I no longer get pleasure from anything, not sailing, not tea, not family, not friends, not work, nothing. Things fell through with Harem7; she wanted different things in life. Harem1 got back together with her ex-fiancé, and the rest have just stopped calling. That I suppose is the end of the flood and now comes the famine. Things went well in school, taking Spanish. I could carry on a descent conversation with a Spanish speaking person, which would have come in very useful on my trip to Peru.

I had gone to Peru on business and pleasure, each having their perspective moments. I had attended a wedding of a man who was a friend of my traveling partner. The sight for the wedding was on a plain that extended out over a river that ran into the Pacific Ocean. There were fifty-foot cliffs on the sides of the plain, the end of it, faced east dropping to fifty feet below. The couple were to be married at sunrise and the ceremony would last until the sun set. The scene was of such beauty, the sight of the mist in the mountain tops and valleys, the sun rising in front of them as they said their vows, and the open Pacific, being God’s witness to this joining. After the wedding vows were over, the festivities began. There was food and wine and the moment. She was standing on the edge of the plateau looking out at the ocean. I gathered four glasses of wine finished off two and made a path for her company. Arriving on the edge of the cliff I offered her a glass and she thanked me politely. Her name was Maya and she was the niece of the groom, she was also the sight of an angle from heaven. We talked for hours and turned to go back to the group, separating and talking with others there. Jeff, my traveling partner, was a self-made millionaire and retired for good at forty-two years old. He has been traveling all over the world for the past several years. We had much time to talk and a deal was brokered that I would contract with him for technical work if he needed me or I needed some money. That was one card in place. Hyundai, an entrepreneur, was building a company outside the capital of Peru and told me he had jobs available if I wished. I talked with many others too and found out bits and pieces, the life around here, people, problems and everything else that I could. As the day wore on the mist had come down from the tops of the mountains and was now enveloping the plateau where we were. Torches were lit to mark the edges and it looked as of a scene from a druid gathering, where once a year they come to this place and sacrifice a virgin to summon up the master of evil himself and ask them of his bidding for them. The festivities carried on until the late afternoon and much wine was absorbed. There had also been tea and coca floating around in the mist. The hour had arrived for the sun to set and the newlyweds embraced hands and ran to the edge of the plateau as if trying to catch the sun before it dipped behind the earth. Just as the sun vanished the couple leaped from the cliff and fell to the river below and swept out to the ocean. Then the drums began to beat and the large stone table was cleared. Jeff and I had gotten as close together as possible as we grew more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. Unbelieving, I saw Maya walk up to the table and lay upon it, her face looking up toward the heavens. Then a gowned figure walked to her and spit upon her forehead and drew a blade. I rushed over and grabbed her; the priest pricked her hand then mine and everyone turned their backs on us. Quietly she whispered that she had been chosen to carry the child of the deceased couple who could no longer have and he would grow up to be the spiritual leader of their people. She had chosen me to take the part of the father, my child to be a spiritual leader over a group of people… I obliged her offer and we consummated the act. When I awoke the next morning, everyone was gone including Maya. I gathered my things and headed back to the hut. Arriving at the hut, no one or anything was there except for a note from Jeff. The letter read:

ICHAboD,

It having been against custom in your actions last night, we have been told to leave the country. The father of the promised one should have come from the village but the old ones not being at the wedding were unable to make sure of this detail. The child will grow as planned but you are not to return. The money for the land you bought is enclosed in the envelope. The next flight leaves in three hours and you are on it.

Jeff

So, I hopped the plane flew across the ocean and left Peru thinking never again to return.