Shortly before ten they reached Ayers Rock Campground near Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and checked in. Davide located a rustic bathroom and they made a pit stop before continuing on to their campsite. Only a scattering of lanterns lit the darkness
Davide exited the van and slid the side door open, reaching for his sleeping bag. The frigid night quickly dispersed any warmth in the van.
"Davide, what are you doing? You're not going to sleep outside are you? It's freezing."
"Of course I am. The sleeping bag will keep me warm."
"That's ridiculous. There's enough room for both of us in here. Besides, if you sleep outside, then I will too. I'd never be able to rest knowing you were out in the cold."
Davide studied her face. "Only if you're sure."
"Good grief, of course I'm sure. Hurry and get back in here. It's freezing."
Davide quickly laid their sleeping bags out on the floor of the van while Zoe placed necessary items within reach: water bottles, toiletries bag, pillows, wash cloth, towel, flashlight. Within minutes, hastened by the frigid desert night, they were lying side-by-side and staring at the ceiling of the van.
Davide turned his head to look at her profile. "Thanks, Zoe. You're a good sport, as always."
She looked at him. "You're not so bad yourself." They locked eyes for a second and then she turned to face the opposite direction. A host of emotions vied for preeminence—heaven, lying so close to Davide; hell, knowing this was as close as they would ever get. She closed her eyes, thinking sleep would be a long time coming.
"Zoe, honey, wake up." She felt a tickling against her ear and snuggled closer to the sensation. Warmth suffused her body in delicious decadence. It was probably a crime to feel this good. The tickling turned into a laugh. "It'll soon be dawn and we don't want to miss the sunrise over Uluru."
Her eyes popped open at the word "Uluru" and the events of the past forty-eight hours flooded her memory. She pushed up on one elbow and realized she had been snuggled against Davide's chest, with one arm curled inside his sleeping bag. Jerking upright and running a hand through her disheveled hair, she hoped her morning breath wasn't killing him.
Davide flipped on the flashlight and the corners of his mouth quirked upward. "I was thinking it would take a splash of cold water to wake you."
Outside the van other lights shined as campers wanting to view Uluru at sunrise hastily began doing morning duty. Zoe grabbed a water bottle and located her toiletries bag with one goal, finding her toothbrush and toothpaste. Davide slid the side door open. "The bathroom isn't far. Come on, we'll walk together and get our blood moving."
The freezing morning sent shivers down her body as they walked briskly to the latrine with Davide lighting the way with the flashlight. After waiting in line for a few minutes, he let her take care of nature's call first and then, while he did the same, she stepped away and brushed her teeth.
Back at their campervan, Davide did his own morning toiletry while Zoe searched for her ball cap. Her hair had reached the impossible stage and the only help for it was to cover it up.
Davide rolled up the sleeping bags and organized the back of the van. "Ready?" he called. Zoe had walked to the edge of their campsite and stood looking up at the stars. Never had she seen so many. She wanted to imprint this moment in Australia with Davide into her memory forever, even though it would be a bittersweet one.
"Ready," she said, walking back to him.
"I figured we'd drive out of the campground and find a place away from lights and tents and cars; someplace secluded."
"Yes, let's do that."
A few minutes before sunrise, Davide pulled the van to the side of a dirt road. They were utterly and wonderfully alone. When the first sunray peeked over the horizon they stepped from the van and leaned against the warmth of the hood. Davide pulled Zoe in front of him and wrapped his strong arms around her, and together, the magic of Uluru held them spellbound and stopped time. As dawn slowly awakened the land and the monolith, Davide rested his chin amongst her squishy curls after removing her ball cap. Suspended in time, she leaned against his solidity and experienced dawn's light capture the top of the mountain, suffuse it, and travel downward, turning gray into orange in an unfolding display of mystical elegance. Zoe felt Davide kiss the top of her head and she wanted to turn in his arms and lift her lips to his. Somehow, the strength she sensed in the sacred mountain almost gave her the courage to do so.
"Beautiful," Davide whispered against her ear.
She started to turn around.
The sound of an approaching vehicle snapped her out of her trance and she stepped away from him. She extended her hand and he looked at it for a second before realizing what she wanted: her ball cap.
"I like your hair without it," he teased.
"Not gonna happen, Davide Beowolf. Hand me my cap."
He laughed and chucked it on her head, adjusting it so the brim was pointed toward the side. Still laughing, he opened the van door for her. "I suppose we could go back to our campsite and eat our snack food for breakfast. It's too early for the park to open. What do you think?"
"I think you're right."
Back at their campsite they stayed in the van and had just opened some trail bars when a middle-aged man with a slight paunch and silver-tipped hair approached them. Davide rolled his window down.
"Howdy, young people. My wife and I saw you drive in last night. Don't look much like you're set up for camping, so we'd like to invite you to breakfast with us. My name's Paul Maxwell and my wife is Joanie. We're from the U.S., Oklahoma, to be exact. My wife's a great cook. How 'bout joinin' us?"
At that moment, Davide's stomach growled loudly and he glanced at Zoe, questioning her with his eyes.
Zoe appraised the man's aura and nodded.
"That would be great. Thanks for inviting us, Paul," said Davide.
For the next hour and a half Zoe and Davide enjoyed sitting around the campfire with Paul and Joanie. Actually, Joanie didn't sit, she was too busy stirring pancake batter, whipping eggs, frying bacon, and creating the breakfast of fantasies. When Zoe had insisted on helping, she'd handed her a bowl of potatoes to peel.
Paul kept up a running conversation. "Yep, me and Joanie talked about visiting Uluru for over twenty years. Last month, she said, 'We're goin' 'cause I got the tickets, so don't argue.' And believe me, Joanie's not one to argue with, so we're here and lovin' every minute." Paul had a tendency to change subjects quickly. "You two newlyweds?"
