Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 21:07:45 -0400
From: Jake Preston <jemtling@gmail.com>
Subject: Psychic Detective 31

Psychic Detective 31
By: Jake Preston

This is a work of erotic gay fiction, intended for readers who enjoy a
murder mystery in which fully developed characters interact sexually and in
other ways. Their sexual encounters are sometimes romantic, sometimes
recreational, sometimes spiritual, and almost always described explicitly.
My attention is equally divided between narrative, character development,
and sex scenes. If you don't care for this combination, there are many
other excellent "nifty" stories to choose from. And remember that while
nifty stories are free, maintaining a website is not. Please think about
donating at http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html

Writing is usually a solitary avocation, but not necessarily so on
nifty.org, where a longer story appears in installments. If my characters
and my story grab your attention, you can always intervene with suggestions
for improvements. All sincere comments will get a response!

Jake, at jemtling@gmail.com


       *  *  *  *  *  *


Chapter 31
Two Vultures at a Funeral


	Three days of chastity can be endured, but another chapter without
sex cannot be endured. Let us, therefore, proceed to the peyote-funeral for
Johnnie Elk Heart and Craig Clark, and three others whose names were
unknown to the mourners. Ricky Eagle Cap drove to South Dakota for the
event, accompanied by Peter Durham. Jonathan Sand Crane was there with
three Lakota elders. Jack Jackson and Calvin Cohn attended, and Göran
Svenson, and Anna Ravitch, who documented the ritual with a painting. Billy
Blue Heron presided as shaman.

	Göran planted five white crosses at the sites where (he said)
the skeletons would be found. Each cross was inscribed. Beside the intact
skull, he planted a cross that read 'CRAIG CLARK'. Ten yards left, at a
spot that had no bone-remnant, a second cross read 'JOHNNIE ELK HEART,
SHAMAN'. Three remaining crosses, placed equidistantly to suggest a
pentangle, bore the inscription 'OKÄND'. "It's the Swedish word for
'unknown', Göran explained, "the closest I could get to a sacred
language."

	"This promises to be an unusual ceremony," Ricky Eagle Cap said to
Billy. "It's customary to hold the funeral first, and then proceed to a
gravesite ceremony, but the bodies have already been buried."

	"They were put in the ground by Enemies of Life who forced them to
dig their own graves," Billy replied. "When they come out, they'll be
reburied with dignity."

	"Good for Billy," Göran whispered to Jack. "He's starting to
speak like Dark Eagle."

	At the first sign of peyote-colored vision, Billy Blue Heron began
a chant. It was the Ojibwe invocation, in which the participants were named
in order of their rank or standing, and Manitou was thanked for their
presence. Jonathan Sand Crane (who was named first) beat the
water-drum. The three Lakota accompanies with a wooden flute, a rattle, and
a clay bell. Jack initiated the dance on the ceremonial carpet, and was
joined by Göran and Calvin, who knew the Ojibwe invocation and chanted
along with Billy, to the astonishment of the Lakotas, who applauded the
enthusiastic way in which they'd gone native. Jack was dressed in his
buckskin warrior-garb, while Göran and Calvin looked more like
cowboys. As the chant progressed, they doffed shirts and dungarees and
exchanged their bronc-buster gear for the more suitable attire of birthday
suits.

	Billy began the first Lakota chant. It was for Johnnie Elk Heart,
the late Wallowa shaman. As he chanted, he joined the dance- a departure
from Dark Eagle's practice. He motioned for Ricky Eagle Cap to dance,
too. Midway through the chant, Ricky beckoned Peter Durham to join the
dance. Göran and Calvin helped Peter get naked, as he wasn't dressed in
the costume of a warrior.

	Billy began the funeral-chant for Craig Clark. Each of the men
dressed in warrior-attire paired with a naked partner. Billy chose
Göran. Ricky chose Calvin, to his eye an exotic stranger.  Jack chose
Peter, the handsome patrolman who he had known yet not known in Joseph. The
'warriors' fondled their naked partners in lascivious assertion of
hoped-for dominance.

