by Dermot Davis
Unable to listen to very much for fear that he would get too bored or too angry, Andrew looked idly around the coffee shop and tried to amuse his mind with the curious, spiral-like artwork on the walls and the assortment of people that sat before him. Without exception, they all looked like oddballs. They were the kind of people that couldn’t make it in the city and either through choice or providence they ended up in out-of-the-the way fringe places like the surrounding desert towns of Desert Hot Springs and Joshua Tree.
“Your body lives in the world of duality; your soul lives in the world of Oneness.” Andrew heard the man speak. “When you are living in Oneness or non-duality, there is no separation between your persona and your soul; there is no us and them, there is no good versus evil: there just is,” the hippie guru said.
“How long does this go on for?” Andrew whispered to Fiona, his bum sore from sitting on the wooden straight-back chair.
Without shifting her eyes from Arjuna, Fiona placed her hand on Andrew’s as if to soothingly placate him.
“What would it be like to live in a world without opposites, without conflict?” Arjuna asked. “What would it be like to live in a world that wasn’t defined by an unending battle between good and evil?”
When the guru finally stopped talking, Andrew warmly joined in with a round of applause. “Amen,” he said a bit too loudly.
As the guru was being encircled by the rest of the audience, Andrew looked to Fiona to gauge her mood. “What did you think?” he asked.
“Here are your drinks,” the lady said as she placed two odd-looking coffee drinks before them. “So sorry for the delay.”
“Not a problem,” Fiona said kindly, deliberately ignoring eye contact with Andrew for fear that she would laugh. “These look… refreshing,” she said, paying the woman the correct amount. “Thank you for making them.”
“You are so welcome,” the lady said, pleased with her kind words. “You’re welcome anytime.”
Andrew sat back down and taking up his drink, looked it over. “What do you think she put in here?” he asked. “Is it good?” he then asked when he saw that Fiona was brave enough to try hers.
“It’s delicious,” she said, wiping her wet lips with her sleeve. “I was parched.”
“What do you want to do?” Andrew asked after sipping his coffee and not being repulsed.
“We should wait for the groupies to leave, don’t you think?” she asked, referring to the last remaining couple that were still engaged with the guru.
“Yeah, sure,” Andrew said, sounding unsure. “You think he can help us?”
“Isn’t that why we came?” she asked, as if he had forgotten that it was all his doing.
“Yeah, of course, I guess,” he said, looking up at the man again as if to gauge his possible usefulness. “Just wasn’t what I was expecting.”
“What were you expecting?”
“I don’t know, someone a bit more… manly?”
“Manly?” Fiona asked with a snort. “What does that even mean?”
“Henry, the guy that sent us, he was manly, he is manly,” Andrew corrected himself. “It’s hard to think that this guy taught him everything, like he said. I’m not sure, I guess,” he said as he watched the last couple leave. “Should we go ask him?”
“We came this far,” Fiona said, polishing off her tasty drink.
Closely followed by Fiona, Andrew approached the dude with an exaggerated nonchalance. “Hey,” he said as a greeting. “Great talk.”
“Thank you,” the man said, slightly bowing his head with gratitude.
“Uh, I’m Andrew and this is my girlfriend, Fiona.”
“Hi,” Fiona said with a big warm smile.
“Pleased to meet you both,” the man said, as if waiting for more.
“Maybe you could help us,” Andrew said, uncertain about where to begin or how to ask. “We’re in a bit of trouble and we thought that maybe…” he said and stopped. “Henry sent us,” he then said. “He said that you would help us.”
“Henry?” the man asked.
“Yeah,” Andrew said, kicking himself for not even knowing his last name. “I don’t know his last name but he was in prison with me, well, he’s still there, I guess.”
“Oh, Henry,” the man said as if remembering. “How is he?”
“Like I said,” Andrew said, looking helplessly at Fiona. “He’s in prison.”
“Perhaps you two would like to drive me home,” the man then suggested like they were the ones receiving the favor.
