Raga Six (A Doctor Orient Occult Novel) by Frank Lauria Read Free Book Online Page B

jumped to her feet and skipped to the center of the room trailing the sheet behind her. "Now why don’t you take a nice bath?" she giggled, folding the sheet with a flourish. "Then you can get busy finding yourself. Julian and I are going out. We have things to do."  
    "Are we splitting, Mommy?" Julian called from the doorway. He was sitting on the floor fumbling with the laces of his sneaker.  
    Sun Girl went over to help him. "We’re going out," she said, tying his shoe. She lifted him to his feet and zipped the fly on his jeans. "But we’re coming back. We’re going to stay with silly Owen for awhile."  
    The bathroom was located off a short hallway that connected the living room to Joker’s bedroom. There was a small efficiency kitchen built into the wall across from the bathroom.  
    Orient found some soap and shampoo and took a long hot shower followed by a short burst of cold spray. He picked a large towel hanging behind the door that was only slightly damp and, after gingerly drying his still sore limbs, wrapped the towel around his waist and went into the living room.  
    He sat down on the edge of the mattress and rummaged through his bag for a fresh shirt. He reminded himself to buy a new shaving kit and other supplies that day. Sordi was no longer available to replenish simple necessities automatically.  
    As he looked through his suitcase, he noticed the brown envelope Joker had tossed next to it the night before. He picked it up and opened the flap. Inside was a small amount of what appeared to be gold-leafed herb.  
    Orient grinned. Joker was a thoughtful host.  
    He searched through the clothing he had worn the previous day until he found the silver case Sordi had given him. He opened it and extracted a single cigarette paper from the Bambu pack tucked inside. Using the gold-leafed herb, he rolled a thin, tight cigarette, then looked through his pockets for a match.  
    "Om Aing, Chring, Cling, Charmuda, Yei, Vijay,’he whispered, invoking the ancient Buddhist mantra for the consecration of Bhang.  
    He lit the cigarette and, as he smoked, studied the oval scroll design etched into the small case. The scroll was his mandala, the special meditation design given to him by his instructor Ku, that last day in Tibet. He tried to empty his mind of everything except its intricate lines. He felt the muscles in his neck relax and tentatively flexed the fingers of his injured hand while he continued to concentrate on the figure. As his consciousness intensified and condensed, the pain in his arm dimmed.  
    Orient put the silver case aside and stood up. He put the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray, then he took the towel off and spread it on the floor. He sat cross-legged on the towel and began a series of preliminary physical exercises. First the Yang series, the slow, careful stretching of his muscles. He continued these until the first threshold of bodily resistance had been passed. The soreness in his side lingered after the twinges in his bruised forearm diminished, but eventually that also responded to the methodical yoga therapy. Then he entered the Ying series, the breathing patterns, creating a new rhythm that pushed his consciousness past the demands of bone and muscle until, abruptly, his mind soared clear of his animal presence.  
    The calm covered his consciousness like a blanket of cashmere, warm and light and soft, its subtle weight nudging his awareness toward the light.  
    The light. The unflickering radiation of his being.  
    He breathed deep, his body opening easily and parting the invisible webs of resistance blocking his passage toward the light.  
    And then he was there, floating in the center of the incandescent compression of all reality. The code gene. The unique combination of his existence; past, present, and future.  
    He was a thousand deaths, a thousand births, a thousand lives all vibrating together at the same time. He was all time at once, unfragmented by the fearful