Tantric Coconuts (30 page)

“Your Honor, the castle doctrine allows a resident of this state to use deadly force to defend herself or her property from an intruder. I understand that the court may be reluctant to define the legal perimeter of Ms. Two Sparrow’s residence as reaching beyond the walls of her bookmobile, but several courts have extended the doctrine to the surrounding yard.” Ted handed copies of cases he had located from other jurisdictions to both the judge and the prosecutor, then continued. “Extending the doctrine past the walls of her home seems particularly reasonable in this case. The bounds of her
fear had likewise been extended. We’re not dealing with just with any intruder but with an intruder who had a history of abusing the defendant, who was intoxicated and was carrying a loaded weapon.”

After Ted completed his arguments, he sat down next to Lilly and John Shinn. Aunt Lilly reached over and shook his hand. “Your energy is good today, Ted Day.”

The prosecutor rose and made her arguments. About an hour later the judge returned to the courtroom and issued his ruling: The newly discovered evidence was compelling. Aunt Lilly had been acting in self-defense. He slammed down the gavel. He had always thought Aunt Lilly was innocent. For himself, he always thought dreams mattered. “Motion granted. The defendant is released and all charges are dismissed.”

The gorge was about 450 feet deep, and a raging river carried the melting snow from K2, the second-highest mountain in the Himalayas, beneath them. The Pakistani village generally known as Two Forks could be accessed only via a wooden box that ran on pulleys on a cable suspended across the gorge. As they approached the cage, they slowed down and debated the next step.

“You go first,” Angel said. “This doesn’t look safe.”

“You want to go on vacation with Ted Day, this is what you get. You can’t just stay on the reservation, driving around in your new bookmobile, reading to those little reservation rug rats and hoping that adventure will find you. Life doesn’t work that way. Now come on, you can do it.”

She pointed to the crate and said, “My children need me. Your life insurance is paid up. Get on board, buddy.”

Ted looked down. The pass did look considerably more frightening than he had expected. He might have overdone this one a bit. “We could draw straws.”

Angel shook her head and said, “We don’t have a straw. How about we flip a coin?”

Ted thought a moment and offered, “Rock, paper, scissors?”

Angel put her hands on her hips and played her trump card. “Ted, you’re the man; just go first.”

Ted removed his cowboy hat and wiped the sweat from his brow. “We’re short-staffed at Legal Aid. The pay on the reservation is lousy. They can’t afford to lose me. You know that. Remember what Shinn said. How valuable I’ve been.”

“That may be, but you can’t afford to lose your wife, either. It took you thirty years to find a good one. Remember? The dogs love me more than they love you. You go first.”

Ted leaned over and kissed Angel on the forehead. “You win.” He tentatively put one foot in the crate and tested his weight. It seemed solid enough. Two tooth-challenged men pulled him across from the other side of the gorge. The wind blew, causing the wooden container to sway back and forth. Ted closed his eyes and grinned. It was a rush. When he got to the other side, he fell out of the crate, wide-eyed and excited.

He brushed off his pants—waterproof, of course, as recommended in
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Trekking in the Himalayas
. He had secretly checked out the book and planned the whole wedding trip in advance. So far, so good.

The Sherpas pulled the crate back across the gorge and opened the door so Angel could climb in and cross. She hesitated and then backed away from the crate. Perhaps she should just let him go see the monastery by himself. If you’ve seen one mountain monastery, you’ve seen them all. The sun streamed through the valley and illuminated the rushing river below. The water was pristine and reflected dazzling beams of
light that danced on the canyon walls. Angel told herself that the crate had made it across the gorge thousands of times and would make it again. Still, it just didn’t look safe.

The wind pulled the cooler air down from the mountaintop and brushed her long black hair from her face. Ted glanced at Angel. She was as beautiful, as wild, and as enchanting to him as she had been that first day they smashed into each other. He knew she could do it. She just needed to savor the adventure. He yelled across the gorge, “You can do it!”

Angel looked at the crate and yelled back, “Go ahead without me. I’ll wait here.”

“Angel!”

“Yes?”

Ted directed that the crate be pulled back to his side of the gorge. He then took out a small notebook and pencil that he kept stashed in one of his vest pockets and scribbled a note. He put the note in the crate and they pulled it back to Angel’s side of the gorge.

Ted cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out one word at a time, “Read. The. Note!”

Angel leaned into the crate and picked up the note. After reading it, she could not help laughing. Ted looked so ridiculous standing over there in Aunt Lilly’s orange vest. Still, his energy was good. It was a nice wedding gift from Aunt Lilly, but he should have left it at home. She climbed into the crate as if she were climbing onto her bike for a ride around the block. The Sherpa gave the signal and the crate slowly traveled back across the gorge. She closed her eyes at first and
then decided to look around her. How often does one get an opportunity to view life from this perspective? When the crate slowed for a second, she threw Ted’s note over the side and watched it slowly flutter to the bottom of the gorge.

When she closed her eyes, the printed letters from Ted’s note were seared in the black spaces of her mind where she could still easily retrieve them.

IMAGINE
.