CHAPTER THIRTY
"Aren't you done yet?" Dakota calls out from the other side of my bedroom door.
"Almost! Be patient. You've only been waiting for five minutes." I snatch the pictures I printed from the printer and fumble to open the door.
"So nice of you to let me join you again." She walks in past me.
"You ready?"
"It depends on what I'm supposed to be ready for exactly."
"All right, so I wanted to take you somewhere kind of cool. Something that had to do with your name. So here. I hand her the first black-and-white photo.
"Mount Rushmore? This is your big surprise?"
"Yeah, you know, South Dakota, for Dakota? I thought it was kinda cute."
She starts giggling.
"Don't worry about me," I tease. "I'll just go alone. Watch this manmade wonder being carved out of the rock for the first time all by myself."
She studies the photo more closely. "It's ... you're right. It is cute. Very cute."
"Did you just say you thought I was cute?"
"Oh, please. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"I think you did just call me cute. It's okay if you don't want to admit it. But I heard it. I have quite the effect on women. What can I say?"
"If you don't shut it, I'm going to throw you off of Mount Rushmore."
I make an exaggerated face that suggests I'm fearing for my life. "You are one tough woman. But I'm kidding about Mount Rushmore. That was a test. Which you failed, by the way."
"Thank God." She grins.
"I really was going to take you there at first, but I sort of figured you'd hate it. So, like always, I'm a man of many plans."
"So there's a plan B?"
"That's right. But you have to close your eyes for this one. And trust me."
She looks uneasy, but gives in. "Fine. But no blindfolds. I'll promise to keep my eyes closed."
"No cheating."
"I said I promise. I might be a bitch, but I'm an honest bitch."
I let out a loud, obnoxious cackle. "Funny. That was funny."
"I do have my moments every once in a while."
"Okay, close your eyes."
She does.
"On the count of three," I say, "I'm going to hold the photo up, and we're going to recite the chant at the same time. Here we go. One ... two ... three ... To this time, allow my travel. Take me there, let time unravel."
The air is thick with the scent of pure nature that fills our nostrils, the fluttering of colorful birds that zip past us, and the gushing waters that stick to our ears like honey.
Ahead of us stands the enchanting structure I brought Dakota to see, perched magnificently at the peak of the rocky, forested mountain, almost as if carved from the rock itself. The stone castle, which could have been plucked right out of a Disney movie, looks abandoned, with no obvious signs of human life. Every turret is crowned with iron spires that have thin rods extending upright from their tips, as if injecting the air with the magic that so palpably flows throughout.
