Voices of the Dead

"How soon do you need rent?" he asked, as they ate dinner.

"First of the month," she replied.

"And for utilities? Groceries?"

"We'll split the groceries. Utilities are included."

"That's nice."

"Yes, it is. Goodnight, Taylor."

"You're going to bed already?"

"Rough night. See you tomorrow."

"Alright. I hope you sleep better, Amanda."

"Thank you. Sleep well, also. When you get there."

"I will."

Amanda retired to her room. She picked up the folder John had given her and slowly separated the deceased Master Herbalists by location. She recorded place, names, and death dates:

AFTON, WYOMING:

Carl Ledbetter—January 1, 2000

Sam Johnson—January 1, 1998

The list continued until every member of every class were listed. For those who were not yet dead she wrote the phone number instead and put a star and class year next to the name so it would stand out:

CEDAR HILLS, UTAH:

2007 * Cori Johnson (801) 852-0130

It took her a few hours to get through the lists. When she was finished, she set it aside and went to sleep.

Sunday morning was beautiful. The sun felt warm through the window, but Amanda knew it would be cold outside. She got ready then went down into the office. She pulled one of her text off the shelf to study from while she thought about how exactly she wanted to present the topic of reproductive health. She studied and made notes until early afternoon. She returned to the apartment long enough to eat a salad. Taylor was still in bed. She returned downstairs once she was finished.

Amanda put a flier together to advertise for her class. She sent it out in an email blast to those who had attended classes in the past. Then she locked the office and went to Staples to print other copies. These she walked around to businesses close by. She'd pass out more on Monday when the bus schedule was a little more consistent. Amanda didn't see much of Taylor. In fact, she didn't see him at all until he was leaving for work Monday morning.

Amanda spent the rest of the week typing up outlines for her classes during the day, and trying to piece together the suicides in the evening. During her preparations, she had at least 100 calls for the series. Some called because they could not attend on Mondays and asked if she would be willing to teach another night. Amanda agreed. Anything to educate people. Anything to keep her business going.

When the 17th came around, Amanda was ready and excited to meet those who had signed up. Around 6:30pm they started coming in. The roll was marked and payment collected then they were seated in the lecture room. On their seats they found a packet with information that would be covered during the lecture. Taylor sat off to the side close to the front of the classroom so he could offer his point of view when asked.

"Good evening, everyone," Amanda started, "and thank you for coming. My name is Amanda Onyx, I am a certified Master Herbalist and have worked with herbs for a little over three years. I would like to begin this series with what is referred to as 'the basics.' These basics should be the first thing anyone thinks to do when dealing with disease. They are first, to cleanse and second, to nourish. Now, before I get too much further I ask that all questions be held until the end of the lecture. In your packets are hand outs that I will refer to throughout the lecture as well as a few pages at the back for you to make notes or write any questions you have to ask at the end.

"If you will all turn to page one, you will see a picture of a stove with four chimneys. Samuel Thompson taught that the body has four channels of elimination: The colon, the urinary system, the respiratory system, and the skin. The body uses all four of these to get toxins and wastes out. However, the main one it uses is the colon. When that one gets plugged up, then the other three have to work harder to eliminate the toxins. If you turn the page you will see that more than one of the channels of elimination have been plugged up. As this continues more and more toxins are building up in the body creating an environment for bacteria and viruses to live in.

"So cleansing is important because it helps keep the channels open as well as remove anything that would invite disease in. Now keep in mind that cleansing is not just a one time thing. It took years to accumulate all of those toxins, so it will take time to clean it all out. Starting on page three there are a few of the cleansing programs available. You probably noticed that some of them are just names and others have a brief explanation next to them. The ones with explanations are ones that I have used, personally and in practice, with the most success. It is ideal to cleanse once a month. I say once a month for a number of reasons. One, you don't want to cleanse too fast. Two, is hopefully dietary changes will be occurring in addition to the cleansing, and three, it takes time and effort to cleanse.

"In order to not cleanse too fast it is best to start with a one to three day water or juice fast. However, if you choose to do the 'cleanse and purify thyself' cleanse that is set up a little differently, and you should be able to safely do that one longer than three days. Some cleanses have what is referred to as the cleansing crisis. This could be a headache or cold/flu like symptoms. The way you can tell the difference is if you are the only one with the symptoms or not. If coworkers or family members, who are not cleansing, have the same symptoms then it is possible that sickness has set in. Sometimes it will seem hard to cleanse, but it is worth it. When it comes to time to do the cleanse, either set aside the time to do it, or pick a cleanse that works well with whatever you are doing.

