Foolish Times
Sheamus Miramontes suddenly found himself in a rain shower lit by sunshine as he stood entranced looking at the beauty of the forest of trees in the hills surrounding the City of Monterey. It was an unusual day in Monterey in that it was a day whose sky was filled with clouds, patches of blue sky, showers and sun which created rainbows for many who looked up at the sky.
Sheamus felt like a fool to be caught in the rain until realized that he must be at the end of someone’s rainbow and that his “moment” had come. At the end of someone’s rainbow he could grant the wishes of those who sought and found the end of the rainbow.
This moment took him back to the prophesy of his great ex-great-greatgrandmother Margarita who had married Sheamus O’Leary.
Sheamus O’Leary was a member of a battalion of Irish soldiers recruited for the Mexican American war of 1846. When Sheamus got off the boat from Ireland he had no money and no prospects for work. So, he signed up with the army recruiter stationed on the dock.
With his initial pay he tried to enjoy a moment of camaraderie by going to a local saloon. However, the saloon had a sign on its door saying, “NO DOGS OR IRISH ALLOWED.”
His treatment in the US Army was just as abusive as his treatment at the door of the saloon. The officers being Protestant, looked down on the Irishmen who were Catholic and treated them as if they were mangy curs.
The Mexican Government offered the men in the battalion land
(320 acres) and the hope of marrying a Catholic senorita if they would join their fight against the invading Americans. The Irish soldiers seeing a promise of land and women at the end of their journey and after being treated like stray dogs, joined the Mexican Army.
Under the leadership of John Riley, who had been an experienced artilleryman in the British Army, they formed the “Batall0n de San Patricio” –the Battalion of Saint Patrick. After several successful artillery engagements, they were defeated in battle, and a surviving 48 were hung as traitors and two more were more mercifully executed by firing squad.
Just before the battle of Battle of Churubusco, a convent near Mexico City, (20 August 1847) Sheamus realized that his fellow Irishmen were pursuing a rainbow at the end of which there would be a disaster and he left with his weapon. He couldn’t rat on his comrades, and he could not go along with them even though they called him “Shameless Sheamus.” So, he fled.
Sheamus sought refuge wherever he could. He came upon a woman, Margarita, who surprisingly, welcomed him in. Margarita was both a shaman and educated in classical Greek mythology. Past the age when most women married, she lived alone, practicing her shamanic and psychic arts.
Sheamus told her: “I know my fellow Irishmen are chasing rainbows and that they will find disaster at the end of them. I fled because what I fear most is not punishment for desertion, but the contempt of my fellows who called me “Shameless Sheamus” for leaving them.
Margarita replied: “You are not ‘Shameless Sheamus,’ but ‘Famous Sheamus,’ because I sense that you have the gift of clairvoyance and far listening that you will pass on to your heirs. That is the gift of the goddess Iris, Messenger of the Gods, who rides the rainbow between heaven and earth. In Spanish we call the rainbow ‘el arcoiris,’ the arch of the goddess Iris.”
“Someday, my bloodline will give you an heir who will find themselves in rain and sun at the end of somebody’s rainbow; and in that moment he or she will be able to hear the wishes people make on that rainbow and fulfill them. But those who wish had better be careful what they wish for. They might get it.”
And with that, she took him in. In time, they married, left Mexico for California during the Gold Rush of 1849, and eventually settled in Monterey.
Each successive generation of that union named their first-born Sheamus, be it boy or girl, to make certain that the gift would not be lost and that an heir would find his or her “moment.” The women who became Sheamus’ ancestors educated their daughters in the shamanic arts, spells, telepathy, far-seeing and far-hearing and warned their sons of a possible “moment.”
The day that Sheamus found his “moment,” a woman in Monterey, Gabriella, wished to become a famous singer. She looked out at the rainbow trying to find its end so that she could fulfill her wish. Sheamus heard her telepathically. When she thought she saw the end of the rainbow she burst into a lyrical song with a voice so melodious and beautiful that it even startled her. She did go on to fame and fortune but soon became annoyed by being pestered by the paparazzi. She turned down a movie role because she did not want to have her body used on the “casting couch.”
Gabriella was so enraged at being asked to lie on the casting couch that she shouted and railed at the would-be director of the production and lost her voice.
Another onlooker of a rainbow that day, Oscar, hungered for a beautiful woman. Sheamus was able to grant his wish. But the woman turned out to be a vain shrew who made his life miserable. The more she demanded he put her on a pedestal, the uglier she appeared to be. Oscar had to flee her.
With his newfound ability to far-listen Sheamus became aware of the consequences of the wishes he had granted and gained appreciation of the admonition: “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.”
Rafael Ramos is a member of the Monterey Peninsula Toastmasters Club where friends teach each other public speaking and welcome new members. www.montereypeninsulatoastmastersclub.org
