{"id":804,"date":"2016-04-22T00:56:47","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T00:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zatma.org\/new-wp\/?p=804"},"modified":"2016-04-22T00:56:47","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T00:56:47","slug":"the-crossword-puzzle-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=804","title":{"rendered":"The Crossword Puzzle (#4)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Ming<\/dt>\n
Ming Zhen Shakya<\/a><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\u00a0To see more literature about Zen and the Art of Investigation:<\/h6>\n
http:\/\/www.zenanthonywolff.com<\/a><\/strong><\/i><\/h5>\n
<\/h6>\n
\n

The Crossword Puzzle<\/h2>\n

by Anthony Wolff (Ming Zhen Shakya)<\/strong><\/p>\n

To see all published chapters of “The Crossword Puzzle” click here<\/a><\/p>\n

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PART 4: THE NEW WOMAN AND THE CABIN IN THE WOODS<\/h4>\n

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For several days Paige and Nola visited Spencer at the clinic; but he barely acknowledged their presence.\u00a0 And then one day as they were leaving, a nurse told Paige that her visits upset him and it would be better if she let him rest and digest his meals without stress.\u00a0 Paige, shocked but still in control of her ability to scheme, said she understood completely, but began to walk back to Spencer\u2019s room, \u201cto get my watch,\u201d she explained.\u00a0 \u201cI left it there until I could get his repaired.\u201d\u00a0 She had a way of sliding past all opposition.<\/p>\n

Paige saw that an attractive blonde doctor was taking his pulse and immediately sensed that something was going on between her husband and the Swiss doctor whose name, she learned, was Ingrid Hesse. \u201cThis Dr.Hesse has the hots for my husband,\u201d she muttered to Nola.\u00a0 \u201cI can see it in her eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nola tried to remove such thoughts from Paige\u2019s mind, but she was not particularly convincing.\u00a0 There was little concern for alarm, she insisted, since Dr. Boyer had assured her that Spencer would be home within the week.<\/p>\n

Paige found the printed note on her vanity.\u00a0 \u201cGregor intends to film you in the carriage house. Beware.\u201d\u00a0 She gasped and then made sure that In the several additional days that her husband was gone, she stayed away from Gregor. Nola had reclaimed her bedroom and aside from being annoyed by the little holes in the walls that Hines had made by hanging so many of his framed posters, she was able to resume her daily schedule with Spence when he returned. She refused, however, to be on call during evening hours since gossip made it impossible for her to remain in the house after hours.\u00a0 Although Spence thought the nightly flights entirely unnecessary, he agreed.<\/p>\n

Several days had passed and at every meal eaten in the servant\u2019s kitchen, Gregor expected Hines to beg him to allow him to stay in the two back rooms. Mrs. Ellington persisted in presenting the case for such a purpose, but Hines claimed to be content with the turret room provided it was renovated as promised. Gregor was puzzled by Hines\u2019 new enthusiasm for the tower chamber and when he discovered that his photos and tapes had been stolen, he believed he now knew why: Hines had taken the photos and would somehow, someway try to use them to get even with Gregor for refusing to allow him to live in the back rooms.<\/p>\n

Gladys, meanwhile, began to wonder how Gregor had gotten the photographs developed.\u00a0 They were too pornographic for him to take into town for processing.\u00a0 Gregor had no friends in town – at least none that she knew of – so where were they processed?\u00a0 The kids all had digital cameras and there were few places that still had dark-rooms.\u00a0 On a hunch she went to the old farrier\u2019s shed and even though the thick curtains were open, she found red bulbs in a string of sockets.\u00a0 \u201cSo this is where he does it!\u201d she said, and her admiration for the man she had regarded only as a stableman and groundskeeper grew.\u00a0 She thought of glamorous movie star posters and imagined herself, hair styled and face made up, wearing sexy lingerie.\u00a0 \u201cYes, he and I could go into business together doing glamor shots,\u201d she murmured. Her inheritance would be enough to get the business started.<\/p>\n

