Chapter One
He sat there looking over the edge alone and couldn’t remember how long he had been there. He thought it had been a very long time.
The drive from Oakland had taken the best part of a day, and although having traveled across some of the most scenic parts of the western United States, his mind was blank, he couldn’t remember anything. He only knew what he had come here to do, and before the sun would set over his left shoulder, he strengthened his resolve to do it.
He thought about leaving a note, but then who would read it. He was sure whoever did find it wouldn’t care. He couldn’t remember why he had picked the ‘Canyon’ as the place to end it all. He just knew he was drawn to the place, and in some strange way the Canyon understood. He wasn’t sure what most men thought about knowing it was their last day on earth. At this point he was having trouble thinking about anything at all.
He forced himself to try and think about his three failed marriages and his two sons from his first marriage. One, his oldest son Robert, had recently died of a drug overdose. His younger son Hank was an Army Ranger who had recently been killed while serving a second deployment in Afghanistan. Neither boy had spoken to him since he had deserted their mother when they were both very young (5 & 7).
He had been discharged from the Army in 1969 at Fort ***** New Jersey after serving 14 months in Vietnam. He then spent three months hitchhiking across the country, from New Jersey to California, trying to get his head back on straight as he worked his way back home.
He would like to blame all of his bad luck on something that had happened to him over there, but he knew in his heart that he couldn’t. He had been a supply sergeant at a large depot in downtown Saigon. His only experience with combat was listening to the stories from the grunts recently returned from the bush as they self-medicated themselves inside the many bars and clubs that overran the downtown streets and alleyways. He often basked in the aftermath of their stories secretly wishing he were one of them. He had had a chance to volunteer for combat artillery but had turned it down.
He took his sunglasses off because it was almost time. He had forgotten to check-out of the Yavapi Motor Lodge before walking the half-mile to the rim where he now sat. The sun was dropping low in the Western sky as he stood up to move closer to the edge. It was just then that he heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes to his left that he had not heard before.
Chapter Two
The motorcycle ride across the plains and high desert through the Dakota’s and Wyoming had been as idyllic as he ever imagined. He had spent almost a week in Yellowstone, having to force himself to leave on the seventh day. He was headed South, but he had one more great sight to see before working his way back East toward New Mexico.
He had promised himself before dedicating the rest of his life to the Dominicans that he would go and visit the Grand Canyon this one last time. In many ways his life had been like the Canyon, overwhelming in its purpose and majestic in its beauty. His life had taken on a timeless quality that always left him feeling like everything he had done would somehow last forever.
He had lost his beloved wife Sarah last April after a long and debilitating illness. They had been married for forty-one years and had traveled the world together. After all of the travel, Sarah’s two favorite spots on earth were Yellowstone and The Grand Canyon. He always felt that she loved the Canyon the most, and he was saving it for last. She had been his best friend and partner and had supported him in everything he had done, both at his work, but even more important to him, at his leisure.
He had been born with a restless adventurous spirit inside of him, and it was one of the things Sarah loved most about him and had always given him plenty of rope to roam. He loved her all the more for it. He now felt that the only way he could go on without her was to devote himself to a cause she had always been passionate about, the Dominican Mission in Pastura New Mexico. The mission had been founded almost two hundred years ago to help and educate the many Native Tribes that lived in the area.
He needed to dedicate the remainder of his life to something bigger that just himself. Because of all the good work his wife had done on their behalf, the Dominicans had accepted him into their order, and they were expecting him before the week was out.
He had recently sold his business for over 100 million dollars, and after securing his grandchildren’s education was going to use the bulk of the money to build a hospital in rural New Mexico to treat the poor and disenfranchised. He wanted the hospital to specialize in treating diabetes and juvenile diabetes since so many of the Native Americans in the Southwest (and all over the U.S.) were suffering from this terrible disease. It had been the disease that had finally claimed his beloved wife Sarah.
He was riding a vintage/antique BMW motorcycle that he had spent the last 20 years restoring. Although it was over 50 years old, there was no part of this bike that you couldn’t eat off of. Like everything else in his life, it was a reflection of him and the ‘midas’ effect he seemed to have on everything he touched. Everything in his life just seemed to ‘WORK’ !
After checking into his motel at the South Rim of the Canyon, he decided there was still time to get to his wife’s favorite spot along the rim to Watch the sun go completely down. As he walked through the Pinyon Trees toward the rim, he thought he saw a figure standing close to the edge. Whoever it was had heard him coming through the brush and was now looking his way.
“Hello,” he called out. “Aren’t you standing a little too close to the rim?” “What do you want,” he heard back in response, “I thought I was here alone.” “Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude, but like you, I just wanted to take one look over before the day ended. It’s nice to find someone else here to be able to share this magnificent view with.”
“I didn’t come here to share anything with anybody,” he heard back again, “And like I said before, I thought I was alone.” As the man spoke, he walked slowly backwards and seated himself on the large rock where he had laid his sunglasses before. He put his sunglasses back on before speaking again.
