King Leo. A dragon’s tale of reincarnation and karma. Chapter 14 — Kathy

Kathy

Life went along much as before, though Leo emanated a light and a serenity that was pretty unusual in the world of bearded dragons, or humans for that matter. He knew he was incredibly fortunate to have received the kind of attention and blessings that Leo had received from the teacher. He had settled into a routine of forgiveness time and offering love as he could. He didn’t think he still had a firm grasp of it, the love thing, there was nothing for him to hold on to about it. There were some limitations that came with his intrinsic bearded dragon nature. But he tried. He had recovered from his illness and felt vigorous and healthy.

About a month after his last visitation from the Divine, Kathy came in to the room where his snuggery was.

“I’m going to run some errands Leo, I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Anything you want me to get you while I’m out?”

It was kind of a joke between them, he was no more able to speak English aloud than he had been before, so he just blinked at her in a companionable sort of way.

“Right. Oatmeal energy bar. You got it.”

She kissed him on the head and went out the door.

A couple of hours passed, and then a couple more. And more. Leo saw with alarm that the sky had darkened to the deep violet blue of twilight, and still she didn’t come. He hunkered down into the sand and waited. The house got dark with no one to turn on the lights, it was chilly too. Usually she had turned on his heat lamp by now. Where was she?

Morning came, and all remained still. No Kathy. Leo climbed up to his window ledge and looked uneasily out at the dawn lit garden and the blue mountains beyond, no car, no movement.

Leo paced around until he was tired and a bit hungry, so he ate some of his dwindling food supply, and waited.

About noon, he heard a car door slam and the front door opening. He leaped up, relief blooming up in his heart, but the person that walked through the door to his room wasn’t Kathy. It was a young girl, a teenager by the look of her. She had a little of the look of Kathy, but with dark hair and dark brown eyes.

She knelt down to be on eye level with Leo.

“Hello Leo, my name is Lily. My mother is Kathy’s sister, from Nebraska. I think we have met.”

Leo watched her, starting to feel an ominous premonitory thrill in his guts.

“Kathy has had an accident with her car. Someone ran a red light and hit her pretty hard. We think she’s going to recover fine, but we’re going to stay here with you and take care of you and the house until she’s better enough to come home. She told me to talk to you like I would to a human, that you were special, and you would understand what I said to you. Do you?”

The girl looked a little anxious, and peered curiously into his face.

Leo did his best to look intelligent, and gave a couple of little push-ups to indicate assent.

Apparently that was sufficient, for she smiled and stood up.

“OK then! Kathy gave me instructions on how to take care of you, so I’ll spruce up your food and water. I think Kathy would like to see you, so in a day or two I’ll take you to the hospital for a visit. Ok?”

Blink blink,

Said Leo.

He felt better for knowing what had happened, he hadn’t much cared for that feeling of not knowing what was going on. But he worried about his human friend. They had been together for a long time, and he cared about her. People might think that reptiles don’t have feelings, but that’s not true. They might not be like human feelings, but feelings all the same.

When the sun had come up and gone down two more times, Lily came to Leo with the bag with the elephant on the side.

“Come on Leo, it’s time. Let’s go and visit Kathy.”

He climbed in eagerly, he was ready to see his friend.

When they got to the hospital, Lily peeked in and told Leo,

“Keep your head down for now. I have no idea what the hospital policy is on bearded dragons, but we just won’t stir that pot. Pretend to be a book or something.”

And smiled. She really was a very pretty girl, Leo thought, and so kind to him. As surrogate humans went, she was fine.

Leo wasn’t sure that he liked the sensation of the elevator, it made his stomach feel funny, and he couldn’t see out. The ride was over quickly though, and the next thing he knew, Lily had seated herself in a chair and gently opened the bag.

Leo looked cautiously around, at last settling on the figure in the one bed that was in the room. He almost didn’t recognize Kathy, her face looked oddly swollen, she had a fat lip and black eye, there was black stitching at the hairline of her forehead. His eyes went wide with astonishment, he hadn’t known what to expect, but this was pretty shocking. Her hair stuck up all over, and her lips look cracked and dry. There were tubes and wires all around, and seeming to poke into her. There was a white hard wrapping around one wrist, and around one leg as well. His heart squeezed tight for a minute, he actually felt the sensation of pain that she felt. Any words that he had gained along the way flew away, and he simply gazed at her.

---

Kathy didn’t remember much about the accident, in fact nothing. She had woken up in a hospital a day later, with every nerve screaming, and panic banging around in her head like a trapped bat. What in the world had happened? It wasn’t good, whatever it was. Was she badly hurt? Were all her arms and legs where she had seen them last? What about Leo? Was anyone taking care of him?

Slowly she had regained her equilibrium a bit, started to breathe as low in her belly as she could, and started to chant a favorite mantra. Greatest Love. Her teacher told them,

“Divine Love melts all blockages, heals and transforms all life.”

Of course, it was karma, this much she knew.

She chanted for a long time, waiting for everything to settle, waiting for someone to come and tell her what was next. There had been nurses of course, doing the necessary work of cleaning her up, taking her vital information, offering ice chips, funneling medicines into her body through the IV. but no doctor yet.