With Spence\u2019s approval, Hines had an entertainment unit installed in the master bedroom along with two reclining chairs and a small refrigerator.\u00a0 He used satellite feed to bring in all possible channels and In the evenings, he would build a fire in the fireplace and the two men would sit in the room and enjoy the \u201chenless\u201d evenings.<\/p>\n

Nola\u2019a new evening schedule began as dinner ended.\u00a0 Forlornly, she\u2019d watch Spencer as they ate and kept remembering the evenings they spent laughing and exchanging ideas; but she knew how volatile Paige was and that it was best for her to keep herself out of harm\u2019s way. The relief she had experienced doing Zen meditation put visiting the Zen Buddhist Assembly of Morton at the top of her list of things to do. She did not know that The Council had already decided to end their operation on the last day of July; yet when she entered their office in February and asked to become a member, they said nothing and simply charged her a full year\u2019s membership.<\/p>\n

\n

It was a cold night when, carrying her own zafu (cushion) and zabuton (mat), she entered the shabby meditation room and was appalled by its condition – the scraped and blistered clashing paint schemes, the faulty hinges that prevented doors from being shut, the holes and stained areas of what was once a beautiful walnut floor – she nearly left without saying a word.\u00a0 There were only eight shivering people sitting facing a dark or multicolored wall in the meditation room and yet a Council member walked around like a drill sergeant carrying a kyoasaku (hitting stock) ready to whack them on the shoulder should anyone slump into dreamland. Hypothermia and not lack of sleep, Nola thought, would soon have them all verging on unconsciousness.\u00a0 She turned and looked at the fireplace. The room was so cold and so much cold draft came down the chimney that she again wanted to leave; but then she thought of Paige, who had expressed a desire to include religion in her life, and especially Spencer, who had actually expressed a desire to join the Assembly, and kept her place.<\/p>\n

At the first fifty-minute break, she asked the woman sitting next to her, \u201cIs it possible to close the flue?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d the woman replied, \u201cit\u2019s broken and they have no more money to repair the zillion things that are broken in his house.\u201d\u00a0 Then she added, \u201cThe roof leaks so bad that the snow turns the attic into a kind of mini-Alps.\u201d<\/p>\n

After services, Nola approached the council and offered to pay for the roof\u2019s repair.\u00a0 Over the years she had accumulated government saving bonds and she still had the Certificate of Deposit that Paige had given her.<\/p>\n

The initial ecstatic response could hardly be put into words.\u00a0 If or when, the ZBA sold the building, a good roof would raise the asking price.\u00a0 But then, the intrusion of divinity into their dilemma occurred to them.\u00a0 Nola was surely divinely sent and, accordingly, the council blessed her and wondered how, as Buddhists, they could properly thank her while still respecting the mandate of humility.\u00a0 The roof, after all, would cost $20,000 to repair or replace.\u00a0 And she was willing to pay this amount? Yes, she could just about afford it.\u00a0 To her it was an investment in her social future.<\/p>\n

But as the roofing contractor proceeded with the work, the ardor of the council cooled and the role of divinity lessened. They began to wonder why Nola was being so generous.\u00a0 What was in it for her?<\/p>\n

Roofers seize whatever opportunity the weather affords them, and in a matter of cold but dry and windless days, the work was completed. The repairs took all of Nola\u2019s savings, but she did not regret the expense.\u00a0 Fate or Faith had delivered her from alienation with her sister and the charges of scandalous behavior from which she might never recover.\u00a0 She also did not want to be ashamed of the assembly that she expected both Spencer and Paige to join.\u00a0 In its present state the building was an embarrassment.<\/p>\n

In Mid-February, Nola stopped into the Council\u2019s office to announce, \u201cSince the roof is finished, I\u2019d like to undertake an immediate renovation of the meditation room.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to make it suitable for two evening classes of yoga a week, which I, as a certified teacher, would conduct if you agree to it.\u00a0 The Council would, of course, fix the fees, collect and keep the money. As you know, in Soto Zen the practitioners face the wall, so walls must be painted a very light color.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd why is that?\u201d Sri Bashumitsu (Patrician Mahoney) the Council president obtusely asked.<\/p>\n