“You know it’s unbelievable, no matter how many times I’ve seen the view from this rim, it’s always like seeing it for the first time again. This was my wife’s favorite spot on earth. It’s almost impossible to describe, don’t you think?”
“I wouldn’t know, it’s my first time here, he heard the seated man say. “Wow, first time huh. I can still remember my first time, but then every time is like that first time to me, and that was over 35 years ago.” “It may be special to you,” the man sitting down said, now without looking his way, “To me it’s just a big hole in the ground.”
As he emerged from the Pinyon Pines and approached the rim, he noticed something strange and out of place. There was a large black handgun sitting with its barrel pointed out toward the canyon, in between the seated man’s two legs.
He slowly walked off to his left and moved very cautiously toward the rim, being careful not to make any sudden moves. He tried to act nonchalant and make it seem like he hadn’t noticed the gun. The man on the rock knew that he had seen it as he tried to close both legs over the gun and hide it from further sight.
“Have you been here long,” he asked the seated man? “I don’t know --- I don’t know, it seems like long.” ‘Well, it’s a great place to sit and reflect about life and think about where life’s journey goes next.”
“I know all about where my life has been and where it‘s going,”
At this point the man stopped speaking and there was a very uncomfortable moment of silence — a silence that seemed to fill the surrounding canyon with a new emptiness that rivaled even its great depths. “You look like you’re upset sitting there all alone, might I ask the reasons why.” The seated man then finally turned his head his way and said, ‘Why would you care if I’m upset or not.”
“I can’t explain why I care, but I do, and if you’d like to tell me about it, I’d like to listen.” “Why in the world would you want to listen to someone else’s problems when you seem not to have a care in the world. Especially coming from someone that you don’t know and who you’ve just met at a spot like this that you so obviously love and have great affection for?”
“Maybe for that very reason, because it is a beautiful day today and this is one of the world’s most magical spots. I am having a hard time accepting how someone could seem so depressed and dejected in a place like this. You may not believe me, but that’s exactly how I feel. Why did you come to the Grand Canyon in a state like this. Were you hoping that the majesty of the canyon would lift your spirits and cheer you up?”
“I know that some like you have said that this is the most powerful place on earth. I thought it would be a most appropriate place, or certainly as good as any,” as his voice trailed off again and silence intervened.
“As good as any to do what,” the standing man asked as he moved slightly closer. The seated man didn’t answer as he stared out over the rim into the huge expanse of rock and sky. Finally, he said, “Really, why would you even care, I’m nothing to you, and it’s really none of your business.” “About that, you’re right, and if I’m intruding then I apologize, but I’m getting the strongest feeling that meeting you here today in this spot was no accident. Do you think about things like that?”
The man stood up but did not answer. ‘What are your plans today after the sun sets? I just checked into the motel a short ways down the road, the Yavapai Motor Lodge, ever heard of it.” “Yeah, I’ve heard of it, maybe you should be heading back there before it starts to get dark.” “Why don’t we walk back together, I’d enjoy the company.”
“Look, I don’t have any plans that go beyond this evening, and I’d really appreciate it if you’d leave, as I’d like to be alone to finish what I started.” “I’d really like to hear all about that if you’d be willing to tell me. I’ve got nothing but time.”
The man now standing with his sunglasses back on in the approaching darkness was frozen by the words –'Nothing but time.’ He had made the decision earlier that for him, time was up and today would be the end. Now he had some do-gooding stranger who had invaded his privacy unannounced and wouldn’t seem to back off.
“Look, for the last time, you don’t want to hear my sad story, no one ever has, and no-one ever will.” “Well, why don’t you just try me. If I turn out to be like everyone else in your life after you’ve told me, you can always just get up and walk away --- end of story!”
“You look like someone whose life has turned out very well and never had a bad day in your life.”
“Honestly, you’re making me feel guilty because when I look at my life in total, you’re pretty much correct. I have had that kind of a life and feel very blessed because of it. I’m going to assume that you have not.”
His honesty at admitting to having had a charmed life seemed to make an impression on the man as he answered back, “Nothing, absolutely nothing in my life has worked out, from my failed marriages, to my children who are now gone, and to all the nothing job’s. Everything has been a failure. My life has been one great disappointment after another, and I can’t see the point in going on.”
The reality of the situation now became crystal clear.
“So, you were going to end it all here today at the South Rim of this Canyon? It seems too beautiful a place for something so drastic.”
“I was, and I am going to end it all today in spite of everything you’ve said.” “What is the gun for, if I might ask?” The gun is just in case I don’t have guts enough to jump. Guts is something I’ve always struggled with too.”
“Is there anything I can say, anything at all, that might make you change your mind, at least for a little while?”
“Nothing,” the man said. “You don’t know me, and I’m sure there’s nothing you can say to me that I haven’t already said to myself.” “If I could come up with one reason, just one, for you not to jump, would that make any difference at all?” “Why would you even care to try when my mind is made up?”
