Steven James Taylor Quotes

When Theo would laugh or guffaw beneath the spreading canopy of Red, Shadow knew he had accomplished his job. The gray mask of civilization had fallen from the boy. Death left his eyes. Blood returned to his cheeks. There was song in his voice. Together, dog and master were once again in the huff and roar of the natural, bliss-filled world. They played ball, Shadow fetched rope, and, weather permitting, they swam in the sea. They proved once more what the ancients knew in the magical first world - that there was peace in play.

Walk with me. Walk with me, buddy.

She would talk of castles and princesses and a woman named Scheherazade who had a thousand and one stories to tell. Shadow loved it when Emma told him her dreams. With her little warm fingers, Emma stroked his head as if he were but a puppy with all the strength of his youth yet to come, for the greatest joy in life is the conviction that we are loved in spite of ourselves. His legs may have been faded yellow but Shadow knew that he was loved by Theo's daughter.

Too small, too weak to get his demons behind him," Theo later wrote in his journal, full of the hard, tragic judgment children have when their parents disappoint them so severely.

Shadow enjoyed the easy, sweet Sunday life of the farmhouse when the two women traded stories and song. Coffee and cream. Laughter and tears. He liked Lora. She brought him creamy treats, not the dry stuff. And when she laughed at his snoring underneath the table, she would awaken him so he would not miss any of the action. He enjoyed this ma-triarchate much more than Ted's rough reign. Sometimes, lying at the feet of Lora and Alice, on the cool kitchen floor, Shadow dreamed. He dreamed of the ancient times when tribal mothers ruled. Men hunted, but it was the women who shaped the wolves and the babies by the ring of fire into magic dogs and magic men.

Theo believed that men did not escape from life because life was too small, but life escaped from men when men were too small.

They kissed and hugged and played roughhouse. Whenever love was mentioned, roughhouse was generally forthcoming, at least as far as Shadow could tell.

You have to ask for it," Theo told Shadow. "Magic doesn't come unless it's summoned.

Every thought you have, every move you make, is like a pebble dropped into water, Theo. It continues to make ripples. That's why it is so important your rhythms be true to life's Spirit. For in that way, your future will always rest in compassion. For such is life's Spirit. It is the spirit of compassion. May this office and your cadence thrum with the kindness of your holy hands, Dr. Snow.

Master the dog, and in so doing you shall master yourself.

Shadow could not understand about the war games that humans played. When they roughhoused, they killed each other. Why can't they just roughhouse like dogs, and when they are through, walk away?

It is impossible to stop cadence. A bell rings long after the clapper hits the cup.

I have been fortunate, he thought. I have known many mothers. Alice and Lora and Oota Dabun, but I will always recall my first mom when I was but a Lost Boy. Of all my mothers, I will always remember my Wendy most.

For some, being a vet was a means to make a living. For Theo, helping animals was a photo of his soul, the coat of his will.

We did it, boy," she said. Her words pricked his ears. He watched her radiant smile. "Theo is a lover," she whispered.

Theo was struck by his dog, even in death. For while Theo was away at school or sleeping or distracted, Shadow, well, Shadow was still out there in the neighborhood, making friends.

He tried?" she screamed. "It is not enough to try!" she screamed again. "He promised me! He promised us!

They drove through the small town. Theo could see little through the windshield, but his senses were alive. The three of them - the beater, the boy, and the dog - said nothing all the way home, anchored in the weight of their terrible love.

That is the one thing sorrow surely does - in our pain, it reveals the deep treasures of this marred and beautiful world. And guides like Shadow do this for us - they make us travelers. They break our hearts so we can flow to the greater heart where happiness, too, becomes a sacred matter.

The King of Sea and Sky was proud of Theo's mastery. Being a novice was safe. When you are learning how to do something, you do not have to worry about whether or not you are good at it. But when you have done something, have learned how to do it again, you are not safe anymore. Being a master opens you up to judgment.

Why, Daddy?" she asked. She still had that strange look on her face. "Why do dogs die so young? Shadow was only seventeen. He was not even as old as my babysitter."
"To teach us," he said.
"Teach us what, Daddy?"
"Compassion," he replied.
"But why, Daddy?" she asked.
"So that we might be kinder. So we might make the world kinder. They leave, but they leave us with their lesson. All great teachers do that."
"Yes," said Emma. "He was a good teacher to me too. He was also a wonderful runway model."
He handed her the polaroid. She examined its rivulets and splotches. She put her thumb on the smudges, rubbing them. To Theo, it seemed she knew of the eyes and mouth that once had been. Then the full gravity of the circumstance fell upon her. Emma wept. She was now a girl with a crack in her heart. The sorrows of the world were now available to her. Soon, she would know their beauty.

His sickness had opened like a murderous bloom within, capturing his legs, his neck, and his head in its petals. He had come into Nature's immense room, which held his final season.

Theo continued weeping, and with each tear, he marched his way into manhood.

Alice told Shadow a magical tale of the green wreath and the red ribbon. In the story, Father Sky, who reigned over the spirit, came to Mother Earth, who bore the form of a woman of clay named Mary. Sky and Earth married, and together they conceived a beautiful star child made of both spirit and earth.

The Star Child grew up and walked the world. The child of Father Sky and Mother Earth taught the world to live with the spirit in their clay hearts. Alice said the red of the holiday bow signified the Star Child's sacrifice, and the green balsam of the wreath signified the everlasting life that was for all people born to the spirit of Father Sky.

Shadow loved the story. It reminded him of his own sweet mother and the tales of Thunderbird who flew the skies in bird form in service to Gitche Manitou. Thunderbird was Shadow's guardian, just like Shadow was the guardian for Theo. Shadow adored the season of light. He always felt warm and cozy when it came around.

Have you ever walked with your dog on a summer's morning on the seashore? Or walked with him on an autumn's afternoon when the leaves are in full color?"
Inevitably, the client would say yes.
"And did it sometimes feel that all of Nature was your own room? That you could be there forever?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's what dogs do. They destroy time.

Nature was the great ecclesiastical room. It held the power of divine spirit - the wind, the fragrance, the desire, the relief, the majesty of blessed existence. Shadow was merely an accolade within Nature's immense room.