Listening to the Mystical Peruvian Hairless Orchid Dog

*** Anya ---

The morning that Gris, the Hairless Peruvian Dog from the Orchid Caves, began communicating with Anya, began with a blush of pink dawn.

Their mystical wooden sailing vessel known as the Destiny's Dreams spoke with rushes of the wind in the sails and whooshes of the waves against the hull.

They were nearing the islands of the huge, fragrant pink flowers but they could not see them yet.

Ancient memories began to rise in Anya at the same time the sun floated up from the east. It was followed by a growing indigo sky, reflected by the infinite sea stretching to the horizon.

Gris had never spoken so clearly before to her in his language of imagery and feelings without words.

It was the day Anya learned how to listen to Gris in a new way, with her heart and soul.

No one knew when people stopped really listening that way to dogs, and to other animals, and even trees and nature, too.

The skill faded over generations without anyone noticing. But now old depths of Anya's mind were awakening from generations of sleep.

Gris, whose name meant gray, knew things Anya did not know. Sensations, instincts, and other worldly, ancient dog wisdom beyond usual human beings.

Something in Anya was open and ready to awaken this ancient instinct and ability that had faded over eons of time but that her ancestors used to communicate with animals. Forgotten and buried, the ability still hid somewhere in the deep mind and now hers had aroused from generations of sleep.

Anya, the Storyteller of the Blue Lantern, on the mystical sailing vessel known as the Destiny’s Dreams, shivered when she saw a reflection wavering.

“It is so lifelike.” The echoed in her mind. She stared.

It floated on the sea ripples in wisps, beckoning her to look not just with her eyes.

Images of ancient times merged with the ocean like a dream and she went deep into her mind to interpret this inspiration. Anya began a conversation with herself.

Thoughts and feelings raced with questions.

“Was it her imagination? Sent by her subconscious mind with a message? What did these daydreams mean?”

“Or was it sent by the ancestors or by the All Embracing Spirit, to lead and guide her?”

“What was she really seeing? Or was it a feeling she was projecting?”

Something moist touched her hand.

Gris nuzzled her fingers. She caressed his hairless, pointed nose and the two ears that rose like sharp mountain peaks. Her hand slipped across his narrow, athletic back.

The wooden sailing vesselrocked from side to side. The bowsprit and foresail rose and fell over the easy swells of the morning sea.

Brother Sun’s gift of brightening light streamed across the sky and ocean. Three masts holding wide, square white canvas sails swayed. The waves lapped against the vessel, the halyards reaching from deck to sails moaned a little, and the light wind was hushed and soft.

Anya and Gris looked at each other. The air carried a breeze scented with something new.

“We must be nearing the fragrant islands,” Anya spoke out loud to Gris. He cocked his head.

The dog’s pointed ears swiveled and pricked up, his nose twitched, and his slender, curved tail wagged slowly past his haunches, with the relaxed tip flipping at each wag.

*** Gris ---

His mental processes spoke a different language from Anya’s but he understood things in ways beyond the limits of mere words.

Island scents tickled his nostrils pleasantly. A distant change in the sound of the waves vibrated faintly in the tunnels of his ears.

He picked up the smell of the big, pink flowers on the islands beyond the horizon. But Anya could not smell them yet.

Gris saw Anya’s eyes reaching into his gaze with a searching, curious look.

“What is it, Gris? What do you sense?”

His intuition interpreted her vocalizations.

Gris opened his mouth, showing gleaming pointed white teeth against his dark gray, hairless, snout. The corners of his mouth curved and his pink tongue reached out in his unique Peruvian Hairless Orchid Dog Smile.

He was from the region of Peru where hairless dogs lived for eons of time . Gris grew up in the dense edges of the Amazon Rainforest where the orchids grew abundantly. During rains he sheltered in the caves filled with orchids blooming.

Gris and his relatives were considered sacred members of the peoples’ families for thousands of years. His ancestors lived with the people as beloved companions who were like family.

Senses so acute they seemed supernatural were common with the Peruvian Hairless Orchid Dogs and the people evolved with them to share nonverbal communication. But then over centuries that ability faded.

Gris and the other dogs displayed knowledge that people with their limited senses had never experienced.

Now Gris fixed his large eyes with a wise gaze on Anya’s brown eyes. She leaned in toward him, her long, dark hair floating in the morning wind. She still carried her Blue Storytelling Lantern and she set it down on a bench.

The morning light streamed through the blue, etched glass, sending rays and shadows of indigo across the deck. Gris felt the familiar effect of the lantern and its light.

Energy nudged Gris, somewhere deep, deep, deep. His eyes saw a tiny light in Anya’s eyes and she held a soft gaze with him.

Anya felt the pleasure of the connection and she was held by the sparkle in Gris’s dark eyes.

The sleek, hairless dog let out a soft breath that sang with a musical hum.

Gris never felt alone or lonely, because he knew how to seek eye contact with Anya and a few of the others on the mystical sailing vessel as they crossed oceans around the world.

Now another type of ocean was crossed.

Over the seas of the mind and space, beyond time and the stars, the moon, and the sun, something opened up in Gris and Anya.

The old nonverbal communication began to flow freely.

Feelings swirled and spiraled inside Gris and he felt lifted. Old barriers were melting. He always felt safe with Anya.

*** Anya ---

Anya watched the reflection on the smooth morning ocean. It was formless yet with design.

She took a deep, slow breath and sat on the bench next to the ship’s wooden railing.

Gris climbed up and leaned his head against her.

The two trusting friends watched the day brightening and the sun getting higher.

A new feeling between a shiver of pleasure and a flow of warm energy filled her. Gris snuggled closer.

“You feel it too, Gris. I know.” She spoke only in her thoughts. But the concept got through.

Gris gave the side of her face a light lick, like a kiss.

*** Gris ---

Warm feelings and images from Anya’s mind drifted through is thoughts.

“I’m here for you always, Gris,” she seemed to be saying. “We are soulmates forever, and we know each other better than I know most people.”

Gris answered by moving his face to look deeply at her face and eyes. Their minds met through depths beyond description.

Ancient instincts were awakened. Senses alerted and arose.

Gris felt Anya’s feelings and thoughts in a new way.

His eyes glowed like sunlight on waves. Anya’s eyes reflected back what he felt.

The oceans of their minds merged and flowed like water, communicating more than mere vocalizations could ever express.

Gris felt Anya shift mentally.

"I hear you," he expressed telepathically.

"Islands of fragrant plants are beyond the horizon, but near. I smell their spicy scent." Again he sent the sensations he perceived with his superior nose to Anya.

"A new world is opening up," Anya's thoughts sent images and sensations back to him.

"I can almost smell those distant islands, too, and their huge blooming flowers, Gris."

Anya gasped.

"Gris, I can almost hear what you hear...changes in the wave sounds signaling distant waves on islands' shores."

"I never guessed the richness and strength of your senses and the wisdom that you know."

Anya did not speak the words but the meanings were like nudges of imagery and sensation.

"I was always here for you and our other friends, with this...but no one was listening," he sent back to her in meaning without words.

Anya's heart and soul lifted with new energy.

"I am listening now, Gris."

Suddenly as she listened to him, Anya smelled the scent of the big, pink flowers on the islands beyond the horizon.

"Gris, I can smell them. I see them now, in my mind. We're near land."

Gris and Anya smiled at each other with soft eyes.

"I can hear you now, Gris, in my mind, I can sense what you sense."