The Dragon Whistlers

The Dragon Whistlers

Chapter 1

'There weren’t always dragons in the Valley'. Now is the time and place for the flying green-eyed wizard huffing puffing, gizzard blizzard, chiseled fire breathing, fizzling dragons to make another entrance... They never went away. My guess is that they will come in disguise but not above where our imagination can look into their eyes and recognize the heroes of yore. I have missed seeing them, in this barren desert. Where are you my friends? My childhood memories yearn for the awkward freedom of imagination".

I was spellbound when I heard this eccentric pronouncement from my Uncle Marco Ortiz, and I knew that underneath his dramatic orations there was an undeniable truth. He was "whistling in the wind", or so that is what he called it, to divert attention from the Dragon Tribe's presence... so close that you can hear the earth rumble.

Uncle Marco is good at making up secret language. He has called the dragons every artful snarky word in the book, but he was born under the sign of a dragon, and he is a warrior hero himself. He is also a sci-fi buff, and knows all of the secret lingo for sightings unknown. I always like to get to the bottom of things, and was determined to investigate what his vivid statement implied. What did he mean? What does he know about a near future appearance of dragons and where did they go when they were on hiatus? What is their purpose? What is the nature of their return?

Marco Ortiz, is a well-respected man in my town of Yuma Arizona. He has worked for the state of Arizona for over forty years guiding wild animals back to their natural habitat. There are many experiences with mythological creatures that have touched his life. Now he volunteers at a non profit ranch for wounded animals that can not return to the wild. He has counseled and helped many families survive great storms in their lives, and really listens to children. He has coached a soccer team for many years, and some say that he has taught people how to fly. When you see his team play they run like they are lifting off the ground.

On this day, Uncle is theatrically introducing his grandson’s party in their cozy little home. He strung a menagerie of crepe paper dragons with fierce faces above the porch pergola. The intent tonight is for the kids to whack the daylights out of the piñatas causing the spillage of their candy guts. The winner will be awarded the best prize.

Mama Ortiz is cooking a delicious feast in the kitchen and calls out to the children and their parents telling them to fill their bellies with Menudo, lentil soup and tacos. Laughter and questions will fill the Ortiz house the whole night because it is a celebration after all.

Then Uncle Marco takes his place with all the kids gathered around him. His toppled wizard hat and sturdy wand are part of the act. He holds his homemade scepter studded with glitter stars and capped polished gem stones above his head and circles it three times. With a deep gravelly voice, and a blur of swirling arms and wizard eyes he announces:

Tonight the winner of this dragon piñata contest will receive a dragon whistle, that I made myself to call in the dragons, and I will tell a true story about my getting to know them and their great powers for good.

Uncle Marco commands attention because he has been through some hard times in his life, and has had many life experiences. He was a very mischievous kid in a family of twelve and at a young age he discovered some ancient truths. They were revealed to him, by a triad of dragons who came from the foggy earth growing Everglades. The smell of the swamp rolled in to the neighborhood in waves where Marco lived. It was palpable, and smelled like salt and archeology. The only barrier between him, an ancient world and an unusual coral castle was a six foot cinder block fence.

Marco and his band of explorer friends hopped the fence many times and entered into the world of an altered reality.

As a story commando the children are mesmerized by his tales, and he always incorporates their perspective into his story weaving which is spun like fine cloth.

With sticks in hand, ten kids, knocked the pinatas down until all of the candy covered the ground almost ankle deep. In the landscape of chewy sweets including chocolate bars, peanut caramels, and raisins, a strange figure of a plastic model castle appeared. It was an unusual find, but the exact prop Marco needed for his revelation. He waved the plastic castle in front of his audience.

This is the castle of many secrets. This is where I learned about how to build a castle the easy way.

Uncle Marco began his story by telling the kids, that when he grew up near the Everglades in Perrine Florida dragons were plentiful. The Ortiz family lived in a small duplex home behind the Coral Castle which was magically built without effort by an eccentric engineer from Latvia.

This model looks like the castle where I first met the dragons. They helped a man by the name of Edward Leedskalnin build a huge coral stone castle for the woman he loved. Mr. Leedskalnin was just over 5 feet tall and was able to lift heavy weight limestone boulders to make a home with several rooms, and a look out window to the North star, where he dreamed of his love. Unusual geometic shapes were incorporated outside the home that resembled a crescent moon, the sun, and other monoliths. It took him about twenty eight years to build this natural wonder thinking his bride would be his princess in the castle. He told the world that he had learned engineering secrets from King Samuel the Hebrew King, and delved into the Egyptian knowledge for building the pyramids. The house has a nine foot gate built with upright stone and can be moved with one hand and a slight push. We spent a lot of time looking through the open window pointed squarely at the North Star. When I was a boy, the man who built the castle had passed but my friends and I watched some strange rocks flying through the air, and saw dragon Sentinels guarding the property.

The children were fascinated with how Uncle Marco met the dragons.

On late summer nights my friends and I were allowed to stay up late. We had a little porch outside and a few of my friends would sit out back and play board games. One night three of my friends were eating a bowl of potato chips, and my friend Greg, yelled, “Look at the big rock, it’s flying over the wall.” We couldn’t imagine how heavy limestone boulders could fly in midair. An occasional rock lifted over the block wall behind our house and then descended like an air balloon without a sound. This phenomenon occurred ten years after the castle was completed.

One night I was outside alone and noticed a large flock of large birds flying near the floating rocks. Since they were larger than usual and seem to have tails, I decided to call them dragons. I wanted to get to know the care taker of the castle, and discover some of the mysteries. Maybe the dragons were prehistoric creatures guarding the castle mansion.

Very soon after seeing the late night dragons Uncle Marco and a few trusted friends visited the Coral Castle. They paid their twenty five cent admission fee, and spent most of the day getting to know a care taker by the name of Elvis. Elvis generously took the boys on a tour highlighting the magic and the engineering of the building. It was evident that Mr. Leedskalnin knew the secrets of Anti- gravity, and understood the physics of reducing gravitational pull, with magnetism. He used a black box, and sang to the coral rocks and to all the creatures that lived in his little kingdom. When the families were invited to return at night to view the telescope, Elvis told them that special people could see the dragons land on a very clear night. Marco told his grandson and friends that he was inspired at that time to make a dragon whistle out of fallen scrub oak trees.

Marco made his first whistle, moistened the wood with spit, and then with all his might he heard the eerie other worldly beautiful sound of the whistle which called to the ancient winged warriors. One night one of the creatures landed within five feet of Uncle Marco. He was fascinated with the sound of the whistle and was able to communicate with my uncle telepathically. Elvis watched the event and told Marco that he was a highly creative young man. "You are able to imagine either a positive experience or a negative experience, the choice is yours... your thoughts will create a reality". "Your whistles will call in the good dragons".

On some of his first visits he met the dragons and heard their positive battle cries for world healing. My Uncle was obviously destined to be an equal and was knighted with abilities that he has yet to share including how he first learned to levitate and breathe fire when he got mad. Up till now I have not been involved in Marco’s stories on a personal basis. I have never seen his mystical creatures, and I don’t have any super powers. I am just somebody who asks a lot of questions. That’s my job, as I am a reporter at one of the local newspapers. Just before I left for work this morning, I picked up Uncle Marco’s dragon whistle that I was supposed to give to one of the children for their birthday party win. I gave it a good wind worthy call. In this day and time a good shout out to the universe is what the world needs now. It’s now 7 pm and I returned home, to find something on my front porch. I thought one of the kids was playing a joke, but I picked up a glowing goose size egg on my front porch. Holy Mackerel, I don’t know if I am prepared to be a dragon mama.