Nola, who after all was going to do the work and spend her own money on the project, did not feel like a supplicant. In a tone that was somewhat less than obsequious, she said, \u201cBecause it all depends on the Ganzfeld principle.\u00a0 When we stare into a bright, featureless space, the light bounces back from the space and has a salubrious effect on the eye.\u00a0 Psychologically, it conduces to the meditative state.\u00a0 As the wall is now, it is a dark jumble of color and stickers and some graffiti and is not anything that will induce the mind to relax.\u201d Then she turned and added,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhen the building\u2019s repaired, you\u2019ll attract more Zen people.\u00a0 You could fix the bedrooms and rent out the rooms to paying guests.\u00a0 Some of them may want to study to become lay-ordained monks or nuns.\u00a0 You could even open a shop to sell home-make religious articles and garments!\u201d<\/p>\n

Someone murmured, \u201cWhat excellent ideas!\u201d\u00a0 Eyes furtively glanced at other eyes as the council secretly smirked.\u00a0 \u201cWhy didn\u2019t we think of that?\u201d one asked as she looked around at the others and snickered.<\/p>\n

Sri Bashumitsu dismissed her with a tart, \u201cThank you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undaunted, she paid a carpenter to repair the flue, windows, and doors, and hired a local painter to cover the ceiling and walls in a neutral cream-color paint. She rented a sanding machine and with a few male members spent evenings grinding away years of abuse from the parquet floors. A coating of spar-varnish was applied and the room began to hint of its former beauty.\u00a0 Paige donated several brass candlesticks and an old wind-up clock for the mantlepiece and supplied a banzai tree and an ikebana floral piece for the plaster statue of the Buddha (the only one she could find) on an old walnut table she had to the room\u2019s decoration.\u00a0 The result of the renovation was startling and everyone marveled at the change.\u00a0 More than a dozen new members joined the sangha. The Council decided to postpone ending their monastic venture.<\/p>\n

Though the Council members felt renewed hope that they could create a monastic center, they still couldn\u2019t understand Nola\u2019s desire to help. The more renovation she did and was praised for, the more they resented her interference.\u00a0 When she was present, they regarded her with polite distain, but when she was not present, they referred to her as \u201cLB\u201d which stood for Lady Bountiful, and, as beggars inevitably do, they assumed further entitlements.\u00a0 In front of the congregation, Shi Bashumitsu pointedly asked, \u201cDo you intend to use the same cream color paint for the bedrooms?\u201d\u00a0 Nola said that she regretted that she could not afford to pay for more than the meditation hall. The president expressed regret, and thus began in earnest the denigration of Nola and her gifts.\u00a0 Yes, the Council conceded amongst themselves, it was nice to have a polished wood floor in the meditation hall for her to use for yoga classes; but it surely was not the salvific boon that Nola was undoubtedly boasting about. \u00a0 What was she up to giving yoga classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings?\u00a0 Was she trying to secure the good opinion of others in order to exploit them for some ulterior commercial purpose?\u00a0 Who knew where she would take her yoga devotees once they helped to establish it?\u00a0 Yes, Nola had to be up to something.\u00a0 Despite many theories, they had not come close to guessing Nola\u2019s motive.<\/p>\n

\n

At the Ghent house nothing had been done to the turret to accommodate Hines. Since Gregor adamantly refused to allow Hines to live in the two unused rooms – a decision Paige wholeheartedly supported, Hines still used Roland\u2019s room – without the wall posters – and would have been content to make the arrangement permanent were it not for the upcoming Easter holiday when Roland was expected to return.\u00a0 The few times that Roland called the house, he spoke to Jules who gave his uninhibited opinions about Hines.\u00a0 Roland, a natural peacemaker, responded, \u201cLet him stay with you. You have plenty of room and he can sleep on a cot.\u00a0 It won\u2019t kill either of you. Keep my bedroom locked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