“I’m glad you used the word ‘care’ when asking me that question. Who is the last person in your life that you thought truly ‘cared’ for you?’ “I can’t remember, and I’m not sure anyone ever did. My Parents split up when I was three and I was raised in one foster home after another before joining the army because I didn’t have guts enough to run away. I’m not sure that word has any real meaning for me.”
“What if I was to tell you that I care about you, --- very much, and I don’t want to see you do what you’re getting ready to do in this most sacred of spots or anywhere for that matter.”“You just stumbled upon me by chance in my sorry state, and now feel pity for me and your conscience won’t let you leave well enough alone.”
In a very strange way, he didn’t feel sorry for the man but felt guilty for the blessed life he had lived. It all needed to make sense, or he couldn’t go back. Why tonight, and why at this spot that he was looking so forward to.
He struggled for his next words before speaking again to the troubled man who had now gotten precariously close to the edge. The scene started to remind him of the movies he had seen where a man would be standing out on a building’s ledge, high above the street. In the movies there was always a heroic detective or passerby who was able to talk the man down. He knew he was running out of time, and he also knew this man he had just met could smell insincerity from a 100-miles away.
“I’d like to help you get through this in any way that I can.” “There’s no getting through it. If you really want to do me a favor, just walk back to where you came from and let me finish what I came here to do.”
“I can’t explain this to you, but I know now that I was brought here today for a reason — a reason beyond a one last goodbye to this place. I could have, and actually thought about, stopping at many of the rims my wife and I loved, but I picked this one because this was her favorite. I know now that it had a higher purpose. You may not want to hear this, but you came to this place today to end it all because of what has always been missing in your life only to find exactly that when I came walking through the trees. In fact, to prove what I’m saying, I’d like to make you an offer.
“Suppose someone, in this case me, were to say that they would trade positions with you and that they would do what you are thinking about doing if you would do something very important for them.” What do you mean,” the man said looking back from the edge.
‘What if I were to tell you that I would be willing to step off the edge of this canyon to show you how much I really care. Would you be willing to fulfill a dream of mine in turn for my doing that. You will then see that a total stranger is willing to give it all up for you if you will be willing to commit to something that is equally important to them.”
“You’re either crazy or you think that I am. Nobody’s going to give up their life to prove to me that they care about saving my worthless life. Your life seems to have a value beyond what I can describe.”
“You’re right about that, and my life has had a value beyond what even I can describe, but what I am telling you is that the deal I am making you is real. After hearing my terms and agreeing to what you will have to do, I will jump off this Canyon wall so you can find the happiness, peace, and contentment you deserve.”
“I don’t know, I don’t know, all of this is crazy, sheer lunacy. I think I’ve been joined on this cliff by a man who’s completely lost his own mind.”“All right then, let’s do this. Would you agree to sleep on it overnight. If you feel the same way in the morning, then I will carry out your plan if you will fulfill mine. Are you staying at that same motel as I am.” “Yeah, I checked in yesterday and forgot to check out, so I guess I still have a room.” Maybe it was for a reason he thought to himself, as he stood there shaking his head in the darkness.
“Don’t shake your head, just tell me you’ll think about it.
If I don’t hear from you, and I’m in room #888, I’ll assume that our deal is set, and I’ll fulfill my part of our agreement.” “OK, one more night,” the man said as he picked up his gun and tucked it into the small of his back. “One more night, but I don’t really think anything is going to change.”
They walked back to the Yavapai Motor Lodge in silence together. Both men felt at this point that they had known each other for a very long time — maybe an eternity. Nighttime in the Canyon echoes a silence louder than anything that can be made with sound.
As they entered the lobby, they both went in different directions without saying goodnight.
The man who had come by motorcycle wondered: ‘Was I challenged by God before ever reaching the Dominicans? Will I ever see those peaceful hallways and gardens that my wife loved so much ever again?”
Chapter Three
Jack hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in over fifteen years. His tortured mind and soul just seemed to never rest. He woke to the sounds of birds and bright sunshine outside his window. Last night he had truly slept for the first time in his adult life. He never needed an alarm, but it had sounded to him like one had been going off.
All at once he realized what it was --- it was a siren. Multiple sirens were going off and he wondered if the Motel was on fire. Still slightly disoriented from the past two days, and the effects of so much sleep, he threw his pants and shoes on and headed down the hall toward the lobby.
He then remembered the strange conversation he had had with that man in the Canyon last night. Cold sweat started to flow as he then remembered their agreement. “If I don’t hear differently by first thing tomorrow morning, I will go ahead with my part of our agreement.” Jack tried to compose himself as he thought, “No way, no way anyone would be crazy enough to do what he said he would do last night. If this place isn’t on fire, maybe he’s having breakfast in the coffee shop off the lobby.”
As he hustled through the lobby, the desk clerk shouted to him but he didn’t stop. He saw fire engines and ambulances outside, and he wanted to see what was going on. He was immediately relieved when he saw Fred’s motorcycle parked in the same spot as last night.
