The Adam Enigma (31 page)

April 15, 2016
Grinnell, Iowa

R
amsey heard the call end and breathed out a sigh of relief. He hadn't been certain that Myriam would be willing to host Paige and Maggie. And he was relieved when he learned that she and Hiram had gotten back together again. There was nothing left for him to do. Ron Grange had arranged the flights for everyone. They would meet at O'Hare Airport midmorning on Saturday.

This work in Blue Island is the beginning of what I'm supposed to be doing
, he thought to himself, even though he knew on another level he hadn't finished with what the shrine and Adam had brought up for him.

On the other hand, he was a little worried about Paige. The more he told her about the events surrounding the shrine and his search for Adam, the more he could sense her distancing herself from him. He wanted to ask her about what was going on, but he didn't want to sabotage the trip to the shrine. He needed a female chaperone and she was the logical choice.

At the same time, today was a big day for the two of them. Ramsey was going to introduce Paige as the new co-instructor of the class he had been teaching with Orensen.

Then he had to drive to Des Moines. Grossinger had left a cryptic message on his phone that he had important things to give him, writings that Adam wanted Ramsey to have. The message ended, “2pm, tomorrow, same place.” Ramsey tried calling back but only got
Grossinger's voice message. He was being pulled back in again, he thought, but knew he had to go.

Ramsey heard steps coming down the stairs. Paige had gone for a makeover the day before. She looked ten years younger and very much alive with energy. “Good morning,” she chirped. “Now I'm the nervous one.”

“Wow, you look great. They are all going to love you and that's even before you speak.”

“If all goes well. A little celebration after?”

“Actually I have to leave for Des Moines immediately after we finish the class. Remember I told you about Adam's best friend in Des Moines?”

Paige's mood turned somber. “More of that crazy Adam stuff. I thought you said you were done with that.”

“I never said that. I said I thought it was done with me.” Then Ramsey realized how ridiculous this was. He began to laugh nervously. “I'm sorry, Paige, I didn't mean to put you off. It's just that I have this notion the Adam stuff is going to be important. How about we celebrate after I get back from Des Moines?”

Paige smiled. “Thanks for the apology. I'll make reservations for us at your favorite restaurant.” They bumped fists. “Now let's put on a show for these minds hungry for knowledge.”

April 16, 2016
Des Moines, Iowa

R
amsey found Grossinger in one of the two remaining chairs in Adam's old condo. Everything else was gone.

Without getting up, Grossinger said, “I'm glad you could make it.”

“What happened here?”

“Adam told me to get rid of everything.”

“When? You talked to him?

“Not lately. ‘Get rid of it all when I'm dead,' he said.”

“Is he dead?” Ramsey asked, settling into the other chair. He kept his focus on the real estate developer, once more using the same techniques he had honed for many years to elicit answers from interviewees.

“That's what I've been thinking. How about you?”

Ramsey shrugged, the gesture inviting Grossinger to elaborate.

Instead, Grossinger handed Ramsey a packet of Adam's writings. “These contain his lifelong interest and research into miraculous healings. They also include materials Adam had written after the accident.” Grossinger got up and paced about the empty room. “Last time I saw him, Adam told me he had become quite aware that he was transforming into the purest form of the archetypal healer. He didn't want the world to know about his powers until after his death, or, if possible, ever. He was afraid that he would become like a cult leader or religious figure. Or even worse, people would come to him directly for healings.”

Grossinger stopped pacing and returned to his chair, pulling it closer to Ramsey. “I've been instructed to give Adam's writings to you.”

Ramsey jerked in surprise. By now he knew that Grossinger was an enigma who never gave straight answers, but this time he thought he should try to get to the bottom of it. “Who told you to? Adam?”

“I can't say.”

“You mean you won't say?”

“They're your responsibility now”

“What am I supposed to do with them?”