At the Zen Center, membership immediately increased; but news from the Ghent house was not nearly so encouraging. Spencer Ghent, secretly indulging in coconut cream candy, relapsed and needed to be taken to the clinic in Media.\u00a0 After a few days he announced that he was transferring to the main clinic in Lucerne, Switzerland, for additional treatment which he said he needed.\u00a0 Although he was able to use a computer for one hour a day to contact Nola about the puzzles, he still had no phone capability and could be reached otherwise only by mail. Isolation was considered part of the cure and Paige and all other family members and friends were not welcome in or near the sanatorium.\u00a0 Ghent was to have a stressless period in which to recover from his dietary rule-breaking during the Easter holiday.<\/p>\n

The children, who spent most of their home visit with their friends, returned to school, and life for Nola returned to its unusual normal.\u00a0 Paige, at first, showed a kind of defiance and spent nights and even a several days at a time away from home.\u00a0 She was jittery and uncommunicative; and when Nola pleaded with her to spend some time doing Zen meditation, she expressed a reluctance to join the Zen Assembly, saying that she needed a little more time to consider what such a move would do to her position in society.\u00a0 She did attend yoga classes as did Ellis Foyle, a man Paige found strangely exciting.\u00a0 She decided that she would attend at least until the kids and, she expected, Spencer, came home for the summer vacation in June. Meanwhile, having been told by one of the local dilettantes that she had a talent for art, she began to take lessons in town twice a week.<\/p>\n

The time Spencer had spent in the clinic seemed to improve his health and good humor. He gained nearly ten pounds and although he still wore \u201csafety\u201d underpants, his libido benefitted greatly by the absence of unexpected bowel movements.\u00a0 The Lucerne \u201cspa\u201d as he called it had an interfaith chapel and he had been able to meditate sitting on a cushion for an hour each week.\u00a0 He had Jules mail to him his old Buddhist robes and were it not for his thick, wavy hair he would have looked like a true abbot and not one of the numerous candidates the Council was testing to replace the old man they were still stuck with.\u00a0 Spencer\u2019s executive poise returned to him and he began to give Dharma talks whenever other Buddhists were present in the Chapel.\u00a0 He found in the sanatorium\u2019s library several books on Buddhism that he regularly consulted.\u00a0 That they were in both the Pali (old school) and Prajnaparamitra (reform school) Canons did not seem to matter much to him or to his audience.\u00a0 There was an ego.\u00a0 There was no such thing as an ego.\u00a0 There was reincarnation.\u00a0 There was no such thing as reincarnation.\u00a0 In true professorial style he seemed to make sense no matter what he taught; and he naturally relied on the universal diversities of the Buddha\u2019s Message to support any position he took.\u00a0 Aside from all this, he had become more handsome, albeit in a more mature way.\u00a0 He had sent photographs of himself; and while Paige showed them to anyone who would look, Nola spent hours alone in her bedroom praying to dislodge the man from her mind. Just before Memorial Day in May, he returned to his home in Morton, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

The crossword puzzles continued to pour out of his and Nola\u2019s bubbling imaginations, but this time Paige made no comment about their teamwork. Nola, determined to establish a \u201cnon-Spence\u201d social life for herself, had joined a book club that met on Friday evenings.\u00a0 On Saturday night she had joined the local Square Dance Society and learned old forms of folk dancing as well as modern Texas line dancing.\u00a0 On Sunday, after riding horses around the estate with Paige, she\u2019d return to her room to write her own diary, embellishing it with the intention to someday write a novel that would be at least as good as the books she reviewed at the club on Friday evenings. Unfortunately, she used fictitious names when referring to real people, and the servants who in secret regularly read the private pages all tended to assume that she had somehow learned about their more colorful histories.\u00a0 Contempt for Nola rose concomitantly.<\/p>\n

Paige, along with oil paint and charcoal, had found the solace of leather once again – but not with Gregor – and all seemed to be well at the Ghent house. When Gregor told her that he missed their sessions together, she explained that she and Spence had entered a new phase in their lives here and she could no longer be the cause of jealousy or embarrassment to her husband. Claiming that their insurance agent should clean out the two back rooms lest the debris there catch fire, she asked him to remove everything that he kept there and to record for insurance purposes the serial numbers of any equipment and to list all personal property he considered valuable. When he submitted only his television\u2019s serial number to Jules.\u00a0 She believed that she was no longer vulnerable to blackmail images of herself and never ascended the steps to his apartment again.<\/p>\n

