Chapter 9 - The Desert Tower
“Daddy!”
I hugged my girls and kissed them like I lost them for a year. Odd. I didn’t usually miss them even with my frequent travels.
“What happened to you?” Kate said. Her dilated nostrils indicate she was mad as hell.
“I was lost, but now am found.” I pulled her tight as the words came out hoarse and choked. After giving her a smack on the lips, which earned an “ew” from Annie, I wrapped my arms on her shoulders and said, “I met a most strange guy.”
”Who?” Her eyes squinted.
“His name is Dr. Anthony Sparker.”
“Oh,” she said and looked around. “Where is he? Do you want to introduce us?”
”He left. Drove the purple bus and dropped me here.” I said, looking oddly at Kate. She recovered fast from her anger. Weird. It usually would simmer until I get the scald.
”You’re lucky. This is not even his route. So did he say anything?”
“A lot of things—“
“Can we eat now? I want McDonald’s!” Annie said.
“Are you kidding me?” Kate turned to Annie. “We didn’t come all the way to the Grand Canyon to eat at McDonald’s. Your dad might want to try the local restaurants here.”
“That’s alright, Kate. Let’s drive-thru, eat at the hotel, and call it a night. It’s been a long day. I want us to catch the sunrise tomorrow at the Desert Tower. Just you and me. Let these two sleep in.”
“Really?!” The girls gleamed like they just won the jackpot.
Kate opened her mouth and snapped it closed. For once, nothing came out.
I grinned, liking the look of discomfiture on her face. It had been awhile since I had seen her look uncertain. The old me, who’d managed to throw her off in the past, was coming back, just like our first meeting when I handed her back the sandwich she gave and said, “You should have the last bite. I’ve saved the best for last,” and made her bite off the sandwich from my hand. At that moment, I felt big and wanted to protect her. For the rest of my life. And it had been like that until the children came. And life took some serious rough turns. And she had to take on the steering wheel, drove the entire family to a steady road until I got my feet back on the ground. And she had never relinquished her firm hold.
Perhaps it was time to bring back some of the spice of the past.
The drive home was silent until Kate broke it and said, “Jeff, about this Dr. Sparker, did he mention something unusual?”
“What do you mean unusual?”
She shifted on her seat and fidgeted. ”I don’t know. Just curious. So were you with him the whole time?”
“Yes, actually. He picked me up from the visitor center. It’s a long story. I don’t know where to begin—“
”Maybe tomorrow, when we’re alone,” Kate said and turned to the girls. Her half whisper didn’t escape me. What’s up with her?
“Why do I feel like you’re hiding something from me—“
”Shusssh! Tomorrow.”
”Okay,” I said and gripped the wheel.
—0--
I dreamt that I was cocooned in my mother’s arms. I woke up from the blaring of my iPhone’s, “I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike.” Kate’s arms were around me. I checked my watch. It read a minute before six. For the first time in years, I had a restful night.
Kate stirred and turned.
“Good morning,” I said.
Her eyes widened and she bolted up. “What time is it?”
“Relax, we’ve got time. Sunrise won’t be until 6:42 a.m.”
“Whew, I thought we’d miss it again.” She slipped off the bed and went to the desk where her camera batteries were charging. As soon as she packed her camera gear she said. “I’m ready.”
“In your pajamas?”
“In five minutes.” The sparkle in her eyes reminded me of the time I gave her a present wrapped in a matchbox. She had wanted to know what was my favorite toy as a young boy. And I said it was inside the tiny box. When she pushed the case, she jumped at the sight of three tiny spiders crawling out of their “houses.” She had since been wary of my presents, especially when I gave her another matchbox three years after, which housed the engagement ring.
“Why are you staring at me in that weird way?” Kate said. “You’ve been tight-lipped about this Dr. Sparker. You need to tell me everything.”
Kate, the psychic was awake. She gave me a couple of curious glances while she changed into sweater and jeans and donned her coat.
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s get going,” I said. “I’ll spare you the mind-reading.”