“Whatever you want. It's your turn now. I am done with it all. Adam was the best friend I ever had.” Grossinger began tearing up. He cried deeply until Ramsey touched him on the shoulder. A jolt of deep connection passed between the two men. Grossinger stopped crying and his composure returned instantly. He gazed at Ramsey and nodded knowingly. “Make sure history treats this grand friend and man well.”

Ramsey could only promise, “I will.”

Back in the car Ramsey looked over the writings. Glimpses of insight flitted through his brain and a certain understanding settled into his being. He began to understand that his searching would always be driven by a state of not knowing, but also that on his journey, each struggle would transform him into a higher state of consciousness and give him a more encompassing perspective.
There is wisdom in the energy and flow of conflict
, he told himself.
To experience that in any moment is what brings about creativity or rebirth. Each rebirth moves us more closely to the purest form of our chosen archetype
.

April 18, 2016
Rio Chama, New Mexico

R
amsey stepped outside and looked at his watch, 5:35am. First light was glowing in the East. He chose to stay at the hotel in Rio Chama just as he had during his first visit to the shrine.

Although delayed for three hours, the flight from Chicago to Albuquerque had been uneventful. Paige and Maggie had hit it off from the very beginning. It was Maggie's first time flying; in fact, she had never once left Northeastern Illinois, and she was quite nervous. The three of them occupied one row near the front of the plane. Maggie sat in the window seat with Paige in the middle. It was a bumpy landing. It was interesting to see this cocksure, confident woman of the street exhibit raw fear. She gripped Paige's hand. The trust was building and that was good. He wanted Maggie to feel comfortable.

The drive from the airport to Rio Chama was uneventful. Maggie seemed mesmerized by the strange terrain. By the time they arrived at Beecher's cabin, darkness had settled in. Myriam had a meal ready and had many questions for the young black woman, which Maggie answered as best she could.

After dinner, they gathered on the front porch. Here in the New Mexico wilderness where there was almost no light pollution, the sky was awash with stars. The Milky Way glowed. Maggie stared into the night with the awe of a little girl. Ramsey felt her wonder and embraced it, seeing it in his own path, as he grew closer to becoming
the archetype that providence had chosen for him. He rose to leave and said to everyone, “I'll swing by tomorrow at eight to pick up Maggie and Paige and drive them to the shrine.”

Maggie, having recovered some of her cockiness, said “Why not? That's what I'm here for, right?”

Myriam said. “Why don't Hiram and I take them and meet you there?”

Ramsey agreed, since he wanted to visit the Milagro Shrine himself before he showed it to Maggie and Paige. The last time he had been there, the sequence of events from the chapel to his kidnapping had had such a powerful effect on his psyche that he needed to clear the emotions associated with the place and face it anew.

The Rio Chama Café was open. A few ranchers had gathered for early morning coffee. Ramsey hoped he might spy Rosa and Pete, but the two were nowhere around. He figured wind and whimsy had not yet brought them back to Rio Chama. He experienced a momentary pang of loss, then realized he would see his friend again when the time was right.

Paying the bill, he drove the ten minutes to the shrine and found himself crossing the threshold as he had the first time. Nothing untoward happened. If anything, he felt calm. Looking around, he found himself actually checking to see if Haas might be lurking. But there was only one visitor, an older man standing underneath the cottonwood. Suddenly that sense of mystery he had experienced many years ago at the Dvorak house in Iowa gripped him in a way he had never felt before. Then it came to him:
I am to be the door, the one who can bring truth from the other side and have it manifest in this world. I now know what Adam was saying in his writings and what Jesus was saying in the Gospels
. Ramsey felt a great sense of being uplifted. At the same time he realized that, although it was very clear to him, he could never explain this understanding to anyone else.
Everyone has to get it for themselves
.

Ramsey walked in silence and stillness of mind to the great cottonwood tree. There he bowed. He felt a deep gratitude for the
many turnings and struggles and conflicts of his life, now seeing clearly that they were not failures but necessary steps on his journey.