\n

Spencer was a completely different man when he returned.\u00a0 He spoke on the phone frequently with his children, but otherwise kept to himself and Hines. Since Mrs. Eglington was now thoroughly convinced about dietary matters, she kept his colitis under control.\u00a0 He did require \u201cmaintenance\u201d treatments and twice a week Hines drove him into Media to the Clinic\u2019s branch for day-long hydrotherapy and massage sessions. Hines would go to the library or the movies while he waited.\u00a0 Spencer would return from his treatment so enthusiastic about the procedures that he expressed a need to share the Lucerne\u2019s methods with the world.\u00a0 An architect was summoned and a large addition to the small clinic was planned.\u00a0 The project took so much of his time that for many weeks Nola had to create one-hundred percent of the Chat R. Box puzzles.<\/p>\n

Spencer did find time to attend a few evening meditation sessions at ZBA\u2019s renovated \u201ctemple\u201d and he and Hines practiced yoga at home in private, using the instructions offered on a DVD.\u00a0 Whenever he went to the temple, he\u2019d be asked to speak; and, invariably, he testified glowingly to everyman\u2019s need to spend at least a few hours of his week in contemplation of the really important things in life.<\/p>\n

He also accompanied the entire sangha when they went to the Masonic Temple\u2019s auditorium to watch a showing of the film,\u00a0Amongst White Clouds.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know,\u201d Spence privately said to Nola as an appreciative comment on the film, \u201cFor twenty years we\u2019ve had a hundred-twenty acres of reclaimed land in Schuylkill County.\u00a0 I bet the trees have grown back in all that time.\u00a0 It would make a great place to establish a colony of hermitages for folks who just want to get away from this irritating so-called civilized life. Let\u2019s go up this weekend and have a look at it.\u00a0 I want a woman\u2019s opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige had made other plans and insisted that the two of them should go and report on the condition of the area. \u00a0 Since the land had been given to them as wedding presents by an eccentric uncle of Spencer\u2019s, the parcels were separate. Paige owned the sixty acre half of the property that contained the trail into the land; and Spencer owned the other half, the hilltop that contained an old cabin.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s probably bears and mountain lions to contend with,\u201d Paige warned, \u201cand maybe a few snakes and spiders, but otherwise you might have good shelter there.\u00a0 It should require only one night to decide whether or not the place is fit for hermitages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nola, also enthusiastic about living in an isolated hermitage, agreed to go.\u00a0 She discussed the possibilities with Ellis Foyle who, since his wife had not returned as planned, was also interested in joining the independent group of people who lived alone without distractions.<\/p>\n

\n

Also joining them in their expectation of the un-interfered with life, was the latest candidate for the abbacy, a handsome young man from Kerala, India, Vikram Chaudan, whose purpose in coming to the U.S. was actually to find a hospital to accept him as a surgical resident.\u00a0 But he needed a permanent and respectable place to stay and a Zen monastery that charged him nothing was certainly that.\u00a0 He read a few books about Soto Zen on the evening before he came to the ZBA to apply.<\/p>\n

The Council found him to be an acceptable candidate and had even adjusted his name to sound more Japanese, calling him Victoru Roshi.\u00a0 Vikram was a graduate of a third rate medical school in India in which he had finished at the bottom of his class.\u00a0 Nevertheless, his good looks and charm carried him along the waters of social refinement, \u201clike Shiva\u2019s seed on the leaf,\u201d as The Council ladies put it, and delivered him to them. When Vikram learned that Nola was a registered nurse who could also type, he asked her to help him to write to the various medical institutions – of which there were hundreds – in the United States and Canada to ask to be considered for a position as a surgical resident.\u00a0 Included in his resum\u00e9 was a copy of his academic record which, Nola thought but did not express, should have resulted in paroxysms of laughter in the various Admission\u2019s offices. The photograph he chose to submit with the requests failed to convey his good looks.\u00a0 To Nola, he looked rather sleepy in the photos. To Paige, it was providential that most of the work they did was done in the Ghent house.\u00a0 Seeing him banished the ugly thoughts she had about her own husband and gave Gregor some needed competition.<\/p>\n