“Yeah, that would be great,” Andrew said, looking at Fiona for her support.
“That would be great,” she agreed.
“Super,” Arjuna said, replacing the stool he had sat on to its rightful position. “Follow me,” he then said as he left the coffee shop.
Andrew and Fiona stopped following when Arjuna walked swiftly to an old and battered pickup truck. Without any kind of acknowledgement to the other two, he quickly opened the unlocked door and vanished inside.
“He did say that he wanted us to drive him home, didn’t he?” Andrew asked.
“That’s what I heard him say,” Fiona said as they both stood motionless and turned their heads when they saw him drive off. “Should we follow him?” she asked.
Without answering, Andrew took her hand and rushed them both to her car. “He must have meant follow him home, not drive him home,” he said as they got into the SUV. “Or maybe drive with him home,” Andrew said as they took off in pursuit. “What a strange dude,” he then said, shaking his head as if to erase his useless speculations.
“Worst case scenario, he tells us to leave,” Fiona said. “We still have some picnic food in the back.”
“I’d feel much better if you had an extra can of gasoline in the back but hey, live dangerously, right?”
“Do you think he lives back in LA?” Fiona asked.
Arjuna’s pickup truck pulled off the road and onto a dirt road that spewed dust everywhere.
“If he does he must know a very secret shortcut,” Andrew said, taking a good look at where the truck was heading. “He just went off-road and looks like he’s driving straight into no-man’s land. Terrific.”
“It’s another adventure, bestie,” Fiona said with subdued glee.
“That it is,” Andrew said wearily. “Another adventure on the journey of life.”
“That is so profound, dude,” Fiona mocked. “You should be giving coffee talks in the desert! I would so drive a hundred and twenty miles to hear your wisdom.”
“Shut up and drive, bestie,” Andrew said drily. “If we lose this guy, we might get totally lost. Ain’t no GPS out here,” he said, pressing some options on the GPS screen. “Is your picnic basket made of wood?”
“You know it’s made of wicker, why?” she asked with a smile, knowing that it was a set up.
“Because we might need to burn it to send up some smoke signals,” Andrew answered with a smirk.
“He’s slowing down,” Fiona said, hitting her brakes. “Why would he be stopping here?” she asked, looking around for anything above ground other than shrub, cacti and the occasional Joshua Tree.
“There’s an outcropping of rocks by that hill over there,” Andrew said, watching the truck as it turned in that direction. “Take it slowly and park a few car lengths behind him,” he said as if he was thinking it through. “That way we could turn easily if we had to leave in a hurry.”
Fiona stopped the car and turned to look at her boyfriend. She had a frown on her face. “Why would we have to leave in a hurry, Einstein?”
“We don’t know this guy,” he answered defensively. “We’ve no idea what he’s capable of.”
Both Andrew and Fiona jumped with the sound of knocking on her window. Arjuna rapped on it with his car key. He smiled when Fiona lowered her window. “You folks doing okay?” he asked. When they both nodded, he stood back and looked briefly at the placement of their car. “You’re good right here, if you want to
come in,” he asked and walked off.
“Come in, where?” Andrew asked when he looked and couldn’t see a dwelling. Once out of the car, Fiona walked instinctively to Andrew and reached for his hand. When they followed Arjuna in the direction he walked, they passed the rocks and boulders they had seen earlier. Obscured from their earlier position, they now saw a small RV trailer which looked beat up and old.
Andrew looked to Fiona as if he was as surprised and puzzled as she must be feeling. As they could not see Arjuna, they assumed that he must have entered the trailer, whose door was swung open. They walked to the open door and looked through the screen door to see where he might have gone. Coming from behind, he scared the crap out of them; they jumped almost in unison.
“Sorry if I scared you,” he said unapologetically. “Needed to take a leak. Come on in,” he said as he brushed past them and pulled himself up and through the small doorway.