No more secrets from her. If I had opened up to Tony yesterday, a complete stranger, about my life, Kate deserved so much more. The woman I married and pledged to stick it out for better or for worse should know the worse part of my life. I had tried so hard to hide my dark past for fear she’d change her mind about me and leave. In the process, I had buried them in my memory and it had haunted me in my sleep and crept to my reality in the form of phobias, obsessions, and compulsions. These past years, she had dealt with the worse part of me. And she stuck it out. I knew now that even if she’d have trouble believing me at first, maybe hate me initially, but her strong convictions about the marriage covenant would make her hang to even a tiny string to keep us together.
We drove to the Desert Tower but I still couldn’t decide where to begin my grand confession.
“Hey.” Kate waved her hand in front of my face. “Spit it out.”
So I did. I held nothing back and told Kate everything from the time I ditched them and Tony maneuvered me to his shuttle bus, to the time he waved me off, where they found me. She didn’t say much save for the occasional “uh-huh,” which spurred me to recount every detail.
“So what do you think?” I said as I wheeled to the empty parking lot and turned off the engine.
“Um…huh?” She cleared her throat. “Let’s head to the rim before people start flocking in.” Just like that, she got off the car and sprinted away.
I scratched my head. I expected something more than that, like “You’re pulling my leg again,” or “Here goes the boy who cried wolf and I’m smarter this time.” I hurried after her through the paved walk, inhaling the crisp cool air. It must be 50F. I warmed my hands inside my coat pockets.
The tower stood bright with its coral pinkish brick against the clear blue sky. As I approached the look-out, four young men turned to leave.
Kate had started taking pictures of the blast of colors painting the mountain walls. I leaned on the iron railing and basked on the grandeur in silence.
After a long while, Kate let go of her camera and just stared at the scenery with a gleam in her eyes. “Oh, Jeff this is so beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here,” she whispered.
I gathered her in my arms and she leaned on me. “Tony recommended it.”
“So, what have you decided? Are you taking the package and pursue your dream?”
“I wish it was that easy Kate. But I’m afraid. There’s no security in writing. That package, though seemingly generous, would easily vanish in a year or two. I don’t want you worrying about money like my mother, Kate. She was beautiful, yet she aged fast. I bet she welcomed death when it came early. She must have wished for cancer to relieve her of her pains.”
“But I’m not your mother.”
“And I don’t wish you to be, but you may end up like her if I pursue the writing path blindly. Some genius once said, ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,’ or something along that line. I don’t want to be that crazy person. Perhaps when Annie has graduated from college, I can take more writing courses, but not now.”
“But you’ve done that already! You just need to get your story out there. Write shorter stories. Do something different. Perhaps experience life in a deeper way, suck the present moment and turn it into a riveting novella.”
“I don’t know, Kate. I’ll think about it. Maybe soon.” It was a tempting idea.
“But why do you think you got recruited for the Dream Maker prototype?” She faced me, her eyes spitting fire.
“It’s an experiment. Must be some random selection, and I just happened to be the 10th passenger or something.”
“You know there’s no such thing as random coincidence, Jeff.”
“Now you’re talking like Tony. Are you sure you’ve never met him?”
She evaded my gaze and pulled her hood on her head.
“Don’t hide something from me, Kate. You’re a bad liar.”
”Alright. I don’t know how you’ll take this but...” she heaved a sigh. “There’s something you need to know about the Dream Maker Prototype.”
”Why does it sound like you’ve met Tony before?”
”No, I haven’t... but I met his wife, Sam.”
”Sam...wait, you mean that Samuel guy you’ve been talking about—“
”Samuel?” She cupped her mouth and laughed. “You thought Sam was a guy?”
”Well, you made it sound like he was?”
”How so?”
”You kept on swooning about him.”
”Swooning?”
”Sam said this, Sam said that.”
”Oh my Lord.” She slapped her forehead and stifled another laugh. “I’m so sorry. That must have been tough. You must have thought the worse of me.”
”Yeah.” I glared at her.
She hugged me and said, “I’d never do that to you. But I did something that’s kinda... uhm... delicate.”
