, but not that stuff.
    I swallowed all the tea.
    When I fetched up on this bank, I was still hearing the music.
    I thought on that.
    Where is it now?
    Easy-like, I searched my mind for some sounds. I had them, I did remember, sort of. They were far from the same, though. I wondered whether my memory was a little off, or this world was off. The music sounded truly glorious only in the other world.
    If I whistle the music aloud, it will come out… different . But I didn’t want to make the music out loud, not again. China Polly would think I was for the loony bin. I swallowed. I pondered.
    “Thank you, China Polly. Thank you very much for helping me.”
    “Not Polly,” she said. “Sun Moon.”
    “Sun Moon,” he repeated absently. Odd, how gentle and sweet this red man’s spirit felt, almost like … Are you a pawo ? Surely a red man in this unenlightened land … A pawo of the primitive Bön-po, not an oracle of the Mahayana.
    Sun Moon felt wildly confused. Was it right to tell him my name? One part of her mind screamed, HE MAY BE ONE OF THE HUNTERS . Sun Moon had no illusions about what the hunters on her back trail would do.
    She took a deep breath, mindfully, and let it out.
    Another part of her mind was thrilled. The world was spirit, and spirit was everywhere, but… My gods have abandoned me. Except for Mahakala. And this young man comes bearing spirit, so …
    Protect him. Nurture him. Stay with him. Let him nurture me .
    “Sun Moon.” I chuckled. “What a funny name.” I looked at my companion. A youthful face, a beautiful face. Then, somehow for the first time, I noticed the great scar. I looked at her face again, carefully. Pure. Simple. Pretty. And a big scar, above and below the eye, like two big dashes.
    I looked into the western sky. Now the moon had set, and only the day star held forth in the sky. I thought, The time is in joint .
    I brought my mind back and regarded Sun Moon. The eye split by the scar looked bright and alert, somehow even brighter than the other eye. I thought, Sun, moon . Like the two stars in the daylight sky this morning, two stars that do not belong together, things in conflict yoked together.
    I smiled to myself. I’d never seen a Chinawoman close, and sure never imagined looking at one like this.
    Something in my heart moved. Opened.
    “Sir,” said Sun Moon in a soft, high, melodic voice. “You must eat more. Danger. Cold.” Sun Moon clasped her elbows with her hands and mimed shivering.
    I smiled big. How did you get here? I went to another world and brought back a Chinawoman. I chuckled. “Hey, you didn’t tell me your name, Mrs….”
    Mrs.! He’s seen through my disguise. He knows! Sun Moon took off her felt hat, but she resisted throwing it down disgustedly.
    She studied the red man. He knows. But he can’t be one of the hunters .
    Sun Moon called on the iron band to hold down the emotion. She wanted to stay near this man. She was a scholar-nun, hoping to become a teacher of Mahayana philosophy at the great lamasery at Zorgai, celebrated for scholarship. Her special interest was the history and development of Mahayana, including