The Script of Evil

35 - The last resort

With bare feet, they all enter the big, smart sitting room. Portraits and figurines of Shiva greet them and in front of a solid, giant front door stands a security guard.

Johan turns to Arjuna. "If there is a patch of lawn, may we go and sit somewhat away from the building on the grass and meditate, Arjuna?"

Arjuna frowns. "It is late at night and the grass is wet from dew, Johan."

He looks at the big, soft cushions on a smart, antique sofa and gets them. "Here, take this one. I'll ask the ladies to wash them afterwards."

Johan takes the cushion while the heavy door is opened and a cool night breeze brushes over him. Barefooted they walk out on a marble veranda with two security guards following them. He smells iodine and the dampness of sea air. He looks around and sees the place is encircled by high pine trees that block his vision and he cannot make out if there are city lights or the gleam thereof behind them. It must be a smallholding! The breeze carries the sea air. Thus, they are near the coast. Does the breeze come from the sea?

Johan looks up and smiles because Arjuna is right. There is no cloud in sight. Spotlights illuminate the place around the building. They walk down three steps and over a concrete aisle to a parking area while the security men on the veranda watch them. Johan wishes there were vehicles around and that he could memorize registration numbers, but there are none.

Arjuna turns to the right and walks over the wet grass and Johan follows and mentions his appreciation.

"Oh, thank you, Arjuna, it is simply wonderful to feel the earth beneath my feet. I feel like a full-laden capacitor that discharges through my feet."

Arjuna smiles. "I understand, my friend, we are made of the same stuff. I don't know how modern people can isolate them day and night from Mother Earth. I must feel her frequently beneath my bare feet and this lawn is perfect. Not a man-made surface that isolates us from her, not so?"

Johan looks back. It is a big building. He scrutinizes the heavens and except for the spotlights, he notices a faint glimmer of the city lights. He was right. They are still in the vicinity of Port Elizabeth because the expanse shows less detail than it would on a farm or in the wilderness far away from the effects of city light.

Arjuna throws down his cushion and takes place in the lotus position but Johan scrutinizes the horizon behind the home and finds the Southern Cross. Deliberately he turns his back so accurately as possible to the south, throws his cushion down and sits down next to Arjuna. He looks back and sees a table with chairs on the veranda to the side of his back. He targets the table and seeks a landmark in line with it and finds a smaller pine tree opposite the parking area in between others nicely in line with him and the table.

He grins happily because his plans are in check. Ronald usually meets him before breakfast in the mess. He heard a Boeing flew over every day at 12:40.

Johan looks at Arjuna. "So far you have fulfilled all your promises and I am so thankful to you to get some fresh air. What about a last request, my friend?"

Arjuna winks friendly: "At your service. What is it?"

"Ronald meets me every day before breakfast. Please persuade him that the three of us could convene at the table on the veranda to have a discussion. I want so dearly to see the sunrise. I feel so entrapped in that room. Please, Arjuna! Ronald made me aware of very important points that I want to discuss with you. You and I have the same philosophical background and I need your wisdom."

"Maybe we must touch on your subject right now, Johan. I take it Ronald informed you about the Holocene mass extinction in which we find ourselves."