![\"Licker](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/licker-chico-talk-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWe walked on through the magical forest.\u00a0 The sky glistened through the leaves of the trees, and the forest canopy was filled with a shimmering light that seemed at times like mirrors.\u00a0 (I later learned that the leaves were, in fact, mirrored, mirrored in a special polarizing way, in order to reflect the heat of the day, but still obtain the benefits of sunlight and its life-rendering energy.)\u00a0 Licker looked up dozens of times, and clearly wanted to know more about the trees and their lives.\u00a0\u00a0 Chico stopped and put his nose at the base of Licker\u2019s head.\u00a0 They stood very still.\u00a0 Their eyes closed, and they seemed for several minutes like merged statues, one work of life-like sculpture, fastened to the ground and oblivious to the brilliant yellow sky.\u00a0 Then, after many minutes, Chico moved, shook, and stood back.\u00a0 Licker opened his eyes and gazed around with kind of child-like wonderment.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI told him all about it,\u201d said Chico.\u00a0 \u201cIn a way, more than I\u2019ve told you, because I can speak to him in the language of smells and sounds, rather than logic and science.\u00a0 It\u2019s\u2026.very effective, and not easy to describe to a non-canine being.\u201d \u00a0\u201cLike me?\u201d I queried, maybe just a little bit hurt.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d said Chico consolingly.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re going to be able to do this in due course.\u00a0 Once you understand how to port, you will grasp a totally new level \u2013 a quantum level higher, in fact, literally \u2013 of communication with non-human persons. Your range of interpretive understanding will expand by several orders of magnitude.\u00a0 The universe and all that\u2019s in it\u2026will never be the same: it will be richer, more complex, endlessly varied, and astonishingly beautiful.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t wait, I just can\u2019t wait!\u201d I said ardently.<\/p>\n
![\"Quantum](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/quantum-behavior-1.jpg\")
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Chico looked at me with tender humor, and utter seriousness.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll become a very different, much more expansive human.\u00a0 Great ability comes with great responsibility. You will have a new, and very compelling and absorbing mission.\u201d\u00a0 I felt the weight of Chico\u2019s words\u2026.but it was quite some time before I had fully grasped them.\u00a0 He was speaking of the battle against evil, and against entropy.<\/p>\n
![\"Evil](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/evil-good-1.jpg\")
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Eventually \u2013 and it was a long, quiet walk: still quiet air in a gentle, almost imperceptible whisper of a breeze; no birdsong, no cries of animals in the distance.\u00a0\u00a0 There was, though, a kind of underlying hum, like the sound of a powerful, quiet engine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is that quiet, constant motor-like humming?\u00a0 Sort of\u2026in the background\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
![\"Hum](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/hum-of-insects-1.jpg\")
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\u201cI\u2019m very glad you feel it, hear it\u201d answered Chico.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a necessary first perception that will lead to many others.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled, and I could hear the gladness in his heart.\u00a0 \u201cOn your planet, planet Earth, there are nearly 5 million different species of insects, although earth scientists have only catalogued and named about 90,000 of them.\u201d\u00a0 I rapidly did the math in my head.\u00a0 \u201cWow\u2026.we\u2019ve only named about one fiftieth of all the species!\u00a0 We\u2019re going to need a lot more entomologists to work on that project!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYup,\u201d said Chico, with quiet seriousness.\u00a0 \u201cNone of us knows very much, and that\u2019s why we Woggs have to be immortal\u2026.it\u2019s essential to develop the ability and technique \u2013 we get better and better at it, over time, over eons of time! – to sense, grasp, catalog and transmit the information about all the beings and things we encounter in our travels\u2026.to say nothing of dealing with the all-too-real problems of good and evil!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Time\"](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/time-2.jpg\")
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\u201cBut you asked about the underlying humming of this planet.\u00a0 It\u2019s the sound of insects, trees, water, sun and clouds communicating, and helping to understand what each of them is doing \u2013 to better grasp the need to coordinate their work and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWork\u2026..work\u2026\u201d I mused.\u00a0 \u201cWhat sort of work do you mean?\u00a0 Like creating things, building things, excavating, planning?\u00a0 What do they actually do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great question.\u00a0 But the answer will have to wait.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s time to meet your teacher.\u00a0 Our teacher.\u00a0 Stand still, relax, and look at the ground now.\u00a0 Keep your head down.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0I knew that tone: it was serious, but not communicating danger\u2026just\u2026.serious.\u00a0 Compelling, like the guidance of a loving parent.<\/p>\n
