“It’s kind of spooky knowing that people could have died right where we are sitting.” Christina said, as she took a drink, and then another, as she looked around.

“Hell, girl! There’s been several cars miss that tree and go into the river, and none of them make it out alive! That ain’t spooky though. I’ll tell you something spooky. And you know, I don’t get rattled very easily.” Eze said while he added some more wood to the fire, and continued to pass the tequila around making sure that everyone was getting there pulls in.

He leaned forward, and got very serious. “I remember just getting back in country, and there was this cute little Asian gal that I was trying to bang. Her name was Nguyen, and she begged me to take her to the State Fair, in Dallas. I had never been, and said sure, because I figured that she would give it up after we went. Besides, I wanted to ride on the roller coasters anyway! We drove up there, and I was excited about catching some of those coasters. Of course, that’s not what happened!”

“Oh Eze, this sounds like it’s gonna be good. Don’t stop!” Ashley said, while taking another drink, and passing me the bottle. I was playing lip service to it. I was already feeling dizzy, and sick to my stomach, and I wasn’t going to drink anymore. I just wiped the bottle and put it up to my mouth and pretended to take a drink, and handed it over to Eze.

He just passed it to Christina. I guess it was because he was telling a story, and didn’t want to lose his place by stopping for a drink. He continued on, “Well, this little girl wanted to get married bad. She was sexy as hell, mind you, and that’s the only reason that I agreed to go along with it! But, there weren’t going to be any bells ringing anytime soon, least not for me.” He said trying to convince us of his ulterior motive.

“What did she do? What did she want you to go along with Eze?” Christina laughed. I could see that she was starting to get a little glassy-eyed from the tequila. And, both of them were starting to get the giggles.

Eze said, “Well, she pulled me into a fortune tellers tent!”

“No! You didn’t, did you Eze?” They both blurted out while they continued to share the bottle.

“Yep, I’m afraid that I did ladies. I went into that tent to get my fortune told, because this little girl wanted to know if we were going to get married and live happily ever after! I was just wanting was to bang her, and let both of us live happily for a few days! I’m telling you, the possibility of hoo-ha can get a man doing things that he would never think to do, even just for a taste.”

“Damn right!” The girls blurted out in unison, “and don’t think that we don’t know it!”

“So, what did the fortune teller say?” I asked, because now, I was curious.

“Well Pooh, I tell it this way. It was dark, and smoky in there. She had a lot of velvet everywhere, and on this little table she had a crystal ball. Now, remember, I’m not superstitious…not at all, and I wasn’t buying any of what she was selling. She knew the only reason that I was there, and that I was hoping to get some hoo-ha after we finished with this. The old lady was making my life difficult, and enjoying every minute of it!”

“So, what did she say?” Ashley begged.

“I asked her how much? And, she told me that it would be twenty bucks! It was highway robbery, and she knew it, but I paid it, so that I could get out of there. So, she poured some hot tea in this little cup and pushed it over to me. Then, she told me that in order to tell me my future, she would have to look into my past. By drinking this special tea, she would be able to do just that, and told me to drink it. Now, there is a lot in my past that I don’t want others to know about, especially this pretty little girl. So, I told her that I would rather have a cup of coffee instead. That was when Nguyen gut-punched me, and gave me the look!”

“Oooh, you were in trouble then, if you got the look!” The girls said.

“I agree, but this is when things started to get spooky. That old woman had this smug look on her face while I took a drink of the tea. Then she leaned forward and whispered “Tell me sonny, does your shoulder still bother you?” Well, that got me!”

“Why, what’s the matter with your shoulder?” We asked.

“That’s the spooky part. There is no way she could have known that! I have always had pain in my right shoulder. I’ve had doctors look at it, and no one could explain it. Nguyen was looking at me. The old lady was looking at me, only differently, like she knew something that we didn’t. I asked if I had walked in there favoring my shoulder, or leaning to one side, ans all she did was wink at me and told me to drink some more tea. It was on now! I had to find out what she knew.”

I stoked the fire a little watching the sparks fly up, trying to understand the meaning of his story. I felt like I was going to throw up, from the tequila, from not sleeping, and from the fire making me feel feverish. I was trying to pay attention, but it was hard for me to rationalize, and understand fortune telling right now. Things were just a little bit foggy. I had found a thick branch to stoke the fire with. It was keeping me busy while my mind tried to grasp my own future, and trying not to throw up.

Eze looked at me, “Pooh…Pooh! Snap out of it! See, that’s it. I had that same distant look in my eyes right then too, trying to figure everything out that this crazy old lady was telling me. I drank another swig of that tea, and told her to just spit it out, and quit dragging this on. She leaned back in her chair and started off with “In your other life…” and that’s when I stopped it. I asked her what in the hell she was talking about, and where was she going with all of this nonsense. Nguyen kept her elbow in my ribs, and continued with the look! I just sat and listened then, figuring that we could hurry things along if I would just shut-up. She continued by telling me that in my other life, I was a champion fighting dog!”

“Oh, that’s rich Eze! That explains a lot!” Christina said. Both of the girls were clearly drunk now from the tequila, but they seemed to be enjoying the story.

Eze had a bewildered look on his face as he continued, ” See, that’s the thing. Everyone that knows me, knows that I have always had a connection with animals, especially dogs. There has been some kind of a spiritual bond between us, and I could never explain it to anyone. It was always just there. So, I asked her what that had to do with my future. She continued to tell me that those traits carry over into the next life.”

