Christy: A Journey Tale (12 page)

“What do you mean by different?” She said
folding her arms in front of her chest.

“I mean they have their own ideas about
things and if you hear them say something that you think sounds
funny, please don’t laugh at them. Don’t call them any names and
don’t argue with them no matter how much you disagree with what you
hear.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Are you always this difficult?” He said with
a grin.

“Yes.”

“Well, at least you’re consistent. Okay, let
me lay it out for you. The folks who founded this place were all
hippies and they all live together out here because they have the
freedom to believe the way they want to believe without other folks
judging them or getting in the way.”

“You mean like dope smokin’ hippy, hippies?”
Christy said with excitement, abandoning any semblance of
restraint.

“Well, there is that aspect, but I don’t want
to see you getting mixed up in that. Besides you’ve got a baby to
think about. Anyways, don’t think of them like that. They love
nature. They believe in a spirit that binds us all together to the
earth. They don’t believe in war or violence. They want a society
based on love or at least as close to that as humanly possible.
Another big part of that is that they are vegetarians.” He said,
looking at her, waiting for a reaction. She said nothing. “They
don’t eat meat, Christy, and while you’re there you won’t eat it
either.”

“Oh, HELL no! I didn’t agree to that. What do
you mean they don’t eat meat?”

“I mean exactly what I said.”

“That ain’t right. I mean, I don’t think I
can do that.”

“You never know until you try it. You may
discover that it’s easier to get used to than you might think. Be
honest with yourself. It’s the idea of it that bothers you,
Christy. If you would just open yourself up to the thought of it
and give it a chance you probably won’t even notice.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Will you at least give it a chance?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not if you want to stay here.”

“Then I don’t have a choice.”

“It isn’t that bad, I promise. We’ll be there
in plenty of time to join them for dinner. Don’t be too quick to
judge. You’ll be able to walk around the place and see how you like
it tomorrow morning or this evening if we have time. If you decide
that you don’t like it by this time tomorrow you don’t have to
stay. We can think of something else to do. Is that fair enough?”
Jack hoped she would find something about the place that intrigued
her enough to want to stay. If she decided to set her mind against
it, he didn’t really have any others options and things might get a
little dicey if she called his bluff. Then again Jack figured he
had done well at hedging his bets. Christy had lived most of her
life on the fringe of society and this one was just another flavor.
He knew they would accept her if she would only accept them.

“To be honest I didn’t really see any way I
could object when he put it like that, so on we went. You see, the
deal with this place is that it was founded by a fairly large group
that came out from San Francisco in the late 60’s. They just wanted
to live their lives the way they thought it should be, to get back
to nature, so to speak. I once heard them describe themselves as
modern day Pilgrims just yearning to breathe free, or something
like that.” Christy turned on a wide grin. “They also wanted to do
it as far away from the law and prying eyes as they could. Dope was
a big part of their lives back then and their original leader even
got sent to the state pen for it. Things had changed a good bit
since then and when I was there it didn’t happen all that much or
at least I didn’t see it. What I did see was exactly what he told
me: they loved the land, they loved peace, and most important, they
loved each other. I learned a lot from them, and if I had to do it
all over again, I would have gone there every time. But I’m
starting to get a little ahead of myself. When Jack was talking to
me about them, I know he was just trying to get me prepared, but
all he ended up doing was making me more nervous. I took a deep
breath and tried to settle myself down as we turned off the black
top and headed up this gravel road. It was a beautiful place; I
can’t deny that. The pastures and rolling hills seemed to stretch
out as far as the eye could see. Several fields had already been
turned, but most were still fallow. It was early in the season even
though I didn’t know it yet. As we drove up the road, we also
passed equipment sheds and signs of life; so I knew we were getting
closer. Pretty soon those sheds turned into a house here and there,
and before I knew it we had reached the main compound. It was
situated at the top of this hill and included about six or seven
buildings all arranged around a big yard they called the quad.
Anyway, there were a couple of trailers on the outskirts, but the
main buildings were for administration, education center, mess
hall, science and research, and few others.” Christy said as she
ticked off the buildings on her fingers. “You see science,
agriculture, and peace was what they were all about and that’s the
areas where most of the folks worked. When we got to the top of the
hill, Jack pulled into a parking place next to the admin building.
He told me it would take a while for him to get everything
straightened out for me, but he would be back as soon as he could.
Now when he said it was going to take a while, he sure wasn’t
lying. I’m telling you he took forever. I thought he had fallen in
or something. Still, while he was in there it did give me a lot of
time to check out the goings-on of the place. There were all kinds
of people, and all of them seemed busy at something. Some you could
tell had been farming, some had a notebook in their hand, or they
seemed like they were on their way some place important. The point
is that everybody I saw looked like they enjoyed what they were
doing and did it because they wanted to. Watching them all run
around like ants got me thinking about what I would do. If I was
going to be staying there, that meant I would have to be one of
them, and I didn’t know if I had it in me to be that kind of
person. I realized all of a sudden how little I knew and how stupid
I was. Up until then, I thought I was real bright, but when it came
right down to it, I realized I didn’t know a thing. That scared me
a lot. I guess I was starting to see myself how I really was and
the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t like what I had
become. Now your daddy on the other hand, he knew me the second I
crawled into that car. He definitely had a plan for me and the idea
of seeing that through, I think, is what kept me from bolting out
of that car. For whatever reason, he saw something in me that I was
pretty sure wasn’t there, but I would trust him enough to see it
through. I decided then and there just to let it all play out and
have a little faith that this wasn’t your daddy’s first rodeo.