![\"Humility\"](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/humility-1.jpg\")
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I looked over at Licker, on my left.\u00a0 He, too, like me, was standing still, kind of casually still, his nose pointed at the ground, as if he were going to sniff something just below.\u00a0 His eyes were lowered, and he looked as if he were quietly praying.\u00a0 He seemed to be barely breathing.\u00a0 \u201cChico must\u2019ve told him something,\u201d I thought.\u00a0 He was as still as stone.\u00a0\u00a0 I felt a shadow cast all around me, and right in front of me, on the ground, roots of a tree \u2013 ancient roots \u2013 grasping the earth in front.\u00a0 They had just appeared in the last few seconds, but they looked, for all the world, as if they\u2019d been there since time immemorial.\u00a0 Yet they were newly there, where the ground seconds before had been clear and flat.\u00a0 The roots were greenish yellow, like the sky, large, powerful and deeply dug into the earth, feet with long toes, or tendrils, grasping and strong.\u00a0 They looked, seemed, both reassuringly tree-like, and disturbingly alive.\u00a0 And, indeed, alive they were.\u00a0 Alive as you and me.<\/p>\n
![\"Living](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/living-tree-1.jpg\")
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Because I was still looking down, I thought I\u2019d look carefully as well\u2026carefully and intently at the roots that had recently appeared in front of me.\u00a0 The green-yellow exterior was more like the skin of a snake or alligator than an earthly tree, and there was also a certain transparency about the skin that I hadn\u2019t noticed at first.\u00a0 I could see, just underneath the skin, the outer bark-like coating, channels and veins, and these, too, were somewhat transparent.\u00a0 Something, some liquid \u2013 sap, water, nutrients \u2013 was flowing and coursing through the channels of the roots in front of me, and I knew the owner of these roots was a living, moving, vibrant being.\u00a0 And I knew, in a flash, that this was our teacher.<\/p>\n
I heard a rustling of leaves and motion above me, and in an instant, I felt something on my head.\u00a0 A crown of leaves and gentle woven matting, it covered my head like a loving winter hat put in place by your mother, with the sweetness of the material itself exuding affection, comfort, protection. \u00a0I remembered that when I was a very young boy \u2013 perhaps 6 or 7 years old \u2013 we were having quite severe winters in New York, and it was a struggle to stay warm on the long walk to elementary school.\u00a0 That winter, for Christmas, my wonderful Hungarian grandmother crocheted for me a beautiful warm cotton-woolen hat.\u00a0 It was blue, baby blue, and it has ear-flaps that could be tied down in front, under my chin.\u00a0 It was so warm, so comforting, created with great love and care.\u00a0 I thought of it in a lightning bolt of memory that blazed for a fraction of a second, complete, entire, reassuring, filled with affection and the interminable thoughtfulness that characterized my grandmother\u2019s love for me.\u00a0 It was present now, caring, protecting, reminding, a remembrance of things past, streaming down the hallways of time and memory.<\/p>\n
Neither frightening nor threatening, it was so warm, reassuring, comfortable, even loving \u2013 I wanted to sleep, to dream, to give myself up to the sweet-smelling motherliness that occupied every facet of my attention and perceptions.\u00a0 I felt so tired, so drained from the billion-mile journey that I lay down, right there, my head and arms on the living roots, and fell asleep as I had never fallen asleep before, save as a very young, secure child, in the arms of my grandmother.\u00a0 I slept deep, long, and dreamlessly.<\/p>\n
![\"Deep](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/deep-sleep-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
When I woke up, I had no idea if I\u2019d slept for hours, days or months.\u00a0 I opened my eyes, and saw Licker next to me.\u00a0 I was lying on a large bed of soft, multi-colored and beautiful leaves, as gentle and verdant as a living autumn sofa.\u00a0 I reached out my hand, and touched his flank.\u00a0 He turned his head towards me, opened his deep brown eyes and stared at me.\u00a0 Then he spoke\u2026spoke as Chico spoke, inside my head, in the language unique to clear telepathy.\u00a0 Without any change in his facial expression, he addressed me as if he had been speaking clearly to me since the day he was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you sleep well?\u201d he queried. He asked with such kindness, such concern, like a true friend speaking of important things, not simply a casual or automatic and polite question.<\/p>\n
