Before they left on Sunday, Maggie spoke with Ma about the need to homeschool Anna, and Ma said she would take this subject up with James Edwards. A month later, a packet of information arrived with forms for Maggie to fill out. Born in late November, Anna turned five after the October 1 California deadline for kindergarten entrance the previous year, and so this school year Maggie would need to set up a private homeschool based in her apartment. She filled out the forms and sent them back to Edwards who filed them with the state. However, during this time and while these formalities were being addressed, Maggie received a surprise visit from Gary Pritchard.
After Gary was seated in the living room and served yogi tea, and Anna and Bodhi came out to join them, he took out a map of the city and spread it out on the coffee table. It had several small circles drawn on it in red.
“Maggie, I’ve been talking with Ma and James Edwards, and we feel that you need to move to a house with a yard to properly homeschool Anna.”
“Yes, it will be a little cramped here, but I can’t afford to rent a house.”
Gary smiled. “I would like to buy a house and lease it to you, and set your rent at $500 a month or so, plus utilities, and I’ll pay property taxes.”
Maggie immediately stiffened up. Anna reached over and laid a hand on her knee. She pointed to the house near Laguna Lake. “I like that one.”
“Gary, this is very kind of you, but…”
“The lease and the arrangements will be perpetual, until you decide to leave, or are able to buy it from me.”
Maggie smiled. “You mean if I have a falling out with Ma, or whatever, you can’t evict me?”
“Not unless you don’t pay your rent,” Gary added with a smirk. “Maggie, this is about Anna, not about you and Ma.” He paused for a moment. “What you may not know about me is that in my twenties I lived in India with every intention of becoming a sannyasin, but my guru told me to return to America and become a householder and that someday I would be of great service to humanity. I was married and divorced and had two children, both of whom are lovely heathens. Please, let me be of service to Anna and her great unfolding.”
Gary’s heartfelt appeal brought tears to her eyes. Maggie looked down at the map more closely. “This location over here is closer to town and Hawthorne Elementary and to Meadow Park.”
“Yes. Both locations are near public schools, the one in Laguna is blocks away from a middle school. I thought you might go back to teaching when Anna’s older, and no longer needs to be homeschooled.”
Anna again pointed to the house on Laguna Lake. “This one close to park too.”
Gary smiled. “Well, why don’t we drive over and take a look at both of them, or any of the others I’ve circled?”
They first stopped by the house in town on Cypress near the elementary school. It was a smaller two-bedroom house on a medium-size lot and seemed cramped for their purpose. They next drove over to the place on Oceanaire Drive across from Laguna Lake, which was much more upscale: a three-bedroom overlooking the lake with a big backyard. Gary had the key and they did a walk-through. It was perfect, but Maggie figured it would cost a fortune.
“Good investment. The price will only go up with time, and seeded with Anna’s energy, who knows what I’d get for it.”
Maggie turned to her daughter. “Not ocean, but water is water.” She nodded her head enthusiastically.
“So it’s settled?” Gary asked.
“When could we move in?” Maggie tentatively asked, still taken aback by Gary’s overly generous offer.
“You’ve need to give a month’s notice at your apartment. And I’ll have to close on this property. But, by the first of the month, I think you can start moving things over. I’ll hire a mover to move the big stuff.”
Maggie raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know what to say,” she said sitting down on the back porch steps.
“Say yes, Mama,” Anna said and ran out into the backyard with Bodhi.
Maggie stood up and looked at the huge living room. “You know it’s large enough for me to bring in other private school students.”
“Yes, there are some Hindus in the area that probably feel the same way about public schools, if not for the same reason.”
Maggie wondered if this was part of his or Ma’s plan, but it did seem like a natural path to follow. “Okay, Gary. I accept your offer on behalf of Anna.”
“Good. And since it’ll take a month to get back your deposit on the apartment, the first month’s rent is free, and no deposit needed. I trust you.”
Maggie started to walk through the house and make some preliminary decisions about what went where. It was much larger than her apartment, but her mother had a storage unit filled with their old furniture, in case the girls ever needed it. The deal was really closed when Gary dropped them back at her apartment: Jean Millburn’s contract and advance check on The Dog Who was God was in the mailbox. Everything in Divine timing, she said to herself. She immediately called her mother who said she’d drive up that weekend to look over the house and create a moving plan.
When the three of them and Bodhi drove up to the Laguna Lake home, Grace was amazed. “Maggie, how can you afford this? Are you and Thomas or somebody else getting together with you?”
“No, Mother. Haven’t heard from him since he went back to India.” She stepped up and unlocked the door, and they walked inside. “One of Ma hi’ Ma’s devotees owns it, and since I’m homeschooling Anna, he felt I needed a bigger place—figure they hope I’ll open a private school for other Hindus in the area.”
Grace just shook her head. “Are you sleeping with the guy?”
“Mother, please. It’s nothing like that. In fact, he’s kinda like Anna’s godfather,” Maggie added, stretching the truth a bit.
