Chapter 19 - More Revelations

The next few days were a bit blurry for Jack.  He had read stories of people experiencing miraculous things, but he was a doubter by nature.  He joked that since his middle name was Thomas, he was destined to doubt unless he saw the proof.  So when people would say things like “I saw a skunk cross the road in front of me, so I knew something bad would happen” or “I had a dream about him dying, and then he did!” His BS meter popped a flag up. 

But now here he was.  With a journal written during infantry school decades ago describing in startling detail a man in a painting he had just purchased because he had been oddly drawn to it.  His wife asked when the journal entry was written.

“May 15^th of ’92.” He said.  “Why?”

“What day did you buy the painting?” She asked.

That surreal feeling hit Jack hard once again.  He had purchased the painting on May 15^th of 2013. Twenty-one years to the day that he had first seen the cloud warrior.  It suddenly occurred to him that the artist, one Howard Bluebird, had mentioned that he had finished the painting just that day.  May 15^th.

Jack contacted Ted and Will on the Rez, hoping for some insight into this whole thing, as he was still a bit freaked out, and had not a clue what to do with this information.  They both suggested meeting with Howard to find out why he had chosen that subject to paint.  Jack knew that he was headed back to the Rez for the Sundance, but the time could not pass fast enough until he could go.

While he was waiting, he had lunch with a dear friend that he had met on his very first trip out to Pine Ridge.  He told her the story, and she made the observation that Jack had first seen the cloud warrior on May 15^th before his 21^st birthday, and had seen him again on May 15^th before his 42^nd birthday. Twenty-one years from birth to the first meeting.  Twenty-one years from the first to the second meeting.  Jack was again startled.  What would happen on May 15^th before his 63^rd and 84^th birthdays?

None too soon, Jack and his father were headed back to the Rez.  To see the Sundance and to find Howard Bluebird.