“Delicate.” I pushed her away to look at her eyes. She looked shifty, uncertain.
After swallowing a huge lump from her throat, she said, “I invested on the Dream Maker Prototype.”
“Oookay? What do you mean by that?”
She bit her lip and searched my face. “Sam said that if I got onboard, it’ll save your life.”
”Save my life?”
”She knew you were part of the company that Sparker Biotech will soon swallow. She knew a lot of things about you and your company. She wanted to help us.”
”Wait, how does she actually know again?” Something didn’t quite fit in Kate’s story.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that she found me when I needed her the most, and offered me a way out of our predicament, so I took it. It’s a win-win situation.”
”What did she offer?!”
“I signed us up for the Dream Maker Prototype.”
”Meaning?—“
”We get the app, follow all the instructions, and make our dreams come true.”
She wasn’t telling me everything. I can tell.
“Look, it’ll be okay. As long as we do as it says.”
”So you’re telling me that you knew about the app, that this ‘chance meeting,’” I quoted with my fingers, “with Tony was no coincidence.”
”And he did recruit you, right? That’s what Sam said. Once, I say ‘yes’ and cooperate, she’ll take it from there. Her husband can be very persuasive, she said. No one can say no to him.”
“Persuasive was an understatement,” I muttered. Now that Kate was telling me all this, I began to understand how Tony had trapped me into the bus and the Hermit’s Rest.
“You said, ‘yes,’ to the terms, right?” Kate gripped my arm.
”Yes, I guess.”
“So if you signed up today, we got a year to fulfill our end of the deal and not lose the house.”
”Lose the house?” What was Kate talking about? “What do you mean lose the house?”
“Didn’t that doctor tell you what was at stake if we didn’t fulfill our part of the deal?”
”Wait, nobody said anything to me about losing a property.”
”Oh dear.” Kate tucked her hair on her ears. “This was supposed to be a joint decision, Sam had said. The deal isn’t sealed until you agreed to it. Then I guess there’s no deal—“
“Okay, rewind. Tell me what the deal is all about so I totally get it.”
She fumbled inside her handbag, took a folded piece of paper, and handed it to me with trembling hands.
I snatched it from her fingers, while my gaze remained fixed on her eyes. I slowly unfolded the paper and read the text, my throat drying up with each line. Beads of perspiration gathered on my forehead as I read. When I finished, my throat croaked at the words that escaped my quivering lips, “How could you have signed this?”
“I—“
”What were you thinking?!”
“I—“
”Kate! Oh my God!” I crumbled the paper in a fist.
”No... don’t. That’s—“
”Invalid.” I ate the crumbled piece.
”Jeff...”
And swallowed it. Kate stared at me in horror.
”No more. Nada.”
”That was just a copy. Sam has the original.” She twisted her fingers.
“Well, to hell with them.”
”But you said, ‘yes,’ to her husband. And you got the app. I think that sealed the deal.”
“No, the deal is off. They deceived us.”
“Did you open the app?”
”No.”
”Aren’t you even going to try?”
”Why should I?”
”Because it might be your only chance. Don’t you want to save yourself? What do you have to lose by opening and not opening?”
I paused. What did I have to lose? Amanda already got the coveted position I’ve been vying for. With her in that place, I was in a very precarious situation. If I didn’t cooperate, we could lose our house. If I gave this thing a try, I may save my job, and keep my house. My hands were tied. But I was still mad from the way Tony and his wife maneuvered us into this stupid deal.
”Please, Jeff. Give me your phone. Let me see the app.”
I took out my phone and slapped it on her hand.
“No need to be mean. What’s username and password did you use?”
”The usual.”
She punched it in, and the app opened to the home page. “Now read the fine print and hit agree so it’ll open to the navigating page.”
I scrolled up without reading, and clicked yes while she fumbled in her bag and took out her earphones, handed me the ear buds, and plugged the end to the phone. “You listen to that. I’ll drive. Give me the keys.”
I handed her the car keys, my eyes on the phone screen.
