WERE YOU EVER FED TO THE LIONS
IN A PAST LIFE, OF COURSE?
Instead of copying and pasting from my book I'm telling the story again...in my own words:
Commencing with November of 1969, my daughter Tomi and my son Mark and I moved into a house in Sherman Oaks, California, owned by Noel Marshall and his actress wife, Tippi Hedren. The house had once belonged to Tippi's parents. It was a charming three bedroom, two bath home, with a den and two fireplaces, on a dead end street, and we had a 40 foot swimming pool that filled up most of the backyard. My kids were young and that pool got lots of use during the hot valley summers, until we moved out in the spring of 1973.
To my knowledge, it was during those years that Tippi and Noel started their wild animal park somewhere out on the outskirts of the San Fernando Valley. They had mostly lions, also tigers, and a bear. They were hand-raising some lion cubs, and that thought used to make me rather nervous when I really thought about it.
You see...my first past life recall was of being an early Christian being led into a Roman arena by these two centurions. In the middle of the coliseum, I was tied to stake, and then, an aging gladiator was brought out to join me in the arena, with one sword placed on the ground before him. And then, these five, ferocious-looking, hungry lions were released into the arena for the crowd's lunchtime entertainment. And guess who was on the menu? (Detailed story in the book.)
For that reason, on the day that Noel called me about borrowing our Pontiac station-wagon to take this male lion back to the compound during evening rush hour, I did hesitate. It seems that the trainer's van had broken down, and they really needed to get the lion back to the compound after an afternoon of shooting pictures of the beast in their lush backyard.
"You can borrow my station-wagon on one condition...that you bring the lion by the house for Tomi and Mark to see before you take him out to your compound."
"I'll bring the lion by the house on the condition that you lock your dogs and cats inside. The lion would see your animals as prey, and then we might have a serious problem on our hands."
Smokey Joe (the magnificent cat), and Irving, the adorable, black cock-a-poo were safely locked inside the house, with all the windows securely closed and re-checked to make sure.
Soon, Noel pulled into our driveway, with the trainer in the passenger seat of our station-wagon, and this magnificent-looking, young, male lion, with his luxurious mane, sprawled out in back. Noel rolled down the back electric window, which made my heart beat a touch faster at that particular moment, as the glorious, young, king of the beasts carefully observed me and my two children, and I secretly prayed that none of the neighbors' animals would come outside and cause a serious problem.
That was when my Scorpio son Mark hovered just the other side of the yucca plant, as my gutsy daughter Tomi, with her three planets in the sign of Leo the Lion, petted the nose of the noble beast through the opened window of our car. I decided to pass on petting the lion, since my memories of Rome still sent shivers up and down my spine even after 2,000 years.
It must have been some sight for all the other motorists, driving home from work through the rush hour traffic, to see a regal male lion quietly observing them through the clear glass windows of our white, Pontiac station-wagon.
There are other stories about Noel and Tippi and their lions in my memoir, in addition to many other stories about my life in general in the world of the paranormal--as the saga of my life continues.
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