Читать книгу The Caged Ruby - Rodney Syler - Страница 5

Rex heard Taylor’s Corvette a few blocks away. She slid to a stop exactly on time to drive them to the airport. She had packed light and still there was barely room for his bags.

Later, settled in first class, they enjoyed breakfast as they watched the sunrise over the Atlantic.

Taylor said, “I didn’t expect to be having breakfast with you watching the sun come up.”

Rex was at a loss for words. As he stumbled for an appropriate reply, Taylor continued. “Where is our first stop after we land? I thought we were flying to Cairo, Egypt but the ticket connects through London and on to Tangier, Morocco.”

“We have a one day layover in Tangier where I want to check out a story about a small Buddhist monastery with a spring of floating gold.”

“Are we expected?”

“Of course. I’ve been researching the story and managed to get through by letter a few months back. They’ve agreed to speak with me. I’m hopeful I can learn enough to determine if the rumors are fabrication or have some factual basis. Gold is so dense; it’s highly unlikely anything could float.”

“Will we have to dress in orange robes and go barefoot over hot coals?”

“If we do, I believe I’ll pass on the opportunity.”

“After coming all this way I’d like to watch you do it. I’m just along for the ride.”

Hours later, after a plane change in London, they caught an airport taxi to the monastery just outside Tangier.

As soon as the cab pulled away they turned to find themselves staring at the chest of an orange giant. Out of nowhere this massive man stood, toe to toe, staring down. Scrambling backwards, Rex took a moment to get enough composure to speak.

“Rex and Taylor here to see…” but the giant interrupted.

He spoke to them in a deep sing-song language.

Though he didn’t understand a word the man spoke, Rex said, “We are here to speak with a man called Tulku.”

Without another word, he turned and led them into a simple stone hut near the back of the compound. He gestured for them to be seated, but was gone when they turned around.

“How does he do that?” said Taylor.

Rex said, “For a man his size, he sure can move quickly.”

They sat quietly whispering to each other and watching the only doorway into the tiny hut.

Taylor said, “We have company.”

They turned around to see a small man standing just behind them. Again their natural reaction was to stand and take a step away.

The small monk they assumed was Tulku, gestured for them to sit on the floor in the center of the room. He joined them a few feet away.

Taylor had been taking notes the whole trip. She discretely scratched a few notes on her notebook.

The monk began to speak in a strange language and continued with gestures and expressions as if they understood. Taylor wrote notes as fast as she could. Rex looked completely confused and tried twice interrupted to let him know they didn’t speak the language.

Taylor’s note taking was a life-long habit. She made perfect notes without looking, even in the dark. It was like her hand automatically worked on a separate wavelength. Rex had once observed her writing another’s conversation even while she was speaking.

Taylor looked at her notes and flipped back a page. She looked at the monk and, using the page as reference, began to speak in a staggered version of the monk’s language.

She flipped back and forth between multiple pages and soon got the cadence.

A broad smile came over the monk’s face.

Rex said, “Whatever you said was either good or you may have a new boyfriend. How’d you do that?”

Rex was interrupted by the monk in perfect English. “Taylor, you have an amazing talent for organization and language. Were you familiar with the Pali language before you entered the temple?

“No. I’ve read of it, and had one general course about the derivation of language. My focus has been physics, statistics, and business management.”

Tulku said, “Today you are the student. Keep your mind open always. When it’s time, open the mind of another like you.”

“What do you mean, ‘like you’?” she asked.

“Taylor, everyone is unique and has special characteristics that make them so. You, however, are a grape twice as sweet as all others in the harvest. You are a star that shines when others are dark. You are a spring of water that does not run dry.”

“I just came along with Rex; he’s the one seeking to learn about history, tombs, and artifacts. I hardly even know what this place is about.”

Tulku continued. “Rex is extraordinary, but in a different way. He is a giver of gifts. He can never know some of the things you will know. His is not so much to know, as to help others know. Some think of all people the same. In many ways they are, but in many they cannot, and should not be. Taylor, you appear fit enough for the journey. Maybe you are ready to reach into the water.”

“Is Rex going to reach into the water?”

“No, Rex’s journey is not your journey.”

They walked outside the temple and along a well-worn path following a small stream. It ended in a solid rock face with a narrow curved slot from the stream up about four feet. The slot was not large enough to crawl in. It was barely a foot wide at the widest place.

The monk said, “You must go inside and bring back a tiny bit of gold.” He handed her a small flashlight.

Taylor said, “You may not have noticed but that crack isn’t big enough to crawl into.”

“Maybe you aren’t trying to solve the problem. Maybe you are blocked by fear. You studied science. Think not of the obstacle but of the solution. Only bring back one bit of gold.”

With that he motioned for Rex to follow him. Rex went to Taylor, “What do you want to do? Do you want to leave?”

“No. Go with him. I think I have a plan.”