Something else didn’t look right though. There were at least three fire engines and two ambulances outside but nothing was on fire and there was no car accident to be seen. Obviously, something was afoot, but everyone seemed too busy to talk to him. He walked back into the Motel and through the lobby…
This time the desk clerk came out from behind the desk and said, “Hey, I was shouting to you as you ran out the door. There’s an envelope for you here from the guy who jumped. The police are looking to talk to you as they have no clues as to why or what drove him to step off the edge. We get a couple of jumpers every year, but this guy seemed totally different. He was one of the most upbeat people to come in here in a long time.”
JUMP! It seemed impossible. Jack couldn’t wrap his mind around it as he opened the envelope. In a very neat handwriting, it said --- ‘I’ve left something for you under the seat of my motorcycle.” As he started back outside the desk clerk asked, “Did you know him very well?” “No, not really, I just met him late yesterday afternoon for the first time.”
Jack's knees weakened as the desk clerk went on. “It’s really weird. He was actually whistling when he walked through the lobby this morning at about 7:15.” “Who, Jack asked.” “Why the Jumper, the guy who jumped. He was smiling and commenting on what a beautiful day it was, and how he hoped we all were going to have a great day. I guess it just goes to show --- you never know.
At 7:42, the police got a call from the Havasupai Indians that live along the bottom saying that a full set of clothes had fallen to the floor of the canyon, shirt, shoes, socks, underwear, the whole deal. Everything, but a body. The police are having the hardest time making any sense of it at all.”
The words ‘you never know’ kept repeating in Jack’s ears as he walked outside. As he unlatched the seat and lifted it up on the old BMW, he found a two-page note folded over and neatly placed between the frame. It went on to say …
Dear Jack
I don’t know and can hardly imagine what your life must have been like up until now. I wish I had the power to go back and change the bad things that happened to you, but I don’t.
The only power that I have, the one that all of us have, is to change what happens now. I hope you will believe me now when I say I really do care about you more than you know, and I am happy and willing to live up to my promise. I am now counting on you to live up to yours.
The only thing extra I ask, and I’ve put this in writing to the head Abbott, is for you to be allowed to ride the motorcycle back to this spot once every year. Once here, I would like you to say a Rosary for the souls of my family and for all the faithful departed. If you put in a good word for me that would be all the better. If you do this, I know your new life will be joyous and take on a deeper meaning, and more than make up for any troubles that you’ve experienced up until now.
If you choose not to keep your promise and go through with ending your life, then I forgive you and still love you, but I don’t think you’re going to do that.
May God Bless and keep you.
Fred
Underneath the note there was a folded-up roadmap with a line drawn in magic marker pointing the way to the monastery in New Mexico. Jack sat down on the curb in front of the motorcycle in disbelief. There was one more slip of paper folded up in the map. It was the title to the old BMW. It had been signed over to Jack.
“He couldn’t have, he couldn’t have, he just wouldn’t have,” Jack kept saying over and over to himself. Just then a large Park Policeman tapped Jack on the shoulder and asked him if he would mind answering a few questions. Jack agreed but then told the officer that after speaking with him he just might be even more confused. The officer went on to tell Jack that none of their suspicions panned out. This man hadn’t jumped for insurance money (he was very wealthy), or out of a history of depression, he just jumped.
And none of the usual reasons seemed to apply.
After thirty-five minutes of polite questioning the police officer walked away scratching his head. On the margin of the map was a scribbled note, “Don’t delay out of any concern for me, get to the monastery as quickly as you can.” Jack had told the police officer about Fred wanting him to have the bike and showed him the title that had been left for him. He did not show the police officer the letter Fred had left and was in fact surprised that they hadn’t checked the bike. Then it all started to make sense. If Jack hadn’t read the note Fred left with the desk clerk, he would never have known the seat to the motorcycle opened up. He was sure the police didn’t know that either. He was glad no-one was looking when he opened up the seat and took out the letter. In all the commotion, everyone else was just looking the other way.
Jack wanted to go back to the spot where Fred jumped and where they first had met, but the police had it roped off. He decided to leave for New Mexico right away because that’s what Fred would have wanted. The news stations were now calling it a ‘Mystery In The Canyon’ because only clothes, and no body was found.
Jack had never ridden a motorcycle before but had often fantasized about it. Like most things in his life he had always come up with excuses as to why he couldn’t ride, while secretly envying those who did. He took to the old bike immediately, and with every hour that passed on Rt #40 he enjoyed the ride more and more. A new type of guilt started to set in because he was actually enjoying his new life with every new twist of the throttle and turn of the handlebars.
Chapter Four
Jack pulled up in front of the Old Dominican Monastery with its Spanish Adobe Walls at 2:30 the following afternoon. He had spent the previous night in Gallup and had actually been able to volunteer at the Dominican Soup Kitchen that was housed in the old Post Office in the center of downtown.