"I also mention dietary changes and will discuss that as part of the nutrition section. I don't know how many of you are LDS and I hope you will take this next section on nutrition as a means of information and not a religious sermon. Pages six and seven of your handouts is a copy of the 89th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. It is a code of health that members of the LDS church follow. However, it is also the basis for a nutritional program that has helped many people.

"An example of this would be my first client. She had severe asthma and no amount of medication seemed to help. I helped her set up a program that eliminated dairy and refined sugar and limited meat to once a week. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to cleanse, but she was willing to change her diet. After a month, she was breathing better and using less medication. I didn't push the cleansing, but I did mention again that it would aid in her healing. She added the cleansing and after a few months, she was only using her medication for emergency situations.

"I know this seems miraculous and it kind of is. Sometimes it takes half a month to a year before a change is noticed. So nourishing not only heals, but it also gives the body time to recover from the cleanse. So then, what foods can we eat? Organic, raw (if possible) fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. I realize that everyone's situation is different and that by stating it this way it excludes some. An example is someone with Celiac disease (or wheat intolerance). They cannot have the gluten in grains so they could replace wheat with rice and bean. Or there are a few health food stores nearby that carry some gluten free products.

"A word of caution when making these changes. Do it gradually, because the changes in and of themselves can be cleansing because you are increasing nutrients and fiber. It will also give your pallet a chance to get used to the different flavors and the time to make sure the groups remain in balance. Now I don't mean to eat all of them at each meal. It helps to be able to break them down like this: fruits in the morning, vegetables with some nuts and seeds at lunchtime, then vegetables with grains in the evenings. If anyone is interested, I will have a healthy alternative recipe book available for $10.00 by next week's class. Is there anything you would like to add, Taylor?"

"No," he replied.

"Okay. Are there any questions?"

There were only a few. Amanda thought the class went well. Almost everyone in attendance wanted a copy of the recipe book. So she started getting those ready. All of her other classes were full and several people asked if she would be willing to teach a class during the day. Amanda was thrilled. She hadn't quite expected such a great response. She readied her copy of her recipe book and sent her order to Staples for printing. She'd pick them up in a few days, ready to be handed out by the next Monday.

Amanda taught several times a day. Smaller groups during the day and much larger groups at night. Taylor attended as many as he could. She noticed him mouthing her words from time to time as if trying to get her presentation down by rote. But he'd paused when she would say something differently than before while conveying the same information.

A month into her teaching, Amanda took a break away from the office mid-day to visit the park. Though cold, the day was beautiful. Question after question rolled around in her mind. Having the lists of the graduated students after 2005 helped, but that left her nowhere closer to finding a way to present it to the police so they would pay attention. She had one month at most before the next Master Herbalist would be killed. She needed to turn the information over sooner than later. What did she do?

Amanda sighed. "Izzy, I miss you so much. You would know the next step to take."

She thought more about her friend. About their Certification week in Springville. They spent a lot of time in the park just a block from the school. Sunlight filtering through the trees as she and Izzy would laugh about the faces the other pulled as they were getting familiar with the tastes of all the herbs. The others in the class had joined in as well. The worst tasting one was cascara segrada (sacred bark). Those were the days. That week meant a lot to everyone, all the hard work and study to get there, to finally saying, "I did it!"

Amanda smiled, but it was a bittersweet smile. Now look where they were. All dead except for herself and that, in itself, was troubling. The roar of a car engine made her turn. A gray truck was barreling towards her. She tried to run, get out of the way, but it wasn't enough. Amanda tried to leap to the side to avoid getting hit, but it caught her legs and sent her spinning. She lost track of the truck. She tried to get herself to move, but could not. She didn't want to die! She needed to stop what was happening!

Darkness consumed her. She recalled voices and sirens briefly. She remembered trying to tell someone to teach her classes. To keep them going. She hurt, but she didn't hurt. Where was she? How long had she been here? Dreams haunted her when she had them. All of the Master Herbalists from previous classes, as well as her own class, was trying to tell her something important. But each time, she only caught snippets that were gone when the next person came.

"Help us!" they finally cried together.