	The chants for the unknown victims began. Billy called them
okänd-chants, borrowing the Swedish word that Göran had inscribed on
their memorial crosses. From Dark Eagle he had learned the art of
peyote-syncretism. During the first okänd-chant, Jack had the honor of
fucking Peter, who was seized by his haunches and caught by surprise, not
knowing that he was expected to give his all in the ritual. After the
initial shock of penetration, Peter surrendered to the warrior- sheriff
with dignity.

	During the second okänd-chant, Ricky fucked Calvin, not without
an initial struggle, as Calvin was accustomed to playing the role of a top,
but the struggle was perceived by others as part of the ritual, signifying
conquest. Ricky's erotic skills, perfected on the body of his
patrolman-lover, went into play to bring Calvin to orgasm without any
laying of hands.

	In the third okänd-dance, Billy fucked Göran- unlike the
others, a willing partner.

	After the dance and the ritual fucking, Billy announced that they
must move the ceremonial carpet to the shade of the willow and wait. When
they did, two vultures soared into the valley and sat on the limb
overhanging the pond. They were turkey-vultures, dark brown with bright red
coloration on their heads. Anna Ravitch sketched the scene, in preparation
for a second painting.

	"Who are these men who danced on our graves?" one vulture asked the
other.

	"One is called Svenson, the skeleton-whisperer," the second vulture
replied. "Another is Calvin Cohn, the leader of a band when I played drums
at Apollo's. He's taken the Lakota lawman as his lover."

	To Jack, Billy, Jonathan, and the three elders, the vultures seemed
to speak in Lakota, but the others heard them speak English.

	The first vulture spoke again: "I know that one, Ricky Eagle Cap
the dairyman. He's taken a lawman as his lover, too. I knew him when he was
a boy and I was a shaman. The others are unknown to me."

	"Why are they idling below on a carpet when they should be sporting
in the water?" the second vulture asked.

	"I suppose they're waiting for the others to come, but they can't
come, because they weren't called by name in the ritual," the first vulture
said.

	"How could they not know the names of Kenny Ray and his brother
Terry, who suffered more than the others when the crows flew away with
their eyeballs?" the second vulture asked.  His words startled Jack, who
recognized the names of two boys who he thought were still living on the
Res.

	"How could they not know Sammy Lee, the one who settled in town to
start a Chinese restaurant?" the first vulture asked. "The evil ones
thought he was a Lakota shaman. When he cried out, they thought he was
speaking in tongues. That's why Albino severed his balls from his body
while Staley raped him."

	"Maybe they're expecting a prophecy," the second vulture said.

	"So prophesy then!" the first vulture exclaimed.

	"Me prophesy? I'm a percussionist. You're the shaman. You
prophesy," the second vulture said.

	"Let the whisperer prophesy," the first vulture replied.

	The birds looked down at Göran, who sat in silence. They flew to
the top of a red bluff, and disappeared into the sky.

	"We are meant to swim in the pond," Billy Blue Heron said. He led
the way, followed by the others, except for Göran who remained seated on
the carpet. Göran didn't think about prophecy. He thought about Jésus
the Bartender. Right now he needed his lover. He saw Jésus's image and
sensed his presence. He felt Jésus's rod in his anal canal. He orgazzed
on his abdomen and took care not to soil the ceremonial carpet. Only then
did go to the pond to cleanse himself and sport in the water with the
others.

	Dusk came. Jack, Göran, Calvin, and Billy spent the night under
the willow. The others returned to Lakota. "How is it with you?" Jack asked
when they were alone.

	"I had telepathic sex with Jésus," he said. "Reinaldo Arenas
wrote about that in his biography. He said it was practiced by Cuban
prisoners in El Morro Castle, where they called it 'shot', but I didn't
think it possible. Albino has gone to Mexico. He found a job at a new
campus of the Universidad del Valle, in the desert just below Cuernavaca."

	"We should fly to Mexico and track him down," Jack said.

	"Wait until Spring," Göran replied. "Then we can fly to
Mérida for Holy Week. We'll drive south from there. We'll find him at
Chichen Itza on Easter Sunday. No one else must know except Jésus. He
will be our guide in Mexico.