Ashley was stunned, “Oh my God. It’s true Eze! You’re a fighter!”

Eze looked at me and nodded, “It’s true Amigo. I won the Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament two years in a row. So, I guess that makes me a champion fighter, like the dog!”

“No way?” I said, in disbelief.

“It gets spookier…she continued with the whole fighting thing, and then told me that typically, if trauma is what ended your last life, then that injury could carry over into the next life!”

“That is so true!” Exclaimed Christina. “I’ve read that the Indians would mutilate their enemies, so that they couldn’t get revenge in the next life.”

Ashley added, “Well, what about the pharaohs in Egypt. They built the pyramids, and were buried with all of their treasure, so that when they went into the next life they were still wealthy.”

Eze was nodding and agreeing, “That’s right girls, and I’m gonna tell you something. The next thing that she told me changed my life. I have never, and I mean never been the same since that day.”

“What was it? What did she tell you Eze? They asked.

“She looked me dead in the eye, and with a trembling face told me that I carried something from the injury that killed me in my other life. When I was this champion fighting dog, I was unbeatable, undefeated. My owner was getting wealthy, but after awhile, he couldn’t find anyone to challenge me. The only bets that he could get was if I fought several dogs at the same time. His enemies turned pack of dogs loose to attack and kill me. I was able to take several out of the fight, but there were too many. I was bitten over, and over again. I could feel the jaws clamping down on my arms, my legs, and my neck. I was reliving it all over again. The attacks didn’t stop. There was blood everywhere, and most of it was mine, and then I felt a bone in my shoulder snap and it punctured my lung. It was difficult to breathe, and yet the attacks continued. I could hear their teeth clanking together as my flesh was ripped away from my bones, and then I was no more.”

All of us were trembling, with frightful looks on our faces as we imagined the violent death that Eze had succumbed too. No one was laughing anymore. The air was thick and still. The embers from the coals were the only thing lighting our faces now.

Eze looked up from the dim light with tears in his eyes. It was the first time that I had seen him visibly shaken. He said, “Girls, she told me that I carried the wound from those attacks. When that bone snapped, at that instant, when I died, it carried over into this life. It was causing me pain from birth. I didn’t know what to say, bur she told me to reach over behind my shoulder and feel for a bone spur. At first, I felt nothing, then she took my hand. She was still trembling as she guided it to the exact spot. Once there, I immediately felt this bony prominence just below the skin. It was real!”

“Wow, how could she know that?” asked Ashley.

Eze had his left arm wrapped around his chest barely reaching the location of the spur in his right shoulder. “Come here girls. See if you can feel it, right there.” He said as he guided there hands to the spot behind his shoulder.

“Oh my God, Eze. How did she…”

“Rahhh! Grrr! Rahhh!” He went crazy jumping up and tackling both of them, screaming like a wild banshee and biting at their necks!

I jumped up with my stick and starting hitting Eze on his back and head so that the girls could get away! “Run Away!” I cried while
swinging wildly. I hit him at least a dozen times as hard as I could, and as fast as I could until his body went limp, face down.

I could hear the girls were running off into the darkness screaming and crying. The horses were bucking and snorting trying to pull up their stakes. It was complete chaos.

“Come back!” I yelled, “He’s not moving. I think he might be dead!”

I remembered that Eze had the pistol on his hip so I reached my hand down to grab it. Instantly my wrist went numb as Eze clamped down on it with one hand, and grabbed me by the throat with the other. His grip was so strong and tight that I couldn’t breathe, and was starting to black out.

He gave a huge belly laugh and released my throat and wrist while falling down laughing and rolling around in the dirt.

“What the? What was that all about?” I yelled at him, while kicking at his legs. “Stop laughing! What’s so funny? What just happened?”

Eze was laughing so hard, tears were coming out of his eyes. He sat up laughing as hard as he could while rubbing the back of his head and looking at me.

The girls stopped screaming, but were still crying when they walked back to the campfire holding each other. “What the Hell Eze? Why are you laughing?” They both asked sternly.

Eze continued laughing while trying to regain his composure. He stood up dusting himself off, and giggling. “Damn, that was the best one yet! It’s a joke! It’s a campfire story!” He laughed. “Wow, Pooh, you pack a helluva wallop with that stick. What did you think, that I had turned into a dog, or something?” His bright green eyes were glistening with excitement and laughter as he looked at me.

“You son-of-a-bitch! You scared the shit out of us!” Christina said while she punched him in the arm, and pouted her bottom lip.

“Hell yes, I thought you turned into some rabid vampire dog, or something!” I said, confused.

“Oh my God, I can still feel my heart pounding in my throat.” Ashley admitted, “That was the best campfire story ever. You got us all good Eze! I will never let my guard down around you…EVER again!” She said with a smile on her face as she held her breasts.

“I’m sorry Eze.” I said. “I hope that I didn’t hurt you. I didn’t know what was going on. I thought that you were trying to hurt the girls.”

Eze was still giggling, but he slowed it a bit and slapped me on the shoulder, “It’s okay Amigo! You did well! It’s funny as shit that I got all of you, but you tried to protect the girls. That was the best part. When you went to wailing away at me, I couldn’t stop laughing, but then it started to hurt. I figured the only way to get you to stop beating on me was to play dead. And, thank God, it worked! Now, let’s roast up some marshmallows!” He said while pulling a bag out from the canvas sack, and adding some more wood to the fire.

Read Chapter 12