Spencer decided, \u201cWe can go to the land this weekend. We\u2019ll go in our old Ford truck that Gregor uses. \u201cIt\u2019s a great idea for a puzzle theme.\u00a0 We can call it\u00a0Roughing It.<\/em>\u00a0 What do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nola did not know what to think. Without approaching erotomania, there is a state in which lonely people tend to magnify or even transmute the meaning of a simple statement or gesture made by someone whom the lonely person considers a potential lover. \u201cNice jacket!\u201d said casually by someone passing, is examined for all possible meanings, none of which has anything to do with garments.\u00a0 \u201cYou look really nice today,\u201d is practically a proposal of marriage. At the very least, the conclusion will be reached that not only were such statements an overture to an affair, but that an overt admiration of the figure wearing the garment was a public announcement of romantic interest.\u00a0 People in a normal love affair hear many such remarks. They tend to smile automatically in response and forget the compliment.\u00a0 But lonely people are like starving beggars – though they do not realize this.\u00a0 A crumb thrown to them is devoured with desperate hopes for more. Another response to such a remark may be had by more sober persons.\u00a0 The compliment then flits around the mind like a mayfly, titillating it briefly with possibilities.<\/p>\n

Knowing this did not prevent Nola from giggling to herself about Spencer Ghent\u2019s frequent shows of sexual desire and his intended week-end jaunt.\u00a0 Perhaps some kind of priapic medicine had been prescribed for him in Switzerland.\u00a0 \u201cWhat if?\u201d began to play its tantalizing game in her mind as she got into bed that night and pulled the covers up.<\/p>\n

Nola looked forward anxiously to spending a night in an isolated cabin with Spence. How would he react to her when they were alone?\u00a0 She remembered what Ellis Foyle had said about Razzle games and wondered how Spence was responding to her absences from home in the evening.\u00a0 One night at dinner he had said to her in a joking manner, \u201cGo ahead and go do your vampire things or whatever you do when the sun goes down.\u00a0 I only know it gets pretty lonely around here.\u201d\u00a0 Paige immediately changed the subject.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it was those unproductive years that gave him such a proprietary attitude toward the puzzles, but, increasingly he realized that he no longer needed an in-home registered nurse and that that the larger salary Paige had given Nola could justifiably be considered payment for her contribution to the puzzles. Though he had promised that the syndication would be in their names jointly, he now decided that Nola had already been paid for her part of the work.\u00a0 \u201cOh,\u201d he responded when she mentioned the syndication of the puzzles, \u201cmy attorney\u2019s working on it.\u00a0 It\u2019s more complicated than we thought.\u201d\u00a0 He went to his gun collection and selected a revolver and a rifle. \u201cWho knows what we\u2019ll find, on the land,\u201d he said. \u201cGregor can do without the truck for a few days.\u00a0 If bears bother us in the cabin, we can always move and sleep in the truck bed.\u201d He found an old tarp and two of the kids new sleeping bags and tossed them it in the back of the truck.<\/p>\n

As they drove to Schuylkill County, Nola decided against bringing up the issue of syndication in fear that she\u2019d start some kind of argument.\u00a0 She knew that Spencer had been talking to his lawyer quite frequently in recent days, and she was content to believe that the subject of their conversation was, as Spencer had said, the syndication problem.<\/p>\n