Davide answered, "No, not newlyweds." He didn't bother to explain further than that.
Paul persisted with his questioning. "Got any kids?"
"No, no children."
"Me and Joanie, we got six young-uns. Well, they're all grown and left the nest, but I still call 'em young-uns, and love the dickens out of each of 'em. Let me give you some advice—have 'em while you're young and still have the energy to chase the little hellions. That way, after they leave the nest you're still young enough to do stuff, like camp out at Uluru in the Outback." He winked.
Davide laughed. "I'll remember that." He glanced at Zoe.
Zoe quickly shifted her gaze back to the potato in her hand.
By the time breakfast was laid out on a picnic table and huge helpings served, other campers were packing to leave, but the four of them enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with steaming cups of delicious coffee afterward.
Paul asked, "So, are you and the Missus gonna walk to the top of Uluru. We was goin' to, but found out that the Aboriginal people discourage it. It's a sacred site to them."
"Yes, I read about that on the internet," Davide replied.
"As for me and my Missus, we felt like it'd be the same as barging into a Protestant cathedral, or Buddhist temple, or Hindu monastery."
"I understand what you're saying, and I agree. We'd love to climb the rock, but respect for another culture begs our consideration. We'll view it from below."
"Good for you; I knew you were a man of integrity."
After the gut busting breakfast, Zoe helped Joanie wash and dry the dishes and then turned to Davide, indicating she was ready to go.
He winked and smiled at her. "Well, Missus, are you ready for the next leg of our adventure?"
She blushed. "I'm ready, Davide."
After bidding goodbye to their host and hostess and receiving hugs in return, with an invitation to join them again either there or in the U.S., Davide drove them to the main entrance of Uluru and paid the entrance fee. After parking at the base of the mountain they exited the car and gazed upward at the monolith. It literally made Zoe speechless.
"The height equates to a ninety-five story building," said Davide.
"I'm simply in awe. I can see why this is such a sacred place."
Davide held out his hand, "Come on and let's walk the base of it."
Without hesitation, she accepted his outstretched hand and they followed a well-worn trail to begin their exploration of Uluru.
* * *
Yileen parked his car and walked to the foot of Uluru. The dream had been strong the previous night. In fact, it had been overwhelming. Again, as in hundreds of his dreams, he saw the face of a young man more comely than most, and felt the coolness of the cave.
Upon awakening, he'd been drawn to go to Uluru. After telling his grandmother about the dream and his need to visit the sacred mountain, she'd said, "Yes, go, my grandson. Perhaps today is the day of understanding."
Yileen was afraid to hope that her words might come true. He'd been dreaming the same dream for as long as he could remember. In it, he was sitting on a stone beside a white man in one of the caves at Kata Tjuta, but always felt the presence of another person on the other side of the man.
Yileen walked the familiar base of the sacred rock while musing over the strength of the dream these past two weeks. He paused to sit on a boulder beside a pond formed after a recent rain and watched tourists. He did not find it surprising that so many, from every corner of the world, visited Uluru. Whether they knew it consciously or not, the rock called to humanity.
He glanced at a couple who had just rounded a desert oak tree and almost fell off his perch. His eyes bulged and his breath caught. His heart raced and then his breathing became like that of someone who had just run a marathon. He couldn't take his eyes off the man and woman holding hands and strolling toward him. It was the man of his night visions. There was no mistake. The man looked up and Yileen quickly looked at the ground. When the couple passed by, he watched their retreating backs. What should he do?
Pondering his dilemma, he followed them at a safe distance.
* * *
Zoe paused with Davide to look at the surprisingly lush vegetation surrounding Uluru. Surreptitiously, she glanced toward the young man who now walked on the trail behind them. Rarely, did she encounter another Indigo person, and she'd wanted to stop and talk with him when they'd walked past, but what would she say, "Hey, you're an Indigo like me. How's life treating you? What are your special gifts?"
The young man had stopped walking when they did and Davide leaned down. "Zoe, the Aboriginal man we just passed—what is his aura telling you?"
She turned her back on the young man and looked up at Davide. "He's an Indigo, like me. And his aura is very bright. Why?"
Davide whistled low. "We need to find a guide for our walkabout, and if he's like you, he's got to be a sweetheart. Let's go meet him."
Before she could answer, Davide was pulling her toward the young man who was bending over tying his shoe.
"Excuse me," said Davide.
The man looked up with a frightened expression.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," Davide apologized.
The man stood. "No, no. It's okay. You are tourists?" He asked a question with an obvious answer.
"Yes, my name is Davide and this is my friend Zoe. We're from the United States."
The young man hesitated for only a second before saying, "My name is Yileen and I live nearby."
Davide smiled and held out his hand for a shake. Yileen glanced at his hand and then shook it.
"It's a pleasure meeting you, Yileen," said Davide.
Zoe extended her hand also.
For a moment no one seemed to know what to say as Zoe observed Yileen's primarily indigo aura. It was lovely and swirled among the secondary colors surrounding him.
Davide cleared his throat and rubbed his forehead. Ah, Yileen, this may seem an unusual question, having just met, but have you ever been on a walkabout?"
Yileen's eyes grew large and he nodded. "Yes, many times."
"I…we…Zoe and I would like to hire someone who can guide us on a walkabout. Would you be interested in discussing it, or know someone you could direct us to?"
Yileen's eyes rounded even more. "I…I would be interested. Would you like to come to my home to talk?"
Davide sized Yileen up, glanced at Zoe who nodded, and said, "Yes, we would. Thank you."