(1/7/13)

His name was Billy Sky Eyes and he had taken a military hop from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, to Ellsworth AFB, 10 miles from Rapid City, South Dakota. There he rented a car to drive home to see his family after being away for four years in the Marine Corps, and also serving two tours of duty in Vietnam with his two friends who went in under the "buddy-buddy" system.
He was a Native American from the Lakota tribe in the Dakotas and was taught the language and customs of the tribe.

His grandfather and father had served in the Marines and were known as walkers, which was a language unknown to the enemies and was able to communicate with each other giving the enemy their positions, but they were also medicine men in their tribe. The Lakotas were known for their spiritual teachings and beliefs and believed in only one god, "Wankan Tanka."

Billy was anxious to get back home to see his parents, when he came to a roadblock which would delay him from getting home on time, and noticed that he was low on gas also.

So seeing a sign that said "Detour," he took the road and followed it till he saw another sign saying, "Town of No Hope."

He got an eerie feeling about that sign, but he needed gas, and as he drove thru the center of town, he got another feeling of darkness and doom overcoming him, unlike the ones he got in Vietnam.

He pulled up into the gas station which said "Jeb Altoona gas station." There were three men sitting on a bench in front of the station; as one got up and started walking towards the car asking, "May I help you?" Billy responded, "Yes ! I need gas!"

The man responded with, "Well, I won't have the gas truck here for another two to three hours if you don't mind waiting."

Billy looked at his gas gauge and it was reading empty, so he told him that he would have to wait and inquired if there was a diner where he could get something to eat.

Apparently the man was the station owner, Jeb, and he told Billy how to get to the diner.

As he was walking to the diner he turned and looked back and what he saw was a black mist covering the three of them.

When he opened up the diner door he saw all the customers staring out the window towards the gas station with fear in their faces. One of the customers turned and looked at Billy.

"You don't want to be here mister!"

"Why not?"

An elderly man with pure white hair walked over to him and started explaining. "This here town was called New Hope up till five years ago when they arrived. Jeb and his two sons are warlocks. His wife died three years ago — and he felt that the town was to blame for her death.

"Since then he has controlled us with his magic and fear. Two years ago one of our neighbors, Lionel, and his wife tried to escape thru the woods to tell what was going on. They were found hanging upside down from a tree, their throats slashed and a dead black cat laying on the ground below them.

"There is always one awake while the other two sleep- then at noon time all three sit on that bench watching all of us. With their powers they are able to make all visitors forget what they see or hear."

A powerful feeling came over Billy as he saw visions of his ancestors and their powers flash before him.

The townspeople looked at him as he started to shake uncontrollably and his eyes turned white, as a voice spoke — but not his own.

"For centuries we have been fighting these black demons who try to control mankind and keep them in darkness, but we always show them the light !Ask Billy to call upon us to help you with these demons of darkness."

Billy then fell to the floor unconscious and when he awoke, the old man told him what had happened and what was said: Billy then explained to the people what he had to do to get to the spiritual level needed to fight these forces.

He looked around the diner for what he would need,and saw each table had a glass candle to give a sense of relaxing atmosphere, so he told them to gather them all up and to clear the center of the floor, and put all the lighted candles together to create a campfire.

Then he asked the waitress if they had a bottle of rubbing alcohol normally found in a first aid kit.

They found the alcohol and brought it over to him as he took off his shirt and took out a bandana from his pocket and doused it with the alcohol and tied the bandana around his forehead , then asked for a knife or razor blade from anyone- a razor blade was found in the first aid kit.

Taking the razor he slashed a finger and poured the alcohol over both hands and put them above the flames till his hands caught fire, then started to wave his arms up in the air chanting a language they did not understand. They saw his eyes roll to the back of his head and his body started to change shape.

His arms grew feathers on them just like the wings of a bird, and his feet changed to claws. They all stepped back in shock and fear as the transformation continued, his face now changing to the face of an eagle and his clawed talons becoming bigger. He was now an eagle of prey.

They opened up the front door and he flew out so gracefully.

When the warlocks saw this they themselves changed into black crows and started flying towards him, but eagles have always been known to fly high above the rain clouds so as not to get wet, and the crows could not do this.

The eagle shot out from the clouds and grabbed one of the crows with his talons and and with his powerful beak tore its throat out and let it drop from the sky.

The other two crows, now fearful, were searching the skies when he came down again and grabbed the second crow, doing the same thing to it. The last crow, which apparantly was "Jeb," headed down to earth when the eagle grabbed him in his talons and flew back up to the rain clouds. Down below in the town they could hear the cries of Jeb as he fell towards the earth with his throat also ripped away.

The townspeople had been watching all of this taking place, and then saw the mighty eagle come out of the rain clouds soaring on the air waves as the clouds started to disappear and the sun started to shine ever so brightly. The eagle soared right back into the diner and landed at the candled bonfire, then fell on its back and the transformation started again, but changing back to human form.

The people had gathered inside and out as this was happening and saw this transformation back to Billy. As Billy was awakening a light mist seemed to rise from his body, and the face of an Indian chief took form with a smile on its face, then disappeared.

Once again evil had been overcome and the people were taken from the darkness to the light.

Billy got up and the people had told him what had happened and that their town was once again free. Thanks to him, the sign would be changed back to "New Hope" instead of "No Hope."

Billy gassed up and continued the drive to the reservation to see his family and tribesmen to record this story into the Indian scribes.

(C) L . RAMS