Gallup was very depressed and except for a flourishing Indian Jewelry Industry had very little in the way of jobs and opportunity. The Friar who ran the soup kitchen listened to Jacks story and then put his arm around him and led him inside. Jack was astonished that the story seemed to make perfect sense to this selfless Padre.
Jack spent the night on a cot behind the soup kitchen and after having an early breakfast with Padre Nick, headed on his way east toward the Monastery in the New Mexico desert. It reminded Jack of the pictures he had seen of an oasis in the middle of the Arabian desert. There were palm trees and many varieties of flowers surrounded by what looked like an eternity of sand. Jack loved the sparseness of his new surroundings, but he still didn’t know why.
The Monastery sat atop a sandy hill at the end of a long unpaved road. He parked the bike outside the two large, padlocked, doors and began to knock.
Before he could make contact with the old wooden door on the right a smaller door within it began to open. He stepped through the door as a monk whose hood was completely covering his head lead him inside. The monastery had a quiet about it that would rival that of the Canyon. There were three old Spanish Buildings side by side, and the main door to the one in the middle was already open.
He asked the monk where they were going and heard back nothing in return. The hooded monk led Jack down a long hallway to another open door on the left. He knocked on the door three times as he led jack through and motioned for him to sit down on one of the two chairs in front of the large stone fireplace. I wonder where they get stone in a desert like this Jack wondered to himself.
Jack looked up slightly and saw the image of two large and heavily tanned feet in sandals walking toward him at a lively pace. As he looked even higher, he saw a stocky and athletically built man who looked to be in his mid-sixties with a smile that could have come from an angelic two-year old child.
My name is Abbott Estefan, and I have been expecting you all day. Early this morning I got a letter from our beloved Fred, telling the details of your meeting. Before we do anything else, we must pray together to him that your mission here will be successful. I am certain in my heart that Fred now sits with the Saints in heaven and is at this very moment looking down on us both --- with love !
I read Fred’s words, and I am still in partial disbelief. Would you like to tell me in your words what happened yesterday, Jack? Soon Abbott, but not right now, I hope you can understand.” “I do totally my son. Let’s get you settled and then you can start to feel like one of us. I know that is what Fred would have wanted.
“When’s the last time you’ve eaten,” Abbott Estefan asked. “This morning, in Gallup with Padre Nick,” Jack answered. “Ah, Padre Nick, one of our very finest. Half Pueblo and half Navajo but all Dominican. Once you walk through those front doors, all ‘divisions’ of ethnicity and nationality fade away like the shifting sands.”
“First the body, then the mind. It’s time to get something into your stomach. We are only humble servants of the poor around here Jack, but we eat like Roman Emperors. It’s one of the perks of our particular order.” “Sounds great to me Abbot, when it comes to food, I’m not picky.”
They laughed together at Jacks comment as they walked down another long hallway around a corner and into the biggest kitchen Jack had even seen. Padre Francisco was the head cook, and he started to ladle out an array of Mexican food onto a plate the likes of which Jack had never seen. He decided to eat every drop so as not to disappoint the good Padre. Once finished ,Abbott Estefan led Jack to his new room on the second floor.
It was very well lit and like all of the Monk’s rooms it faced East to meet the rising sun. “Get some rest now Jack, morning prayers are at 5a.m. and breakfast is at 6. I’ll have someone put your motorcycle in one of the stables. You do intend to keep your promise, don’t you Jack, Abbott Estefan asked as he closed the door.” YES, Jack said to himself as he sat down in the bed. But then he knew the Abbott already knew his answer.
Jack had never heard anyone laugh with the gusto of Abbott Estefan. He liked it here already as he could feel his old life peeling away like layers coming off an old onion. Two days later, Jack and Abbott Estefan took a walk around the grounds as Jack told the Abbott the whole story about Fred and their chance meeting at the Grand Canyon. “Ah yes, the police have contacted us because they found out through Fred’s family that he was coming to be one of us. I pray that they will someday know more about his passing than they do today. In his letter, Fred asked us not to say anything.
Two Havasupai elders who were meditating at dawn that morning high among the rocks said they both saw an eagle swoop through the bottom of the canyon just before Fred’s clothing hit the ground. They then looked up and saw two hands reaching out of the clouds which grabbed the eagle right out of the sky.
WE ARE BUILDING A GROTTO TO FRED IN THIS VERY SPOT WHERE YOU ARE STANDING NOW!
The Monastery was almost totally cloistered, and voices were only used when absolutely necessary. Over the next several months Jack would come to find out how overrated ‘talking’ really is.
Chapter Five
The next few months were an adjustment for Jack as he settled into a life of contemplation and prayer. Slowly, yet surely, a fundamental change was taking place inside of him. It was a change unlike anything he had ever felt before. The empty places inside of him, some of them over fifty years old, he could feel being filled. Things that he couldn’t explain and things that he had never felt before were rapidly becoming things he could no longer live without.
