Welcome to Manifesto, my fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian novel. If you’re new here, you can go to the beginning here.
Quick recap: Shawn and Will are scouring through Granny’s cottage and garden, discovering all kinds of cool stuff, but now they get to know about the origin of the mysterious mushroom warrior symbol.
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“It’s a symbol,” Granny said, “It stems from a cave in the middle of an African desert.”
The desert? Mushrooms?
“The statue you saw was a representation, poor as it may be, however the original one…,” Huffing and puffing, she stood up and walked to her bookshelf, searching, straining her eyes with her finger on the tip of her nose, then, pulling out a big black book with various mushrooms and Japanese signs on its cover, she flipped the first two pages and pointed at a drawing. It was a man. He had tiny mushrooms growing out of every part of his body, holding two big mushrooms in both of his hands, and instead of a human face, he had, what seemed to be, the face of a bee.
“Weird face,” Shawn pointed out.
“The painting was made somewhere at the end of the ice age, ten thousand years ago. God knows how old the legacy really is, however, the lineage of the tribe has remained intact. We use this symbol in honor of the sacredness, profoundness, and importance of the knowledge that was passed on.”
Shawn’s interest spiked, holding on to many questions, but not wanting to be impatient, he waited for her to continue.
“It is based on a belief, that fungi and humans co-evolved in… cooperation, even a symbiosis. That a positive relationship between man and fungi is of utmost importance to prevent a collapse of… civilization.”
Whoa.
“Furthermore, and I know this sounds crazy, but bear with me… we believe, that the evolution of humans was… fungi mediated.”
Will, out of his league, spurred occasional questions, “What’s symbiosis? Or Evolvution?” Which he misspelled, but as deep in the conversation as they were, they paid little attention to him.
Fungi mediated?
“Please explain.”
“Think about it. What would happen if an ape ate magic mushrooms? Over, and over again? Over the span of millions of years? I mean you’ve had your fair share of experiences, as you’ve told me, so you should know the power that lies beneath that gilled cap.”
“No way,” Shawn said, “You believe magic mushrooms were the reason apes evolved into humans?”
She nodded, “Well, of course, other factors must have played a role, and also, not everyone in the group is on board, but… yeah.” Shawn was beside himself, staring at the coffee table, with the book open in front of him.
It is true, that the sudden… very sudden doubling in brain size is until today only explained by a random mutation. Also, magic mushrooms stimulate brain cells to grow… and mediate communication between all parts of the brain.
“I see,” He began to nod slightly, still gazing at the book.
“What are magic mushrooms?” Will asked again.
Granny and Shawn both laughed but gave no answer.
“Hey, stop ignoring me, I want to know too,” Will insisted.
“You’ll know soon enough buddy, trust me,” Shawn replied. Will clearly dissatisfied crossed his arms on his chest, pursing his lips he leaned back into the sofa, stomping his feet in disagreement.
“I’m sorry Will, I know this must be boring for you, I’ll fetch you the promised cookies, what’d you say?”
Will held on to his resentful grimace but gave a small nod.
“Good boy,” she petted him on his little head.
Now accompanied by Will’s crunching and munching, Granny continued, “Imagine. Millions and millions,” with obvious emphasis, “and millions of years of evolution? Millions of years of psilocybe consumption? You’re an ape, you live in a community, you consume psilocybes… all of a sudden you start talking, you look at your hand and you question reality…”
“That’s mad… just… mad,” unable to hold back his smile, he added with admiration, “… but absolutely brilliant. Has there been some sort of research done on it?”
“There is no way to prove such a hypothesis. Maybe at some point in the future, but…” she paused for a moment then added, “There are more crazy things to believe in.”
“We are a group of elderly mycologists, or as we like to call ourselves, mycophiles, who lived their lives studying, growing, and listening to mushrooms. We collect spores and store them, combining mushrooms with different plants and applying them to restore the soils and surrounding forests and,… ourselves.” After a short pause, she continued, “The garden you saw is a consequence of our efforts, however, there is so much to learn,” leaning forward, with a hand covering the side of her mouth she said, “ I have a feeling some of our members might have gone off the deep end, if you know what I mean,” and coughed.
“No shit,” Shawn joked, both laughing.
Through a mouthful, Will uttered, “Great, now they’re whispering too,” followed by a pet on top of his little head by Granny, “First swallow, then speak, my boy.”
“So, do you take in new members?” Shawn asked.
“Sure it’s open to everyone,” she replied immediately as if expecting Shawn’s question.
“Here,” she got up, fiddled around in one of the boxes, and pulled out a piece of wood. “However, only a few members have this. You can have one if you want,” She said and handed him the chip, with the same symbol carved into it, small enough to fit into his palm.
“You sure? What does it mean?”
“Well, you get to participate in our secret meetings,” she said, grinning.
“Me too,” said Will, protesting.
“You’re my grandson, and as far as I can tell, you got some of your granny in you,” she said with delight, then coughed. Not wanting to disregard Will again she threw her arm around him, “You get yours from your brother when you’re older… but you have to like mushrooms a lot.”
“I do already, so can I have one?”
“Do you now?” she questioned him with a smirk.
“Well, yeah, but… they can be a bit creepy too,” he replied.
“Fair enough,” Shawn threw in.
“And that’s what we call mycophobia,” Granny and Shawn laughed.
“A myco-what?” Will repeated.
“A strong fear of mushrooms,” Shawn said.
“I am not afraid,” said Will, “I just think they’re creepy sometimes.”
She made a spooky gesture, raising both her hands at Will, “Sometimes… they’ll kill you if you don’t watch out,” and pinched him.
“Ow, why do you all have to do that?” Will stopped chewing for a moment, then continued.
Everyone had a smile on their face, relishing the moment, after a short pause Granny looked at Shawn.
“I know you’re trained this way at the university and it is expected of you to be rational…,”
Shawn listened.
“But try, if you can, to quench your disbelief,” she said, then added, “Allow yourself to think beyond what is rational, and you might find that the world is full of… magic,” she said, smiling as if she said something silly, however, Shawn knew she was serious.
Deep in his heart, he felt discomfort when he heard her words. He dared to fantasize for a moment, looking at the symbol, a desire for what she said to be real, grew in him, however, once he became aware of it resistance grew in him. He didn’t disregard her words fully and was open to investigating later, but for now, it was all fairytales.
While they finished their tea they caught up on the mundane everyday things, however, Shawn remembered he had other things to do, and restless as Will was, they decided to be on their way. Thanking and hugging her, they left.