Part One The Dream Catcher

Part One

The Dream Catcher

It all started with Joseph Green Tree. Joseph Green Tree had a quaint little shop in the mall and if you were not attentive you would walk right past it. Now being retired and having time on my hands I had visited the mall every once in a while just to keep abreast of what was going on in life. I must have passed this little place many times before but today was different. The picture window of the shop showed a lot of knick knacks but one thing caught my eye and with that I stopped and decided to ask just what this was. That was when I met Joseph Green Tree for the first time.

Walking into his shop was like walking into another dimension with all the most odd wonderful; Knick Knacks that I had ever dreamed existed. There he stood as tall as a willow and a smile as big as life itself. “Joe Green Tree,” he exclaimed as he held out his giant hand. Why I didn’t even reach his shoulder I noted right off. I had never seen such a giant of a man in all my life. Shaking Joe’s hand was like knowing him all your life and his personality was nothing that I had ever seen in any man.

After the introduction I asked Joe just what in the world that feathered contraption was in his window. Joe grinned and in his booming voice told me to follow him. We went to the back of the store and there I saw an entire wall of these feathered contraptions. Some big and some small but all were the most beautiful feathered things that I had ever seen. “These are dream catchers,” Joseph declared. “I make these myself,” he added. I had never heard of a dream catcher I told Joe and with that Joe let out a belly laugh and said “Why I thought everyone knew what a dream catcher was.”

With that Joe started his tale of the dream catcher. “A dream catcher must be made by a true dream catcher else it is not a real dream catcher,” Joe explained. “There are a lot of manufactured dream catchers but they don’t really catch dreams,” he added. Joe continued to explain “When you dream you are in a spirit world with nothing but good and bad spirits and with the dream catcher above your head all dreams pass through the dream catcher after you are done with the dream.” “Makes no difference whether they are bad or good dreams all dreams will be caught by the real dream catcher.”

Joe continued and said “The secret of a real dream catcher is to let the good dreams pass through the center of the catcher and the bad dreams become entangled in the catcher.” “That is the magic of a real dream catcher.” “Some dream catchers will destroy some of the evil spirits as soon as they see the morning light but they do not destroy all of the bad dream spirits.” “That is why I must empty the bad dreams every twenty one days,” Joe explained to me.

“Why a dream catcher is the best medicine known to man,” he declared. “Here, I want you to have this one,” he said as he reached up and took down a small dream catcher. “Now after twenty one days I want you to bring this back and I will empty all the bad dreams that it has caught.” “Twenty one days,” I repeated. “Yep,” he replied. “Three weeks and I will empty your catcher but you have to empty it every three weeks and no charge to empty it.” “Promise me?” I agreed, just to humor him more than anything.

So here I am with a tack hammer and a tack putting this dream catcher above my bed. That is how power of suggestion works I thought to myself as I made a note on my calendar as when to empty this feathered contraption.

Twenty days later found me with my dream catcher in a paper sack in front of Joe’s shop. Joseph Green Tree grabbed my hand and with a big grin boomed out another welcome just as though we had been long time friends. He took my catcher out of the sack and looking it over very carefully started to gently squeeze it all about. I thought that Joe was the best salesman that I had ever seen except for one thing. Joe had never even hinted at selling me anything except himself. I really grew fond of Magic Joe from that time on.

Now being retired it was no problem for me to empty my dream catcher. I had all the time in the world and I really liked Joe. Maybe I used the dream catcher as an excuse to visit Joe but whatever it was we soon became fast friends. It was a Saturday afternoon and Joe had just emptied my dream catcher when I dared to ask him just how he emptied a dream catcher from all the evil spirits that it captured. A great big smile came over his tanned face and then he invited me to sit for a spell. “Well,” he began, “If you have the time I would like you to go with me to the reservation.” “I visit the reservation every Sunday to call on my friends.” “Want to go?” he asked. I was really interested now. “Sure, I would love to go,” I agreed.

That Sunday morning found me meeting Joe at the shop and as Joe came out from the back of the store declaring he was ready, I was frozen with surprise. There he stood with a pillow case slung over his right shoulder and at first glance it looked like the pillow case had something in it but I soon put that out of my mind. I didn’t have the gumption to ask Joe about his pillow case and figured that he might be taking a gift to someone at his reservation. As we got to his car he opened the trunk and set the tied pillow case gently in an old ice cooler which had a lid but no ice. Getting into the car and ready to move on, I got enough courage to finally ask. “Ah Joe,” I started when Joe looked over to me and said “In time you will find out.”

So there we were at Joe’s reservation and walking along an old dirt road that led to his first visit. The house was in need of repair and as we entered the house we were greeted by and old friend that Joe stooped and gave a big hug. The old man was bent over with a hard wood cane in his hand and limped over to his rocker all the while praising Magic Joe. Placed above the rocker was a faded old dream catcher which I kept studying.

Joe did not use a chair to sit but crossed his legs and sat upon the floor in front of the old man. He took the frail old hands and as he held them he talked in his Cherokee. I was astounded at this entire procedure and sat upon a chair away from the two old friends. This conversation lasted for well over a half hour at the least and instead of being bored I was genuinely intrigued. As the conversation ended Magic Joe kissed the old man’s hands and slowly got to his feet. He then reached up to the dream catcher and unhooked it from the nail which held it above the old man’s head and turning his back to us he untied his pillow case. With his back turned towards us Joe looked as though he was struggling with a foe of some sort and then after several moments he turned towards us as he was tying the cord to seal his pillow case. After he re hung the dream catcher he gave his old friend a hug and we parted as we heard the old man praising his dream catcher Magic Joe.