So I waited and waited and finally when he
did come out of that admin building, there was a lady following
close behind. She was thin and tanned, but not the kind of tan you
get from a light bulb. Her skin had a look that had been made by
hours of hard work in the sun. I got out of the car when I saw them
coming and stood beside the door.

“Christy, this is Suzy Q and if you decide to
stay here she’s the one that will be responsible for you,” Jack
said, introducing us.

“I smiled and shook her hand. She was wearing
this long white sundress that made her look comfortable, but
elegant all at the same time. Her name was actually Susan Lawson,
but everyone called her Suzy Q. I think it had to do with a song or
something, but I never really found out for sure. She was older
than Jack. At least I think she looked it. I could tell immediately
that they were good friends, and he must have known her for a long
time. I wouldn’t find out until later how much he was actually
taking advantage of their friendship. It may surprise you to know
that I wasn’t exactly the first stray that he left on their
doorstep. I think she must have told him not to do it again, but
here he was with one more in tow. That’s probably why he took so
long in the office. I can only guess at what kind of fast-talkin’
he must have been doing, but when it came right down to it, here
she was standing outside shaking my hand. He was that kind of
salesman. Now don’t get me wrong it wasn’t without strings. I
reckon she had her doubts about me, but at least at that point she
never let herself show it. She was real nice and asked me a whole
bunch of softball questions that I answered with what I thought she
wanted to hear. Of course, she knew what I was doing, but she let
it slide. I think more out of faith in Jack than anything she saw
in me. I didn’t care though. I had my foot in the door now and that
was good enough for me,” Christy said and took a sip from her
glass.

“The rest of that first evening passed by
pretty fast, and to be honest most of it is pretty much a blur. One
thing I do remember though was my first dinner. It’s so vivid I can
even remember the smell of it. Sure enough Jack wasn’t joking when
he said they were vegetarians. The meal was a black bean stew with
a salad of hothouse tomatoes with an olive oil dressing. It was the
best meal I think I had ever had. In fact, I didn’t even realize
there wasn’t any meat until it was all gone and I had time to think
about it. It was kind of funny; I had made such a big deal about it
before, but when it came right down to it I didn’t even miss it. I
thought to myself, ‘maybe this isn’t going to be so bad after all,
especially if the food is always going to be this good. I could
definitely get into this!’ Things were certainly getting a lot
easier for me. Suzy introduced me to all kinds of different folks
and they would tell me a little bit about the job they did and why
they liked it. It was an education, but after a while it all
started to sound the same and I think Suzy could tell my
concentration was beginning to drift. It wasn’t too long after that
they got me settled in a room in one of the guesthouses and told me
they would be back to get me in the morning. To my surprise there
was no TV in the room. I didn’t feel all that much like sleeping
even though I knew I was tired. I got bored and that made me a
little antsy, so I started rifling through the drawers in the room.
You know, normally where the Bible is in a hotel room? Well, there
wasn’t a Bible. In its place was a copy of another book called
Walden Pond. Have you ever read it?”

“I’ve read excerpts from it in school. We
studied it in English when I was in college, but I’ve never read
the whole thing.” Jennifer said, thinking back.

“Well I just thought it was a little weird at
the time, so I just slipped it back into the drawer. I was still
bored, and with nothing else to occupy my time, I just lay down on
the bed. I stretched out and tried to think back through what had
happened to me over the last few days. It was all so crazy. I tried
to get my mind to catch up to reality. It’s hard to describe how it
felt like to be in a place like that and not know what was in
store. I tried not to be nervous, but I just couldn’t help it. It
was like telling a dog not to wag his tail. I had no idea what
would happen tomorrow or the day after. Looking back on it now,
it’s kind of ironic. I spent so much time worrying about the
future, and if I had known that the next day I would meet the love
of my life, I wouldn’t have been worried at all.

“Oh man! The next morning came early. I mean
real early! I mean like five o’clock early. I didn’t know what in
the world was going on when they started trying to get me up. It
also didn’t help matters that I had tossed and turned all night on
account of my nerves, but as luck would have it, by the time ole’
Suzy Q came a-knockin’ I was sleeping as hard as I’ve ever done in
my whole life. So, I may not have been the kindest soul that first
morning. I think it even took them a few tries, but eventually I
did get my lazy butt out of bed. We made it down to breakfast about
a half hour later. Jack was already there and talking to this group
of guys at the table. We sat down next to them and he wished me
good morning with this devilish kind of grin. I must have looked
like I was still half asleep so I didn’t blame him to much for that
look he gave me.”

“Anyways, after breakfast they took me on the
grand tour. We went to the school first since that’s where they
figured I would be spending most of my time. I walked around with
them trying not to frown or fold my arms to my chest or anything
silly like that. I knew that wouldn’t go over so big, but it was
tough because what I was seeing wasn’t going over so well with me.
I hated school with a passion and here they were acting like it was
the best thing since sliced bread. I was good though. I just nodded
my head and smiled and let them go one with their little spiel.
I’ll tell you right now, this little devil on my shoulder kept
whispering in my ear there was no way this place was going to keep
my interest enough to keep me here for long. They said I would need
to come to school for about six hours every day and then the rest
of the afternoon I could spend learning a skill or craft or maybe
even get into an apprenticeship. I didn’t know what an
apprenticeship was, so again I just nodded my head and smiled. Over
the next few hours I had to do that a lot as we went through all
kinds of labs and craft workshops. Those folks were growing algae
in tanks, trying to make gas from manure and all kinds of crazy
stuff like that. It was all real interesting, I guess; I’ll give
them that. But when they tried to explain it to me I had no idea
what they were saying so I ended up just zoning out. I think they
could tell I wasn’t much interested in all that science stuff so we
didn’t spend too much time there after that.”