“After you,” Andrew said politely to his girlfriend who gave him a look to suggest that she wasn’t going anywhere without her man going first. Pulling himself up and through, Andrew turned to extend a helping hand to a grateful Fiona. Once they were both in the trailer, they huddled together by the doorway.
“Sit down wherever you can,” Arjuna suggested, looking around the tiny space as if it were a palace. “The good part of living in the desert is that it cools down considerably around this time of day. Some nights can get so cold, you’d think you moved to Oregon or someplace icy for the evening. Can I get either of you some tea?”
Andrew and Fiona checked in with each other but it seemed neither was enthusiastic for a beverage. “No, we’re good,” Andrew answered, directing Fiona to sit with him on the lower bunk bed opposite Arjuna. Leaning forward to prevent his head from hitting the top bunk, Andrew tried not to look as uncomfortable as he was actually experiencing.
None too happy with the dirt and grime of the place, in general, Fiona sat pertly on the side of the mattress. She was taken aback somewhat by how Arjuna was now coming across as distinct from his guru-type demeanor in the coffee shop. The Arjuna-at-home persona was much grittier and impolite than the person that just an hour or two ago gave a lecture on non-duality and living in harmony with the soul.
“So, what help are you two looking for, exactly?” Arjuna asked as he grabbed a red apple, wiped it quickly on his sleeve and bit into it with a crunch.
“We, well, I, really,” Andrew began, unsure of what he actually wanted to ask. “I’m in over my head with a secret society that performs rituals and black magic to kill people or make them sick or affect the stock prices of competitor companies and stuff like that,” he said in one breath. “They said that I can never leave and I’m afraid if I do that they might make me have a heart attack or die of mysterious circumstances, pretty much,” he said, as if he were finished for now.
“A secret society,” Arjuna repeated with a wide grin on his face. “Black magic,” he then said and nodded his head. “That’s pretty heavy, huh?”
“Yes,” Andrew answered, wondering to himself if their trip was for nothing.
“They have regular meetings, say prayers with foreign words, wear robes and what have you?” he asked knowingly.
“Yes,” Andrew answered, feeling more encouraged.
“They’ve got connections everywhere, all over the world; everybody’s rich and they act like the world is their empire?”
“Yes, exactly,” Andrew said, smiling with recognition.
“They hurt anyone that gets in their way?”
“Yes, totally.”
“And they never get caught because how can you catch someone that commits crimes using black magic, right?”
“Exactly,” Andrew said with a smile.
“And now you’re one of them?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to be. I want out. I didn’t know at the beginning, we just found out,” Andrew said with a hint of pleading in his voice. “They killed someone, a businessman, with their prayers.”
“How did they do that, exactly?”
“I don’t know. They held up his picture at one of their meetings, maybe all of their meetings and they imagined him dead?” Andrew asked, like it was a question.
“Well, my dear friend, that’s pretty much impossible,” Arjuna said kindly. “Death by psychic attack is rare. Should that person have some health concerns to begin with, a bad heart, for instance, then possibly. Strong psychic attack, especially powerful when directed by a group, can cause mental pain and confusion. Victims can die as a result of an accident should they become confused or suffer migraine type symptoms when they drive or while crossing the street, for instance.”
“I don’t know, I guess,” Andrew said, unsure of the actual dynamics. “I don’t want to be a member of a group like that.”
“But they have something on you?” Arjuna asked, putting the half-eaten apple on the table before him. “They’ve got some dirt on you or they own you in some way?”
“They’re representing me in a court case. I owe them money, a lot of money but they said that they can get me off.”
“Phew,” Arjuna said, rising from his seat and going to the window to look out and catch the cool breeze. “You’re in a heap of a mess, young fella,” he said, looking towards the crest of the hill to where the sun was going down. “A heap of a big mess.”
“I guess,” Andrew said, sharing a look and a shrug of his shoulders with Fiona.
“Tell me, Andrew,” Arjuna said, turning around to look directly at him. “Do you have a spiritual practice?”