Almost a year had gone by when Abbott Estefan knocked on his door one quiet afternoon. Jack was deep in contemplative prayer, having just finished his daily Rosary and he didn’t hear the first knocks, so the good Abbott knocked harder. He always prayed to Fred at the end of every Rosary, who the Monks were now referring to with extreme reverence as Patron. Fred was pronounced the same in Spanish as it was in English, only with a slightly different inflection. The Grotto in Fred’s honor had only recently been finished.
Jack had a direct view of the Grotto from the window in his room.
Jack opened the door to that wide-eyed smile he had come to love. ‘May I come in Gato,” the Abbott asked. “Absolutely,” Jack said. He always loved it when any of the Monks referred to the Spanish pronunciation of his name. “How can I be of service Father Estefan? It is always an honor when you choose to visit my humble room.”
“In one week’s time it will be the one year anniversary since you decided to become one of us. It will also be the one-year anniversary of our dear Fred’s passing and his ascension into heaven. No one else dared refer to Fred’s passing in that way, but the Abbott was heard on more than one occasion to say that Fred had been welcomed into heaven by none other than Jesus, the Son of God Himself. It was his hands that the two Havasupai Elders saw reaching out of the clouds that day.
Abbott Estefan was sure of that in his heart. He told Jack that it was much easier to live with what you knew in your heart, rather than what you could prove. The Church still required proof for Sainthood, but the Abbott told Jack that he was living proof and the only proof his order would ever need that Fred was sitting next to Jesus at the right hand of the Father.
“Are you planning on keeping your promise Gato?” the Abbott asked him no longer smiling. “I hope that you are, and if so, I would like you to start making plans right away. I will have my personal secretary call that Motel and make you a reservation for two nights. You need to spend the first night at the canyon isolated and by yourself in prayer. The second day and night are a celebration to Fred, and you need to keep an open mind, and open heart, to anything that might happen.”
The Abbott thought he saw a small tinge of uncertainty in Jack’s eyes. “You must not hesitate or be doubtful my son. Remember only that the man who gave his life up for you, a stranger, will be with you in the canyon. Our Native American Brothers like to refer to this experience as a Vision Quest. You should fast and sleep little while you are there. And with enough time, the Patrons message will take over you and show you the way.”
After speaking, Abbott Estefan turned and quietly started to walk down the hall. After only three steps, he turned, looked at Jack one more time and said: “My dear Gato, please ask the Patron to smile down on this poor Dominican Monk who thinks of him daily. Ask him to watch over our Mission and all of the poor and suffering souls that we try and help.
Jack hadn’t looked at the BMW for almost a year. In fact, he had thought about it very little. The Monk who acted as head groundskeeper had stored it in a stable near the very back of the mission. He had it wheeled up to the front of the Main Building on the day Jack was getting ready to leave. It started on the very first kick.
Jack was taking very little with him as he headed to Arizona. Just the old civilian clothes he had been wearing when arriving a year ago, a road map of the Southwest, and the Rosary Beads he had found draped across the handlebars when he went to get on the bike.
The bikes gas tank was full, and Jack marveled at how clean and well maintained it looked. ‘Unbelievable, he thought to himself. “I know if I was to ask, the Monks would tell me it was all a result of the power of prayer — prayer, and a siphon to remove fuel from the Abbots old School Bus.”
Jack wondered if anyone not directly connected to all that had happened would ever believe him if he told them his story. The Abbott had told him it was of no consequence, --- as the truth needed no audience!
Jack rode all day and arrived at the South Rim of the Canyon just after six in the evening. He checked into the same Motel —The Yavapai Motor Lodge — and parked the Motorcycle in exactly the same spot that it had been in on exactly this day a year ago. The same desk clerk was working in the lobby who had been there last year.
“How are you doing? I NEVER expected to see you back here again. That was really something that happened last year. None of us can believe an entire year has gone by already.
“Yes, it was really something,” said Jack. I made a promise to come back and honor his memory, so I’ll be staying with you for the next two days. It would mean a lot to me, and to him, if you keep my being here quiet. I don’t want any publicity, especially from the press. This is a very private matter and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“No problem, mums the word as far as I’m concerned. It’s good to see you and that you’re doing well. Just one thing though before I go home for the evening.” “What’s that,” Jack said. “Did they ever figure out why he did it? I never read anything in the papers about why he jumped.”
“No, I don’t think they ever did. Some things, maybe the most important things in life, tend to remain a mystery from all but the few who are directly involved. I think in Fred’s case, that mystery will remain intact.” “That’s right his name was Fred, I haven’t heard anyone use his name in almost a year. Around here he’s just referred to as the ‘Naked Jumper.”’ Jack smiled to himself at the terminology. He knew that somewhere high above, Fred was looking down and smiling too.
‘One more thing though,” the desk clerk said as Jack was turning to go to his room. “What’s that, I’m kind of in a hurry, I want to get into the restaurant before it closes and then over to the canyon before the sun is completely down.” “Well, it’s like this. Every morning at exactly 7:00 a.m. the phone rings at the front desk and it’s someone asking for the number of Jack’s room. When we tell the caller that we are not allowed to give out any information regarding our guests, they immediately hang up and the call ends. The very next morning they call back again and ask once more for the number of Jack’s room. This has happened now every day for a year. Your name’s Jack, isn’t it?”
