At the age of nineteen, Aiden Johnson detested living in the city. Discontent filled his heart and he knew he was different than the other guys he grew up with. Feelings stirred in the pit of his stomach that he didn't understand. He detested the daily news of gangs, drugs and crime that was constantly forced down his throat by the media. The constant sound of sirens, the hum of traffic and horns blasting in the distance. He felt like Denver Colorado was sucking the life out of him.
He knew he was different. He lost sleep over the smallest of transgressive acts of other people. The homeless beggars that lived under the bridge near his parents house always left him sad, even heartbroken at times. His so called friends teased and made fun of him for stopping to help an old, white haired woman make her way up the littered concrete steps in front of her dingy apartment building.
He knew there was more to life than what he was living.
After a long conversation with Lana, his mother, one Saturday morning. She suggested they call her younger sister Clara. Clara lived in the mountains of Colorado, a few miles from Vail. Aiden always enjoyed the visits to her little house when he was younger. An hour after the phone call, Aiden was packing a bag. Clara had invited him to spend the summer with her. He felt an excitement he hadn't felt in a long time.
Aiden always liked his aunt Clara. After a two hour bus ride, Clara welcomed him with open arms. Her long, silvery, white hair and blue eyes set her apart from other people. Her sincere smile and soft voice always seemed to make everyone around her comfortable.
Clara's husband had passed away when Aden was young. She never remarried. She lived alone miles from the big city, In a small log cabin in the woods. It was very cozy and comfortable. The smell of smoke from her fireplace was always comforting.
Clara spent hours in her garden every day. If not the garden she was walking in the woods, foraging for wild medicinal plants, cleaning something, or checking whatever she had simmering on the stove.
Aiden took over the job of splitting wood and keeping the box full next to the rock fireplace.
Her kitchen walls were lined with shelves, made of nothing more than flat wooden boards. The shelves held jar after jar of wild herbs, dried leaves, roots and powders of different colors. There were jars of dried bark from trees and wild mushrooms. Some jars were filled with teas she had made.
After a few days, Aiden noticed that in the early mornings Clara was nowhere to be found. It seemed she would just disappear for an hour, sometimes more.
Aiden asked, "Where do you go every morning? If I may?"
"Just getting right!" she answered.
He didn't understand. Her blue eyes twinkled when she smiled at him. She pulled two chairs from her small kitchen table and set them facing each other. She sat on one and motioned for Aiden to take the other. He sat facing her and watched with curiosity as she took his hands in hers. Her long fingers were soft and warm as she rubbed the backs of his hands with her thumbs.
"Close your eyes!" She said, as she closed hers.
Aiden closed his eyes and sat in silence. After a minute or so, she whispered, "Pay attention to your breathing, don't do anything to change it, just pay attention to it!"
He found it interesting, that he had never really paid much attention to his breathing. After a few minutes it seemed the world around him began to go quiet. His breathing slowed, it became shallower. He could feel his heart beating. He could feel Clara's pulse in her hands. He could feel that her pulse was slower than his. Aiden took a deep breath, he exhaled. Relaxing, his heartbeat slowed until it was beating in time with hers. It felt as if they were one and the same heartbeat.
He felt her thumbs gently rubbing the backs of his hands. He opened his eyes to see her smiling at him. She had perfect white teeth and full lips. She never wore any make-up, she didn't need any
"Tomorrow morning, I would like you to come with me. We will get right together!" she said, "I feel something in you I've never felt before." She was searching for something in his eyes. "You have an energy in you. It feels very powerful to me!" She said as she got up and put the chair back by the table.
"Energy?" he questioned.
"It's a gift!" she answered. "But it's still in the box, I'll help you open it!" She smiled.
She went on about her daily chores of cleaning the small house and tending to her garden. Later, Aiden caught himself staring out through the screen door, he watched her. She was bent over straight legged, pulling small weeds in the garden. He was looking at her butt. It was small and round. Her long legs made her butt look even more attractive. He realized he had been staring at his aunt's ass, it shook him out of his reverie. It made him feel like he had wronged her in some way.
Aiden split wood and filled the box by the fireplace, then he stacked more wood on the small porch. Clara seemed to always be softly humming a song. Early that afternoon, they sat on the small porch eating a sandwich and drinking tea.
"I'm happy you're here!" She told Aiden.
"Me too!" he replied, "I love the quiet and being in the mountains!"
After lunch Clara told Aiden that she was going to go to town and pick up a few things from the store, and that she wanted to stop on the way to see a neighbor friend to ask if they needed anything from town. They climbed into her old pickup and rattled down the bumpy dirt road for about ten minutes before turning off the road and pulling up in front of a small farmhouse. They were greeted by two large dogs that barked until she turned the truck off and got out. The dogs seemed to recognize Clara. They stopped barking. Excited, they sniffed and licked Aiden.