“Welcome to the Dream Maker Prototype.”
I hugged my girls and kissed them like I lost them for a year. Odd. I didn’t usually miss them even with my frequent travels.
“What happened to you?” Kate said. Her dilated nostrils indicate she was mad as hell.
“I was lost, but now am found.” I pulled her tight as the words came out hoarse and choked. After giving her a smack on the lips, which earned an “ew” from Annie, I wrapped my arms on her shoulders and said, “I met a most strange guy.”
”Who?” Her eyes squinted.
“His name is Dr. Anthony Sparker.”
“Oh,” she said and looked around. “Where is he? Do you want to introduce us?”
”He left. Drove the purple bus and dropped me here.” I said, looking oddly at Kate. She recovered fast from her anger. Weird. It usually would simmer until I get the scald.
”You’re lucky. This is not even his route. So did he say anything?”
“A lot of things—“
“Can we eat now? I want McDonald’s!” Annie said.
“Are you kidding me?” Kate turned to Annie. “We didn’t come all the way to the Grand Canyon to eat at McDonald’s. Your dad might want to try the local restaurants here.”
“That’s alright, Kate. Let’s drive-thru, eat at the hotel, and call it a night. It’s been a long day. I want us to catch the sunrise tomorrow at the Desert Tower. Just you and me. Let these two sleep in.”
“Really?!” The girls gleamed like they just won the jackpot.
Kate opened her mouth and snapped it closed. For once, nothing came out.
I grinned, liking the look of discomfiture on her face. It had been awhile since I had seen her look uncertain. The old me, who’d managed to throw her off in the past, was coming back, just like our first meeting when I handed her back the sandwich she gave and said, “You should have the last bite. I’ve saved the best for last,” and made her bite off the sandwich from my hand. At that moment, I felt big and wanted to protect her. For the rest of my life. And it had been like that until the children came. And life took some serious rough turns. And she had to take on the steering wheel, drove the entire family to a steady road until I got my feet back on the ground. And she had never relinquished her firm hold.
Perhaps it was time to bring back some of the spice of the past.
The drive home was silent until Kate broke it and said, “Jeff, about this Dr. Sparker, did he mention something unusual?”
“What do you mean unusual?”
She shifted on her seat and fidgeted. ”I don’t know. Just curious. So were you with him the whole time?”
“Yes, actually. He picked me up from the visitor center. It’s a long story. I don’t know where to begin—“
”Maybe tomorrow, when we’re alone,” Kate said and turned to the girls. Her half whisper didn’t escape me. What’s up with her?
“Why do I feel like you’re hiding something from me—“
”Shusssh! Tomorrow.”
”Okay,” I said and gripped the wheel.
—0--
I dreamt that I was cocooned in my mother’s arms. I woke up from the blaring of my iPhone’s, “I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike.” Kate’s arms were around me. I checked my watch. It read a minute before six. For the first time in years, I had a restful night.
Kate stirred and turned.
“Good morning,” I said.
Her eyes widened and she bolted up. “What time is it?”
“Relax, we’ve got time. Sunrise won’t be until 6:42 a.m.”
“Whew, I thought we’d miss it again.” She slipped off the bed and went to the desk where her camera batteries were charging. As soon as she packed her camera gear she said. “I’m ready.”
“In your pajamas?”
“In five minutes.” The sparkle in her eyes reminded me of the time I gave her a present wrapped in a matchbox. She had wanted to know what was my favorite toy as a young boy. And I said it was inside the tiny box. When she pushed the case, she jumped at the sight of three tiny spiders crawling out of their “houses.” She had since been wary of my presents, especially when I gave her another matchbox three years after, which housed the engagement ring.
“Why are you staring at me in that weird way?” Kate said. “You’ve been tight-lipped about this Dr. Sparker. You need to tell me everything.”
Kate, the psychic was awake. She gave me a couple of curious glances while she changed into sweater and jeans and donned her coat.
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s get going,” I said. “I’ll spare you the mind-reading.”