She had attained a pretty good level of calmness, when a very nice looking young doctor with dark, boyishly cut hair and beautiful dark green eyes came in and pulled a chair near her bed.

“Hello! I’m Doctor Reynolds. Looks like you’ve had a little skirmish with an SUV. I think they got the better of it.”

Kathy nodded, she hadn’t tried to talk yet, and her mouth hurt. Her teeth felt like they might be a little loose on one side.

“My assessment is that you will recover fully. You are pretty banged up though, ready for the list?”

She nodded again.

“You’ve got a good sized concussion, a lot of cuts and bruises for sure. There are injuries to your low back, a fractured wrist, tibia and a dislocated kneecap. That left ankle is twisted badly.”

Kathy shuddered convulsively and spoke at last,

“That’s gross.”

The doctor laughed.

“It’s all put back where it belongs, you won’t have to see what it looked like, unless you want to.”

“No, but thanks anyway.”

she said wryly. Her voice was a croak, but it functioned, and she knew it would get better.

The doctor spoke again,

“The only real concern is that you have some internal bruising as well, your kidneys and spleen took a beating, and we’re going to watch that for a couple of days.”

She squinted at him through her good eye.

“That’s a lot. How many car accidents did I actually have?”

He laughed again, he had a good humored, genuine laugh. She liked him.

“Just the one, but it was a doozy. The wisdom is, get through the rough stuff of the next week or so, then you should be on the upside. Do you have someone to care for you at home for a while?”

She thought for a moment, then nodded.

“I think my sister will come. She’s not that far away.”

He tilted his head toward the door.

“Pretty sure she’s here already, with family. You’re fortunate.”

“That’s very true Doctor. I am that.”

And that was that. He peered into her eyes, and checked her vitals and dressings, and said,

“That’s all for now. I’ll drop in now and then to see how you’re doing.”

“Thanks.” she croaked.

And very suddenly, she fell asleep.

---

Everything was arranged, her sister Beth and dear sweet Lily would stay in the house and take care of Leo, and help her navigate this new territory. In all truth, Leo would probably have been fine alone for a time, but Beth knew that her sister’s peace of mind was going to be important. Kathy chanted and did spiritual practices, and rode the roller coaster of ups and downs that accompany such an event.

On day three, she had been in a sort of wavering semi-doze most of the day. Even with the drugs everything hurt, her stomach was empty and upset at the same time. The chanting and meditation helped a lot, but she still felt a little depressed and angry, she wanted to get up and get out and go home.

Something nudged her to open her good eye a slit. Someone was with her. She opened her eye a little further, to see Lily sitting in a chair beside the bed, smiling.

“I brought a friend to see you.”

“Leo!”

She said, and burst into tears again. The tears poured down her face like rain on a window pane.

“Oh my God. I’m so glad to see you.”

Leo took this as a signal, and climbed off of Lily’s arm and onto the bed. Stepping carefully through the bedding and tubes, he made his way up to her collarbone, where he lay down and snuggled into her neck. He sighed deeply with relief and happiness.

“Oh Leo. You have no idea how happy this makes me.”

Leo thought,

“Me too. Maybe this is also what love is.”

Kathy and Lily talked a little, about the house and Leo’s care, how long it might be that Lily and her mother would stay, what came after that. It was all about healing now.

Kathy’s doctor chose that moment to pop in, and stood, wordless. He could honestly say he’d never seen a lizard visiting a patient before.

“Ah….wow. Friend of yours?”

Kathy smiled lopsidedly and motioned the Doctor closer.

“Dr. Reynolds, meet Leo. Yes, he is my friend. He is a bearded dragon. Leo, Dr. Reynolds.”

Leo lifted himself up on his two front legs and looked at the Doctor in a cool and dignified manner. He had achieved his full length of two feet, and was striking and beautiful. Leo was a sandfire red dragon, a deep rich dark orangey color with lighter geometric markings. Dr. Reynolds was impressed.

“Wow.” He said again.

He sat down and looked at Leo closely.

“Leo is gorgeous. He looks sort of…in there, if you know what I mean. Is he intelligent?”

Kathy smothered a laugh.

“Oh he’s in there all right. He’s one step next to a human. You have no idea.”

the Doc stood and said,

“Thank you for letting me meet your Leo. I think now you should rest, that’s probably enough dragon for the time being.”

Leo heartily disagreed with this, and squinted pointedly at the man, but Dr. Reynolds had turned away, and the subtleties of dragon disapproval were lost on him.

Kathy rested her hand on Leo’s back.

“It’s OK Leo, you should probably get back to your habitat, get warm, eat. It’s been awesome, I feel lots better than I did a half hour ago! You can come back tomorrow.”

She looked at Lily, who nodded.

“Sure. Happy to do it.”

Kathy looked into Leo’s face with love and said,

“I’ll be home soon Leo. You can help me get better. Thanks for coming.”

Leo snuggled her neck again, but allowed Lily to pick him up and put him back in the bag.

After Leo and Lily left, Kathy drifted back off to sleep. She really did feel better. A lot.

By Kristin Strachan

I am a teacher, author, and spiritual practitioner in Colorado. I am blessed to be a student of Master Zhi Gang Sha, worldwide Master Teacher, Healer, Calligraphy Master and more. For more information on the teachings and programs of Master Sha please go to:

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