At eight that morning for a second time that day Ramsey found himself at the gateway to the shrine. This time Maggie was by his side. Paige must have sensed the change in him, for she hung back with Myriam and Hiram.

It was a Sunday, and an unusually large number of people had made the pilgrimage to the shrine. Maggie took it all in and finally asked, “Where're the black people?”

“New Mexico doesn't have many Blacks. They have Hispanics,” said Ramsey.

Maggie shrugged. “What good does that do me? I'm here because you told me the shrine would help me become a leader for my people. I don't see it.”

Ramsey pointed at all the pilgrims. “Why do you think these people are here?”

“It said on the web that the shrine is some kind of super health spa or something like that.” She peered at the old and the infirm as they crossed the grounds to the Visitor Center. Some made the laborious climb up the stone steps to the cottonwood tree and the Christ Chapel. She snickered. “Unless you're talking about some kind of scam my gang and I can pull on white dudes back in Chicago, I don't see where my leadership thing fits in.”

Ramsey nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose that's one take on it. But let me tell you a story that might help you see it in a different light. Not too long ago no one came here. It was just an empty field with a big old cottonwood tree dying up there on the hilltop. Then a man named Adam Gwillt arrived, hoping to recover from a terrible motorcycle accident. Shortly after, a group of people gathered one evening below that big cottonwood tree up there. Out of nowhere miracles began happening, healings, people changing their lives and relationships. Word spread that it was a remarkable place of healing. People came from all over. They pooled their resources, built the Visitor Center and the Christ Chapel, and put in stone steps to the top
of the hill.” He paused. “They thought the power somehow came from the cottonwood.”

Maggie brandished a brochure Myriam had given her. “That's all in here.”

“What's not in there, what they didn't know, and only a few people now know—and now you too will know—the secret of the healing power of this place was a man named Adam.”

She snorted derisively. “Come on, how? Some sorta modern-day Jesus thing?”

“The way he put it is that he held the door open to the healing energy coming from the other side. He also said this ability to hold the door open to the other side was once rare but now it's becoming more common, becoming part of humanity.”

Maggie eyed him skeptically. Her lips turned down in a frown. “You mean like talking to God? You learn in the streets real quick there is no God, only guns and money and drugs. So, where's this Adam guy now?”

“He's not here anymore and he may be dead. But here's the amazing thing. He left a message for you. You can be like him.”

“I can be like some white guy pretending he's Jesus? No thanks. I got enough trouble in Chicago without my crew thinking I'm crazy.”

Ramsey grinned. “I see your point. It does sound crazy put that way.”

They had been climbing the stone steps as they walked. The cottonwood had completely leafed out. The benches circling it were filled with young and old sitting silently or praying softly. Little children played and ran about, but those ringing the tree did not call out to them to be quiet.

Ramsey and Maggie walked up the narrow gravel path until they reached the Christ Chapel. A group of pilgrims filed out. They seemed not to care at all that an older man was standing at the entrance talking to a young Black girl dressed in gang colors. Many of them smiled at her and Maggie turned away in confusion at their friendliness.

Ramsey smiled and said. “Yeah, the whole
kumbaya
thing takes some getting used to. Tell you what. This trip isn't costing you
anything. So why don't you indulge me and go ahead to sit inside for a while.”

“Why?”

“You'll see.”

“That's stupid.”

“You trusted me once, so please give it a try. Then walk around and explore and see what happens.”

Maggie ground her teeth. “This isn't what I expected when you said you'd teach me how to become a leader.”

“We'll get to that, but I want you to do this first. You have a watch?”

“I'm not stupid. I have my phone.”

“Okay. Someone will meet you down by the gate, say at 2 o'clock.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He stared at her. “Are you afraid?”

“Fuck no.”

With that Ramsey walked off leaving Maggie, arms crossed, glaring at him.