No more secrets from her. If I had opened up to Tony yesterday, a complete stranger, about my life, Kate deserved so much more. The woman I married and pledged to stick it out for better or for worse should know the worse part of my life. I had tried so hard to hide my dark past for fear she’d change her mind about me and leave. In the process, I had buried them in my memory and it had haunted me in my sleep and crept to my reality in the form of phobias, obsessions, and compulsions. These past years, she had dealt with the worse part of me. And she stuck it out. I knew now that even if she’d have trouble believing me at first, maybe hate me initially, but her strong convictions about the marriage covenant would make her hang to even a tiny string to keep us together.
We drove to the Desert Tower but I still couldn’t decide where to begin my grand confession.
“Hey.” Kate waved her hand in front of my face. “Spit it out.”
So I did. I held nothing back and told Kate everything from the time I ditched them and Tony maneuvered me to his shuttle bus, to the time he waved me off, where they found me. She didn’t say much save for the occasional “uh-huh,” which spurred me to recount every detail.
“So what do you think?” I said as I wheeled to the empty parking lot and turned off the engine.
“Um…huh?” She cleared her throat. “Let’s head to the rim before people start flocking in.” Just like that, she got off the car and sprinted away.
I scratched my head. I expected something more than that, like “You’re pulling my leg again,” or “Here goes the boy who cried wolf and I’m smarter this time.” I hurried after her through the paved walk, inhaling the crisp cool air. It must be 50F. I warmed my hands inside my coat pockets.
The tower stood bright with its coral pinkish brick against the clear blue sky. As I approached the look-out, four young men turned to leave.
Kate had started taking pictures of the blast of colors painting the mountain walls. I leaned on the iron railing and basked on the grandeur in silence.
After a long while, Kate let go of her camera and just stared at the scenery with a gleam in her eyes. “Oh, Jeff this is so beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here,” she whispered.
I gathered her in my arms and she leaned on me. “Tony recommended it.”
“So, what have you decided? Are you taking the package and pursue your dream?”
“I wish it was that easy Kate. But I’m afraid. There’s no security in writing. That package, though seemingly generous, would easily vanish in a year or two. I don’t want you worrying about money like my mother, Kate. She was beautiful, yet she aged fast. I bet she welcomed death when it came early. She must have wished for cancer to relieve her of her pains.”
“But I’m not your mother.”
“And I don’t wish you to be, but you may end up like her if I pursue the writing path blindly. Some genius once said, ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,’ or something along that line. I don’t want to be that crazy person. Perhaps when Annie has graduated from college, I can take more writing courses, but not now.”
“But you’ve done that already! You just need to get your story out there. Write shorter stories. Do something different. Perhaps experience life in a deeper way, suck the present moment and turn it into a riveting novella.”
“I don’t know, Kate. I’ll think about it. Maybe soon.” It was a tempting idea.
“But why do you think you got recruited for the Dream Maker prototype?” She faced me, her eyes spitting fire.
“It’s an experiment. Must be some random selection, and I just happened to be the 10th passenger or something.”
“You know there’s no such thing as random coincidence, Jeff.”
“Now you’re talking like Tony. Are you sure you’ve never met him?”
She evaded my gaze and pulled her hood on her head.
“Don’t hide something from me, Kate. You’re a bad liar.”
”Alright. I don’t know how you’ll take this but...” she heaved a sigh. “There’s something you need to know about the Dream Maker Prototype.”
”Why does it sound like you’ve met Tony before?”
”No, I haven’t... but I met his wife, Sam.”
”Sam...wait, you mean that Samuel guy you’ve been talking about—“
”Samuel?” She cupped her mouth and laughed. “You thought Sam was a guy?”
”Well, you made it sound like he was?”
”How so?”
”You kept on swooning about him.”
”Swooning?”
”Sam said this, Sam said that.”
”Oh my Lord.” She slapped her forehead and stifled another laugh. “I’m so sorry. That must have been tough. You must have thought the worse of me.”
”Yeah.” I glared at her.
She hugged me and said, “I’d never do that to you. But I did something that’s kinda... uhm... delicate.”
