4Karü-Green 

ZIGGY HEARD a small child’s laughter as he approached the next house on the river. A small boy was running through the yard, chasing a large blue butterfly that floated just out of his reach. The child ran dangerously near the bank of the river, which worried Ziggy, but then the youngster stopped short and amazingly, the butterfly stopped as well. The child turned and started running and this time, the butterfly followed. The chased became the chaser. The butterfly, as if teasing the boy, danced just barely in site overhead as the child ran as fast as he could.

“Leonardo, come, Mama wants to show you something.” The boy’s father stood at the back door beckoning to the child. Seeing the young man standing by the river’s edge, the father sent his greeting. “Äwana.” Ziggy answered back likewise. The father walked towards the young man as his child rushed by. Holding out his hand, he said “Humberto Tasso” in a heavy Italian accent with a Mapuche twist. “You are headed to the Corral, yes?” asking as if he already knew the answer.

“Yes, Senor. I want to see if it’s as powerful as they say,” Ziggy responded.

“Come, I will show you a picture of it I just painted, and you will get an idea of how powerful it really is.”

The father turned and entered his house and the young man followed close behind. The mother had finished washing and slicing a variety of fruits and vegetables she must have picked them from the large garden between the cabin and the river, placing them on a deep green silk cloth in the sink, she began pouring honey over them. The child was staring at an apple his mother had placed on the table with the same expression Ziggy had seen on the child’s face as he chased the butterfly … a look of pure loving admiration for things created. “Created by God,” the young man thought, and somehow, standing in the presence of this family, he felt closer to God, closer to his faith, closer to his own newly found true love.

            “This is Alexia, Leonardo’s mother and my wife.” Ziggy could see the small boy had inherited his angelic looks from this lovely lady. Alexia smiled and came forward to kiss the young man on the cheek. “I am Ziggy,” he said, as he thought how nice it was to no longer feel pain over not having a mother, himself.

            “She is the inspiration for many of the ladies you see in the paintings hanging throughout the house.” The young man noticed a large one hanging on the wall just behind her shoulder. He laughed as he noticed that in the center of this very powerful, ancient Greek-inspired painting was a green Volkswagen bug. His father often said that driving a V.W. was flat-out admitting to being a “hippie.” He owned three. 

            “All of my paintings are done with a base made from crushed volcanic rock taken directly from pieces of the ruins of the Corral De Aqua.”

            Ziggy thought being surrounded by the beautiful paintings throughout the house was like being in a museum of the masters.

            “I started painting as a young man about your age here in Chile. I moved to Italy and there I studied under the greatest painters I could find, I even lived for a time in the home of Da Vinci,” Humberto said proudly. The young man saw a giant book of Da Vinci’s work lying on the table.

            “Karü, Leonardo,” Geronimo whispered.

            “My father’s first company was a house-painting company called Da Vinci,” the boy told him. “His cards had a picture of the Mona Lisa on them and in front of his cabin he still has a sign that says, Another Masterpiece by Da Vinci, next to a giant picture of Mona Lisa. He use to post them outside of the houses he was painting.” The boy noticed a harmonica next to the book. “You play the harmonica, do you?” he inquired. “Yes, when I am seeking inspiration the music helps me.”

            “My father plays harmonica although his main instrument is the guitar. He has an unbelievable gift; he makes up songs on-the-fly, as if pulling words from the sky. I have heard thousands of songs he has played only once. He says he suspects that when great musicians die, they seek him out to play their final composition through him.”

            “Wow, I would really like to meet your father,” Humberto declared. “I slept on the beach when I first hit Italy with a couple of my best paintings in tow. Then within weeks I was sleeping in a 15^th century bed and painting portraits of royalty for large sums of money. I thought I had everything, but I knew the most important thing was missing - Love. I returned to Chile, met Alexia and found what I was looking for, and then along came Leonardo and, wow, I really began to truly understand how love could change your life.”

            The young man saw a large heart in one of Humberto's paintings and suddenly realized it was St. Valentine’s Day. He had a feeling this was the last Valentine’s Day without the one he loved at his side.

The small boy came and stood next to his papa, holding on to his leg, and pointed to the painting leaning against the wall under a large green cloth. “Cascade por favor Papa.”

“He loves the painting I just finished of the waterfall and the ‘Corral De Aqua.’ He sat at my feet for hours and watch as I worked on it.” Humberto lifted the cloth and Ziggy was stunned, because with eyes staring directly in his direction was the face of his own father … younger in the painting but it was definitely his father. He was portrayed seated at a table. A large leather pouch filled with gems lay open on the table next to him. His hands were cupped around a lighted candle. The bright glow from the flame surrounded him. The way he positioned his hands was identical to the way his hands were depicted in the H.E.A.L logo, except in place of the candle, his logo showed the Earth. Over his shoulder in one of two windows behind him was the waterfall and the “Corral De Aqua.” Ziggy silently swore he could hear the roar of the falls as he imagined the power of the water entering the Corral. The second window in the painting displayed a very proud and majestic Ruka Pallin sitting on a Magical horse atop a cliff. The young man was overwhelmed by the sense of power he felt coming from the painting.  The young child reached out and petted the horse. “He thinks it’s real,” his father said.  To Ziggy it was.

            “I saw this man in a vision. I knew he was coming to Chile to help right the wrongs being done to the earth and the animals living on it. Besides painting, my passion is animals.” Humberto grew somber. “No one in Chile is really doing anything to protect the animals,” he said with anger. “At night we can hear the guns as men come here to hunt by spotlight. The Mapuche believe in protecting their animals. That is why there are so many here in this valley. It is also why the hunters come. I had to explain this to Leonardo just the other day when we found a dead puma near here. The boy cried for hours after we returned home. He loves to play with the animals, they are drawn to him and he speaks their language.” Humberto took a large elephant statue from the floor.  “He especially loves elephants. We are waiting for our friend Danny Little to bring his elephants to the valley below. He has been working for years on a program to return elephants to the place of their ancestors.” The young man thought of Teddy.

Alexia invited Ziggy to stay for lunch, but he knew he should be moving on to make the Corral by nightfall. She packed some of the fruit she had been soaking in honey. “This will give you strength if you decide to climb the Corral, you seem like the kind of person who would be up for the challenge. Just be careful. It is deep, they have never found the bottom.” 

            Leonardo rushed up to the young man and hugged his leg.  “Come back,” he said in his little angelic voice.

            “He likes you, he is a good judge of character, you are always welcome in our home, enjoy your quest, I know you will find the Corral as enchanting as I do,” Humberto said, Then grabbing the young man in his strong arms, he gave him a bear hug and slapped him on his back.

            As the boy walked away he felt loved, loved by this family, loved by Armun, loved by his father, and best of all, loved by himself.   

Next chapter 5 Turqos-Turquoise