When Rex turned to walk with the monk, Taylor turned her attention to the problem. She hadn’t considered entering the slot in an unconventional way. She stood sideways and bent at the knees, like sitting in a car. The slot in the rock was roughly the shape of her profile. Inching sideways she fit herself uncomfortably into the slot. Her face touched the stone unless she faced to the side. There was no more than a hand’s width of clearance anywhere. She slid to her side. As she went deeper in the slot it became easier because she could push with one hand and pull with the other like sliding across a park bench. The slot became tighter and began to bind against her almost everywhere at once. Pushing harder against the friction she inched forward. Fear crept into the tiny space. She thought, “This can’t happen to me, not here, not like Mom.” Flashes of memories and sounds assaulted her brain. Taylor stopped pushing and took a calming breath. She tried to clear her mind but remembered her mother’s struggle those last weeks at home. Memories of the broken window and the fading ambulance siren cascaded through her mind. Then she thought of better times. “We went everywhere together Mom. You knew everything. You told the most descriptive stories of places you had never been in the world. Everyone wanted to be near you to be a part of your genius. Dad and I were so proud of you. We should never have let the government do all those tests on you. I don’t think you were ever quite the same.”

Concentrating on the complete darkness and regular breathing, the images faded and she calmed. A few more deep breaths and Taylor saw only black—blissful black. Clicking the tiny flashlight back on, she thought. “What purpose would it serve for me to get stuck in this rock? If there’s a purpose, I must be able to continue.” More easily now, she inched further along. In the darkness the little flashlight beam illuminated the slot for only another ten feet. When she approached the edge, a little room appeared with a pool of water from which the tiny stream flowed.

Taylor was so relieved. No light came from where she had just passed. The crevice had curved, blocking any light. She said, “Hello. Is anyone out there? I made it to a pool.” No answer.

Crouching by the pool she shined the light around looking for gold. It was a little pool with gravel sloping down from where she stood as far as her little light shone.

Remembering what the monk said, she tentatively reached into the cool water. She picked some pebbles from the bottom and examined them. They looked like normal creek gravel. She reached in the clear water again and noticed some movement beyond her hand. Jerking her hand back, she watched as the ripples cleared, and she saw nothing unusual. Again, she slowly slid her hand into the water, watching the depths for movement. Something appeared again—shadowy figures moving just outside the beam of the light. As she reached deeper, the forms came into view. Translucent spheres rose and fell slowly in the distance like the fluid in a lava lamp. Each seemed to have a tiny eye staring back at her.

She switched off the flashlight and could see nothing. She hoped there was some light from the water or the tunnel, but it was total darkness. When she turned the flashlight back on, the motion was nearer the edge. Without realizing it, she had moved ankle deep in the water. Sliding her hand along the bottom, while shining the light at the moving objects, she was able to coax one figure closer. The tiny eye was a reflection of a smooth gold sphere in the center of the orb. Reaching slowly with an open hand, she slipped beneath the mass. She felt nothing as her hand moved right through the translucent layer and came to rest against the surface of the tiny gold sphere. She resisted the urge to jerk away as a tingling sensation passed into her hand at the touch. “I am counting that off to my imagination,” she thought.

It was only the size of a pea. Bringing her hand closer to her face, she was surprised to see the bead was perfectly round with no holes or seams. It felt much too light for solid gold.

Taylor put the gold bead in her pocket and began the journey sliding back through the notch, pushing with her hands, and being careful not to bump her head as she maneuvered through the squeeze. To her surprise, the passage never got tight against her on the way out. “How could that be?”

When she emerged it was dark. She thought she had only been gone for a few minutes but, with it dark, it must have been an hour. Using the flashlight she followed the stream back to the temple where she found Rex with the monk. Rex jumped up and hugged her. “What were you doing all this time? You were gone two hours.”

The monk waited patiently as she walked to him and presented the tiny gold bead. “Well done. Please keep it with your silence and think about what you saw and experienced. It’s yours for your lifetime to reflect. You may speak of it with Rex. We have been discussing your journey while you experienced it. He can be trusted with the secret too.”

Tulku removed a gold pendant from his neck and hung the leather strap around Taylor’s. It was a strangely curved broach that resembled the profile of the opening in the stone.

The monk recited something in the strange language and left the room.

As they walked Rex said, “That was not what I expected. I went there to try to research the rumors of a magical spring that “bubbles forth gold.” What did you find?”

She produced the feather light orb. It already had a few dents in the surface. “This bead must be incredibly thin. It almost floats. Can you explain what happened back there?”

Rex said. “Only that you are incredible and exceptional and now have the respect of that order of monks. They will help you and serve you the remainder of your life, if you ever need them.”

“Why? I didn’t do anything special.”

“I think you did. I think they realized you are very special and they are glad you are one of the good guys. Apparently, some people who come here are not so good and things don’t end as well.”

“How’d you get in the crevice anyway?”

She fingered the necklace at her chest. “I just had to sit down and think about it.”