“Well, as your father would say, ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth.’” As they went from room to room, Grace made mental notes on what to bring up from the storage unit to fill out the space. “You could turn this third room into a guest room,” Grace added, liking the north light from the window and imagining spending time here and painting.
“This is the Temple Room, but it will have a sofa bed.”
Anna stepped inside as if to claim her space. Grace said to Maggie, “I didn’t know you were so wedded to your religion.”
“Not for mama, for me,” Anna insisted. Maggie gave her a stern look that didn’t escape Grace’s purview.
“I see, young lady. Two rooms for you. You must be the Queen of Sheba.”
“No, Daughter of Krishna.”
They heard Bodhi barking from the backyard. “Anna, I believe the Bodhisattva is calling you,” Grace said, shaking her head.
She smiled. “Good one, Grandma.” She raced out of the room.
Grace turned to her daughter. “Okay, what aren’t you telling me about Anna and this Hindu thing? I saw how the local devotees were treating her at the Chaucer Bookstore signing.”
Maggie gave her mother the same stern look. “Mother, believe me, you don’t want to know.”
Grace was taken aback for a moment, and then she smiled. “You’re probably right. It’ll be too much for your heathen father. So, we’ll not broach the subject, unless Anna decides to walk across the lily pond in our backyard.”
Maggie smiled. “I’ll warn her about doing that.”
Grace just shook her head and walked out of the room. “Let’s get going. I think I know what we need to bring up from Santa Barbara.”
The move to the Laguna Lake home went without a hitch; Grace and Mark drove up in a rental truck filled with some old but serviceable furniture and that coincided with the arrival of Gary Pritchard’s moving company van. He stepped out wearing jeans and a T-shirt and was followed by a slew of local Ma devotees, women and men, and the furniture was quickly unloaded and arranged, with curtains hung and shelves and closets filled. The Langfords liked Gary and were appreciative of his generous offer, and spending time with him allayed any suspicions of murky motives on his part. He seemed genuinely devoted to Anna. Afterward the women cooked a feast, and they had an impromptu dinner party in the backyard now filled out with the Langfords’ old lawn furniture.
It took Bodhi a while to relax his guard dog duties with all of these new people milling around, but Anna communicated with him and he spent the afternoon chasing Frisbees and eating table scraps. Mark, if not Grace, was somewhat surprised by Anna being asked to say grace, but otherwise he was oblivious to the subtle homage paid to his granddaughter. The gathering was much more genteel and civilized than Mark’s backyard barbecues, but he could tolerate it and was impressed with several philosophical discussions he held with two of Ma’s devotees. Grace had also noticed that Maggie was a focus of a lot of young male attention herself, but her daughter seemed oblivious of it.
After everybody pitched in and cleaned up and they left the house, Grace had a glass of Chardonnay and talked with Maggie while Mark took a shower and prepared for bed. After exchanging pleasantries about her friends, Grace broached the subject that was on her mind.
“Dear, are you interested in any of these hunky young guys?”
Maggie was sipping tea and smiled at her mother’s inquiry. “No, not particularly.”
“Well, they’re certainly interested in you. I mean, outside of your one-night fling with Thomas, I haven’t heard you talk about dating anybody. Aren’t you…?” Grace didn’t state the obvious.
“No, mother. The yoga and my devotional practices seem to have aligned my energy along other channels.”
“Well, spirituality is fine, but it’s no substitute for great sex,” Grace added.
“And how would you know that, Mother?” she asked, then added, “I mean, you’ve never been particularly spiritual.”
Mark came out in his PJs. “I’m ready for bed. You girls going to fix up the sofa bed or what?”
The two women stood up and pulled out the spring bed. Maggie had set aside the linen, and they tucked in the sheets and puffed up the pillows. She sat on the edge of the bed and bounced up and down, and told her mother with a smirk, “Well, I hope the springs aren’t too worn out.” Grace blushed, but Mark didn’t catch the reference as he pulled back the sheets on one side to slip into bed.
“Well, I’ll let you get to… bed. Pleasant dreams,” Maggie told them. “And thanks again for all of your help.”
“Don’t mention it, dear,” Grace said.
Maggie went back to Anna’s room, but she had fallen asleep earlier and was still sleeping soundly. She must have been worn out by all the activity. Maggie watched her daughter, amazed as always that she hardly moved an inch while sleeping, and never rolled over on her stomach or side. No doubt this was due to her spirit body’s astral travels.
Later that night, Grace had a peculiar dream. Anna had come to her while she was sitting in a lawn chair and touched the base of her spine. For Grace it was like touching a live electric wire, and a stream of intense energy shot up her spine and filled her head, and as her eyes crossed and she felt ecstatic, she heard young Anna tell her, “Better than sex.”
Waking up the next morning and recalling the dream, Grace laughed but could only wonder if this were her dream or Anna’s implant, as she began to suspect, and if so she really didn’t want to explore that possibility.