‘Yep, must be a co-incidence. Didn’t they ask for Jack by his last name.” “No, only Jack, just plain old Jack every time they called.”
Jack knew that Fred had never asked him about his last name, and he was sure that he had never offered the information. “It’s really funny,” the desk clerk went on, “the caller never stays on long enough for the police to trace the call. After the tenth or eleventh time we were called we forwarded the information about the calls to the Park Police who tapped into our line and tried to put a trace on the calls.
Our receptionist, Daphne, who almost always takes the call, has tried to keep the caller on the line, but when she doesn’t give the caller the information they request, the line always goes dead.” Jack said goodnight to the desk clerk, whose name he now knew was Roy, and checked into his room. It was the same room, #888, that he had been in a year ago. He picked up the phone and dialed 0 for the Front Desk.
“Roy, this is Jack in Room #888. Did someone request this specific room for me when making the reservation?” “Let me check …. Nope, just says Non-Smoking King, on the reservation slip. Why is something wrong with Room #888?” “No, everything’s fine, good night, Roy.”
Jack quickly said a Rosary before ordering takeout from the restaurant. He then hurried across and down the road to the Rim where he had met Fred on that fateful day a year ago. As he sat there quietly eating and staring out over the rim, he felt a peacefulness descend and overtake him both in body and spirit. As the sun went completely down, he prayed for over three hours for the saving deliverance of Fred’s soul.
Suicide, a word no-one except the police and newspapers had used in his presence, was still a grievous sin in the Catholic Church. Publicly, the church would admit to no justification that would allow one to take their own life. Jack thought silently about Jesus, --- and wasn’t that exactly what he had done by offering himself up as a sacrifice so all could be saved. Jesus knew what was going to happen on Calvary that afternoon, just as Fred knew what was going to happen if he didn’t receive a phone call from Jack that morning saying that he had changed his mind.
When the stars had finally filled the sky, Jack got up and walked back to the Motel. As he walked past the front desk he asked Roy, “What time does that call come in in the morning asking for a Jack?” “At exactly 7:00 a.m. every morning.”
Jack thanked Roy and walked back to his room. He set his alarm for 6:00 a.m. the next morning. He was in the lobby standing at the front desk at ten minutes before seven waiting, waiting to see if the caller would call again.
Chapter Six
“Nothing,” said Daphne. “Every morning for a year a call has come in at exactly 7:00 a.m. asking for Jack. Are you sure it hasn’t been you that’s been making those phone calls?” “What, call and ask for myself,” Jack said. “What would be the reasoning behind that?”
‘It’s really unbelievable. We’re open 365 days a year and the only property inside the park that is. This caller has called every day for a solid year and hasn’t missed a holiday, weekend, nothing. Every morning, and I mean EVERY morning that phone rings --- but not today!”
Jack spent the next day in quiet contemplation on the edge of the rim. He thought about Sarah and how she had loved this place and said a prayer to Fred to please watch over his beloved wife until he could be with her again. That night he slept like he had never slept before.
There was a night owl just outside his window and it spoke to him in a language he felt but could not understand. He could feel it saying to him, --- UNTIL NEXT YEAR, UNTIL NEXT YEAR !!!
Jack got up early the next morning and was in the lobby again before seven. Once again, no phone call asking for Jack. After having breakfast and visiting the rim one more time, he rode non-stop back to the monastery, carrying a new part of the Great Mystery.
The Abbott had always been very respectful, and not in a condescending way, of the terms the Indians used to refer to God and Revelation. Jack had heard the Abbott use the term ‘The Great Mystery’ when referring to their religious beliefs many times. He couldn’t come up with a better term for what he felt had happened back at the Canyon.
For twenty-four more years Jack repeated this same yearly ritual to the South Rim. The Motel was eventually sold and torn down, and a new Holiday Inn express was built where the old Yavapai Motor Lodge used to stand. Jack always stayed at the Holiday Inn Express with a room facing East like the one he had at the old Motel. He was now in his early seventies and each year the trip took longer to get to the Canyon.
The bike was still properly maintained and running well, but the effort it took to ride it all the way tired Jack out, and every year it seemed like the Canyon got further and further away. Abbott Estefan had died several years ago and Father Jack, or Abbott Gato, as he was now called, was in charge of the Monastery. Jack had been ordained in a very private ceremony almost fifteen years before. Fred’s children and grandchildren had proudly attended the event in their Father’s honor, each of them placing a wreath at the base of their fathers statue, the Patron, in the garden around back.