\u201cDear God, Licker,\u201d chirped a tape-loop in my head; \u201cDear God, how I love you, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Armadillo\"](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/armadillo-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cI slept like an armadillo\u2026\u2026protected and curled up.\u201d \u00a0I spoke in my head, in the way I had learned from Chico. \u00a0I had never before spoken in this fashion with Licker.\u00a0 While I wasn\u2019t surprised, I was utterly delighted, and also pleasantly just a bit taken off-guard.\u00a0\u00a0 So much had happened already, so many surprising things, and this was just another other-worldly event amongst many other remarkable unearthly events.<\/p>\n
I knew Licker so very well, as he had come into our lives as a three-months\u2019-old puppy – and for his part, he knew my habits better than I knew them myself.\u00a0 He had already saved my life once, in our terrifying encounter with the Warrg, and my gratitude to him was ever-present and boundless \u2013 layered above my enduring emotional admiration and affection.\u00a0 So intuitive, I often thought \u2013 he is so intuitive and insightful, a consequence of his amazing powers of attentiveness and perception. \u00a0It crossed my mind that he had a kind of perceptual laser-vision, and perhaps, just\u00a0 perhaps, it would someday transform into the amazing blue-light laser-like visual weapon I had seen Chico use against the Warrg.\u00a0 I was not far from wrong.<\/p>\n
![\"Telepathy\"](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/telepathy-1.jpg\")
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\u201cWhen did you learn to telepath?\u201d I asked him.\u00a0 He smiled, a beautiful broad grin.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll bet you can figure that out if you think about it,\u201d he said with a chuckle.\u00a0 I thought back to the many, many things that had happened, and then remembered the moment when Chico put his chin on Licker\u2019s head and rested there for what seemed an eternity.\u00a0 \u201cYes,\u201d said Licker, reading my thoughts, \u201cthat\u2019s when it happened.\u00a0 Chico somehow flipped on a switch in my brain, a switch that was always there\u2026and I\u2019m now like him.\u00a0 He said that it was a genetic switched expression that all dogs carry.\u201d\u00a0 He laughed\u2026.\u201dExcept of course I\u2019m a lot bigger \u2013 when Chico\u2019s his normal size, of course\u2026.since I can\u2019t compare to him when he\u2019s in battle-mode\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought back to when Chico had launched himself at the Warrg, and replayed that terrible and terrifying minute in my mind.\u00a0 He had been huge\u2026.at least as large as the Warrg himself, and blazing with laser-like weapons of irresistible destructive power.\u00a0 I shuddered.\u00a0 \u201cYou saved my life, Licky,\u201d I said, with some emotion.\u00a0 \u201cYou really did.\u00a0 I\u2019m so glad to have the chance to tell you directly how grateful I am, and how I admire your courage.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOh, posh,\u201d he chortled.\u00a0 \u201cAll in a night \u2018s work.\u00a0 You\u2019d do the same for me.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cYes, I would\u2026.but your fearless action was instant and effective.\u00a0 You have the heart of a warrior of the Light.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWell, I\u2019d have been a lot more effective with a bit of laser-vision and the skill to port myself behind the Warrg.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"MMA\"](\"https:\/\/chicothemagicdog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/mma-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I thought about that for a second.\u00a0 Of course! I thought.\u00a0 How silly of me to not realize this earlier. I had only been thinking of teleportation as a long-distance rapid-travel method\u2026.to hop from star system to star system.\u00a0 But its effectiveness as a short-range fighting tool would be remarkable\u2026.to avoid an enemy\u2019s strike; to attack an enemy from behind; to remove yourself from the possibility of harm when faced with an unconquerable foe\u2026.these teleportation skills would be more than invaluable: they could easily be life-saving and key winning strategies.\u00a0 I saw it all, like a complete, detailed Hieronymus Bosch triptych, in a single grasped-by-the-short hairs instinct.<\/p>\n
Licker knew right away what I was thinking, as I hadn\u2019t guarded my open thoughts.\u00a0 \u201cYes, yes,\u201d he chimed in.\u00a0 \u201cYou got it.\u00a0 Remember when Chico said that he had to proceed with our training more rapidly?\u00a0 This is precisely what he was talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the fifth time in fewer hours than that, my brain was reeling with new information and vast ideas.\u00a0 I got it.\u00a0 Remarkable.\u00a0\u00a0 Chico was going to teach us the art of being a warrior.\u00a0 A winning warrior.\u00a0 No Warrg will be able to stand against us, I thought; Licker and I are invincible together.\u00a0 Our affection, mutual admiration and combined skills will always win.\u00a0\u00a0 I had no idea at the time how tested and tried we would soon be.<\/p>\n
Licky raised his eyebrows.\u00a0 \u201cCome,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cChico is calling to us.\u00a0 We need to find him and begin our training.\u201d\u00a0 He got up, and I dutifully followed.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"