Andrew ran the question a few times over in his head before he answered with a question. “You mean, like, do I follow a religion or have religious beliefs?”
“I’ll take that as a no,” Arjuna said, looking at the floor with a disappointed look. “Do you meditate?” he then asked.
“Not really, no,” Andrew answered sadly.
“Are you even on a spiritual path?” Arjuna asked as if he really wanted to get an affirmative answer from him.
“I’m not sure,” Andrew answered, looking like it pained him to answer yet again in the negative. “I guess not,” he then answered as if wishing to come clean.
“I’m afraid I can’t be of any help to you,” Arjuna then said, sounding disappointed, yet resolute. “I appreciate you all coming out this way,” he said as he stood by the door like he wanted them to leave.
Standing up in response, Andrew felt himself get angry. “Henry said that you would help us,” he said, like maybe he was their only hope.
“By turning you away, I am helping you,” Arjuna said. “You just don’t realize it yet.”
“Bullshit,” Andrew said, taking Fiona by her hand and walking to the door. “After all your talk about the soul this and that and good versus evil?” he said angrily. “I ask for your help in fighting evil and you tell me I’m on my own? You’re not up for the fight?”
“I can’t help you because you’re confused,” Arjuna said, his voice now sounding gentle and compassionate. “You don’t know anything about your soul or what it wants nor are you even making an effort to connect with it and seek its help.”
“Yeah, well when it comes to good and evil, I’m not confused,” Andrew said. “I’m on the side of the good.”
“And therein lies the confusion, my friend,” Arjuna said sadly. “You think that you’re fighting evil out there,” he said, gesturing to the vast beyond. “When true evil exists in here,” he said, touching his heart gently with a cluster of finger tips. “You want my help?” he then asked.
Looking at him expectantly, Andrew stopped moving.
“I would strongly advise that you take yourself on a vision quest.”
“A vision quest?” Andrew asked like he was offering him something that he either considered insane or at best, irrelevant. “Will that make them change their minds and allow me to leave the group as a free person?”
“No,” Arjuna answered. “It would not. However, a vision quest co
uld very possibly connect you with your soul and allow you to seek its advice and assistance; which is actually the only kind of help anyone can truly ask for in this world.”
“Come on, Fi,” Andrew said as he helped her step down onto the earth. “I appreciate the offer,” he said to Arjuna as he was leaving. “What I really need is to fight fire with fire; to fight their magic with a stronger magic. I guess I’ll just have to look someplace else.”
“So be it,” Arjuna said as he held open the screen door.
“Thank you,” Fiona said, genuinely sounding appreciative.
“You are very welcome,” Arjuna said poignantly with a bow.
It was dark as Andrew and Fiona tried their best to retrace their path and find their way back to the main road. Disappointed and trying not to fully feel the anger that he was feeling, Andrew remained quiet. Taking a glance his way now and then, Fiona tried to read his mood. “That was interesting, huh?” she finally asked.
“Interesting?” he repeated, as if he had to think about it. “I guess. Helpful? No.”
“What did you think of his idea about going on a vision quest?” she asked tactfully.
Andrew looked at her as if he was wondering if she was asking for real. “A vision quest?” he asked mockingly. “Do I look like I belong to some Native American tribe to you? Ever hear anyone call me Cherokee Jim or Navaho Mike or something?” he asked dourly.
“I know you’re disappointed but you don’t have to be an A-hole about it,” she said like her feelings were hurt.
“I’m sorry,” he said with remorse. “We came all this way. What do we do now?” he asked as he rested his forehead against the cool glass of the door window that reflected nothing but darkness.
“Don’t give up,” she said, refraining on her impulse to try and get Andrew to talk a bit more about the possibility of his going on a vision quest and making a connection with his soul. “Something might turn up,” she said hopefully as she took his hand and pulled it consolingly to her lap. “We have each other.”
Chapter 10