As he promised he would every year, Jack checked into the hotel at the South Rim. It had recently changed its name again to a Best Western. Including the first time he had stayed here, the time he met Fred, this was the 25th Anniversary of his visiting the Canyon in Fred’s honor. He said “Hi Tammy,” to the pretty young girl working at the front desk. “So, you’re still riding that old motorcycle all the way from New Mexico?” “I am, and God willing, I’ll get back there to resume my duties in a couple of days.’ “Well, my dad said to remind you again that you have a standing offer for the Motorcycle if ever, and whenever you decide to sell.”
“Sorry Tammy, but like I told your Dad last year, this motorcycle is going to take me all the way thru the pearly gates.” “Oh Father, you’re such a kidder, but if you do change your mind, my Dad will drive over to the Monastery and pick it up.” “Thanks Tammy, and thank your Dad again for the kind offer. Are those phone calls still coming in every morning?”
“Every morning at seven a.m. like clockwork Father, except on the mornings you’re here. It’s old hat around here now and part of the DNA of this place. I don’t know what we’d do if they ever stopped.” “I don’t think you need to worry about that Tammy, tell that caller that I said Hi every time he calls.” “I will Father, he seems to get a real kick out of that. Two days ago, we weren’t sure what was going on because at exactly seven a.m the phone rang and in the same voice as always, the caller asked for Gato. When we acted confused, he immediately corrected himself and said ‘Jack,’ could you please tell me the room number of ‘Jack.’
“We’ve got you in #888 as always Father, and it always amuses me that we don’t have any other rooms that start with the number eight. Do you know why we have one room in this hotel out of sequence with all the others, that is numbered #888, when all the other rooms start with a letter followed by three numbers.
The rooms on this floor go from A100 to A165.”
“No, I really don’t know why that is Tammy, I just know that I’ve always been in Room #888 and I like it that way. Nothing like tradition right …”
Jack went back to his room and as was his habit said the Rosary before getting into bed. The next morning, he was outside the restaurant when it opened for breakfast at six. He liked talking to all the vacationers coming to the Grand Canyon, especially those visiting for the first time. “God’s greatest creation on earth he would tell all those he met. He had also become something of a local celebrity, and several local orders of both priests and nuns would come by the south rim during his yearly visit and ask for his blessing.
No-one ever asked him specifically why he was there, but everyone knew, and it was now local legend, that it had something to do with that ‘Jumper’ that had gone over the edge so many years ago. Today was the actual 25th Anniversary of Fred’s taking his place and stepping off into the Canyon.
After breakfast Jack walked the short distance down the canyon road to the rim behind the Pinyon Trees that he had visited so many times before. He sat on the same rock that he was sitting on twenty-five years before when Fred came walking through the trees. He began to pray.
He looked down into the loose dirt at the base of the rock and thought that he could still see the impression that his handgun had made in the soft canyon silt. He wondered at his advanced age if his mind not be starting to play tricks on him. Two of his closest friends at the monastery had been stricken with Alzheimers this year and as he watched them slowly drift away, he prayed more than anything, that it would never happen to him.
Every memory he had had of and in this place seemed to come rushing back at once. Everything seemed so real. Not surreal, but really real! He closed his eyes again and prayed. He wasn’t sure how long he had been praying but when he opened his eyes, he saw that it was now dark. “Could an entire day have slipped away that fast he wondered, or maybe I really am losing my mind.”
He looked into the sky for any trace of the sun. It was all the way back over his left shoulder, in the direction of California, the land he had come from, the place where everything that happened to him had been so bad.
As he got up to leave, he heard a rustling in the bushes. He thought maybe it was a black bear, or perhaps a couple of honeymooners coming to the rim to profess undying love. He called out to the noise in the bushes, but nothing answered back. He walked deeper in the direction that the sound had come from but it was now so dark that his aging eyes were failing him.
It was then that he remembered that he had forgotten his Rosary Beads and had left them back on the rock. As Jack turned around to go back and get his Rosary his eyes went completely blind. There was a light that he had never seen before coming from the Canyon’s edge and it seemed to be shining only on him. To the right and the left he could still see darkness, but the brilliant beam of light that he couldn’t understand was following him as he walked blindly back toward the rock.
As bright as the light was it did not hurt his eyes, and it seemed to be drawing him closer and into its light. As he got near the edge, he could feel the light totally envelop him, both body and soul. As he got to the Canyon’s edge, he could see the light take shape as it drifted level with his view. In the middle of the flashing brilliance was the face of Fred who was now smiling at him in the way he had remembered from so long ago. Fred’s arms were now opening wide as he said through the light …
“Father Jack, you have kept your promise when all I had to give you that day was love. You have returned that love to me twenty-five fold. I now release you from your promise so you may go back and live peacefully the rest of your days. What we did here together will forever be understood, by those willing to give freely and totally of themselves.”
With that the light was gone, and Jack’s body was filled with a new warmth of understanding and love. It was if someone or something had climbed inside him, someone who needed to reassure him one last time that he would never, ever, be alone again.
On the very next day a message appeared heavily inscribed on the rock. It read — "He who sacrifices himself in my name shall never die, and my name is love"
Kurt Philip Behm
April, 2012