Period

Period: The periodic sentence, characterized by the suspension of the completion of sense until its end. This has been more possible and favored in Greek and Latin, languages already favoring the end position for the verb, but has been approximated in uninflected languages such as English. [This figure may also engender surprise or suspense–consequences of what Kenneth Burke views as ‘appeals’ of information.

There was time without any sort of link to the vast horizon and the rising moon’s peach-colored glow. I faced the moon—it was in the west, that’s all I knew. It didn’t matter which direction I faced, but at least I knew where the four directions were.

Big fu*king deal.

I was lost. I had been minding my own business driving across the desert when a sand storm kicked up. Like an idiot, with zero visibility, I kep driving. I drove for about an hour. Then, I drove over a cliff. It wasn’t a sheer drop, but it was close enough. It was about 60 feet. My Range Rover hit a boulder and flipped onto its side. I was able to get out of it before it went up in flames and exploded. I was lucky to be alive, but not that lucky. I was lost as hell.

I had been in Vernon, AZ at the trading post looking for a specific ancient Zuni artifact—a small stone carving. It supposedly had properties that would induce healing. My three-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with brain cancer. The stone was a possible help with its curative powers.

A Native American found me in the middle nowhere and we walked to his camp. I told him my story and he told me not to worry. He held up a piece of carved stone. He said: “This is is what you’re looking for” and gave me the piece of carved stone. “Press it to her forehead every day for one hour.”

My daughter was cured. It was miraculous. I went back to Arizona to thank the man who had given me the carved stone. His camp was gone. He was gone. My daughter was alive.

Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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