By Lyn Fraser

My longtime haircutter Laguna, who’s a natural healer, said that I was having a soul-sink and needed some sweet basil.  This was after I’d tried a bereavement support group but was summarily dismissed because the leader said the group was for grieving the loss of a human, not a 15-year-old black Lab named Milagro, even though the brochure claimed the group offered support for adults grieving any loss of a loved one.

Wanting to know more about Laguna’s approach to healing, I stopped by the university library and high up on the top floor of the stacks, I found a book with all kinds of suggestions like shawl alignments, spiritual cleansings, and laugh therapy, as well as the preparation of herbal remedies.  I was so captivated that I lost track of the time, and when I looked up, the library had closed for the day, apparently no one having come to check this distant area of the stacks.  

Well past my dinner time, I decided to look for something to eat before calling campus security and located the employee kitchen, where I found in the refrigerator some thoughtful employee’s  microwavable organic ready-to-eat dinner of short penne with tomato and basil sauce, which I savored while reflecting on what I’d read about the healing of the soul.  Ever conscientious, I looked forward to my homework which promised to involve wailing, a raw egg, feathers, and flute music.  

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Lyn Fraser’s publications include short fiction in the American Literary Review and the Mid-American Review. She has an MFA from Bennington College and teaches in the New Dimensions Lifelong Learning Institute at Colorado Mesa University.  An avid walker, Lyn lives in western Colorado with her partner and two cats, Ginger and Pickles.