“Delicate.” I pushed her away to look at her eyes. She looked shifty, uncertain.
After swallowing a huge lump from her throat, she said, “I invested on the Dream Maker Prototype.”
“Oookay? What do you mean by that?”
She bit her lip and searched my face. “Sam said that if I got onboard, it’ll save your life.”
”Save my life?”
”She knew you were part of the company that Sparker Biotech will soon swallow. She knew a lot of things about you and your company. She wanted to help us.”
”Wait, how does she actually know again?” Something didn’t quite fit in Kate’s story.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that she found me when I needed her the most, and offered me a way out of our predicament, so I took it. It’s a win-win situation.”
”What did she offer?!”
“I signed us up for the Dream Maker Prototype.”
”Meaning?—“
”We get the app, follow all the instructions, and make our dreams come true.”
She wasn’t telling me everything. I can tell.
“Look, it’ll be okay. As long as we do as it says.”
”So you’re telling me that you knew about the app, that this ‘chance meeting,’” I quoted with my fingers, “with Tony was no coincidence.”
”And he did recruit you, right? That’s what Sam said. Once, I say ‘yes’ and cooperate, she’ll take it from there. Her husband can be very persuasive, she said. No one can say no to him.”
“Persuasive was an understatement,” I muttered. Now that Kate was telling me all this, I began to understand how Tony had trapped me into the bus and the Hermit’s Rest.
“You said, ‘yes,’ to the terms, right?” Kate gripped my arm.
”Yes, I guess.”
“So if you signed up today, we got a year to fulfill our end of the deal and not lose the house.”
”Lose the house?” What was Kate talking about? “What do you mean lose the house?”
“Didn’t that doctor tell you what was at stake if we didn’t fulfill our part of the deal?”
”Wait, nobody said anything to me about losing a property.”
”Oh dear.” Kate tucked her hair on her ears. “This was supposed to be a joint decision, Sam had said. The deal isn’t sealed until you agreed to it. Then I guess there’s no deal—“
“Okay, rewind. Tell me what the deal is all about so I totally get it.”
She fumbled inside her handbag, took a folded piece of paper, and handed it to me with trembling hands.
I snatched it from her fingers, while my gaze remained fixed on her eyes. I slowly unfolded the paper and read the text, my throat drying up with each line. Beads of perspiration gathered on my forehead as I read. When I finished, my throat croaked at the words that escaped my quivering lips, “How could you have signed this?”
“I—“
”What were you thinking?!”
“I—“
”Kate! Oh my God!” I crumbled the paper in a fist.
”No... don’t. That’s—“
”Invalid.” I ate the crumbled piece.
”Jeff...”
And swallowed it. Kate stared at me in horror.
”No more. Nada.”
”That was just a copy. Sam has the original.” She twisted her fingers.
“Well, to hell with them.”
”But you said, ‘yes,’ to her husband. And you got the app. I think that sealed the deal.”
“No, the deal is off. They deceived us.”
“Did you open the app?”
”No.”
”Aren’t you even going to try?”
”Why should I?”
”Because it might be your only chance. Don’t you want to save yourself? What do you have to lose by opening and not opening?”
I paused. What did I have to lose? Amanda already got the coveted position I’ve been vying for. With her in that place, I was in a very precarious situation. If I didn’t cooperate, we could lose our house. If I gave this thing a try, I may save my job, and keep my house. My hands were tied. But I was still mad from the way Tony and his wife maneuvered us into this stupid deal.
”Please, Jeff. Give me your phone. Let me see the app.”
I took out my phone and slapped it on her hand.
“No need to be mean. What’s username and password did you use?”
”The usual.”
She punched it in, and the app opened to the home page. “Now read the fine print and hit agree so it’ll open to the navigating page.”
I scrolled up without reading, and clicked yes while she fumbled in her bag and took out her earphones, handed me the ear buds, and plugged the end to the phone. “You listen to that. I’ll drive. Give me the keys.”
I handed her the car keys, my eyes on the phone screen.
“Welcome to the Dream Maker Prototype.”