Thomas Doty – Storyteller

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Shapasheni

On a sunny day in March, at this place the Modocs call Shapasheni, "Where the Sun and Moon Live," I amble along Sheepy Creek. Through sage-and-basalt high desert, this creek runs clear. Sun-and-moon-shaped pools are liquid mirrors of the sky: the sun, the half moon, the arrows of geese float pictures on the creek.

Here are no distractions but the turning of winter to spring. Meadowlarks rouse the air with sharp-edged songs. Swans paddle their own reflections. Whirligig beetles dance circle dances.

The Modocs are right. The sun and moon live here ... in the sky, in the creek, in the springtime spirit of this place.

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