It began to rain, and having been told that the cabin was old and run-down, she noticed on the map that there was a motel and gas station just before the turn-off to the land.\u00a0 \u201cAccording to your map,\u201d she said, \u201cthis is the last point of civilization for miles.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t we check in here?\u00a0 There\u2019s a cafeteria of some sort attached to the station.\u00a0 They\u2019re open and maybe the owner can give us some news about the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spencer responded harshly.\u00a0 \u201cWhose investigation is this?\u00a0 Yours or mine? Our one chance to sleep together in privacy and you want to check into a motel.\u00a0 What do we get? Two rooms?\u201d he asked sarcastically.\u00a0 \u201cOne for smokers and one on the other end of the place for non-smokers?Or were you planning to register as my wife?\u00a0 Proof? Is that what you\u2019re looking for? Some kind of sexual harassment?\u201d He drove past the station and made a sharp left onto the dirt trail that led onto the land.<\/p>\n

Nola, stunned by his outburst, said nothing.<\/p>\n

The land was beautiful.\u00a0 The deciduous trees were still bright green and the pines stood like sentries every fifty feet or so.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d Spence said.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s gotten under my skin. I know the bears have stopped hibernating and anything with fur on it is protecting its young.\u00a0 But Nola! I\u2019ve missed you so much at night.\u00a0 And this is my first big outing.\u00a0 I was really looking forward to being alone with you.\u201d\u00a0 He reached across and mussed her hair.\u00a0 \u201cPlease forgive me.\u00a0 I\u2019m an old crank who\u2019s nuts about a beautiful young thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s hell sitting home alone watching Tv.\u00a0 Hines gets on my nerves.\u00a0 A little of him goes a long way, indispensable as he has become.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThere are times I just don\u2019t understand you,\u201d Nola forced herself to reply.\u00a0 She changed the subject to the land.\u00a0 \u201cThe place looks perfect for hermitages.\u201d\u00a0 Someone had planted fruit trees as part of the reclamation project after strip mining had all but destroyed the land. \u201cI see peach trees and apple… and cherry, too; but the fruit\u2019s tiny and hardly ripe enough to pick.\u00a0 And there are blackberry bushes all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trail led up to the cabin.\u00a0 \u201cWell, lookie here!\u201d Spence said affecting delight.\u00a0 \u201cHunters or visitors of some kind have repaired the cabin, or so a real estate agent in the county has told me.\u201d\u00a0 This was a lie, of course. Spencer had ordered immediate repairs.\u00a0 \u201cBully for them that they\u2019ve made the cabin more livable.\u00a0 A key to the front door is supposed to be in a geranium pot on the left side of the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nola looked around and said, \u201cThere doesn\u2019t seem to be another thing that needs doing to this place.\u00a0 It will furnish a great headquarters while the smaller hermitages are being built.\u201d\u00a0 Spencer agreed. He even tested the water from a nearby stream and found it to be pure and delicious.\u00a0 There were chamberpots under the beds and an outhouse, but these, he allowed, were part of rustic living.<\/p>\n

As Nola unassembled the camping gear she had brought, Spencer suddenly said, \u201cZip the two sleeping bags together.\u00a0 We\u2019ll need each other to keep warm.\u00a0 It gets cold as hell up here at night.\u201d There was an odd subtlety in the way he made the request that made her hesitate.\u00a0 Clearly, his intention was to make love to her, but his request lacked even a hint of romance.\u00a0 Yet, she acquiesced and joined the two sleeping bags.\u00a0 Regardless of his crude approach, she had wanted to make love to him for a long time.\u00a0 And that time had come.<\/p>\n

After dinner they sat before the fireplace and talked about the rustic life and then he simply said, \u201cIt\u2019s bedtime now. Let\u2019s have at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He followed her into the sleeping bag and roughly tried to remove her nightgown.\u00a0 In the flickering light of the fireplace, she could see the expression on his face.\u00a0 He did not try to kiss her or make even a tender gesture.\u00a0 He rubbed himself a few times against her thigh, and then lifting himself up he shifted his weight until he was on top of her.\u00a0 Nola suddenly pushed him away and began to scramble out of the sleeping bag. \u201cIf this is your idea of love making, buy yourself one of those plastic blow-up dolls.\u201d\u00a0 She finally got free of the bag and began to change into her outdoor clothing.<\/p>\n

Nola did not even try to make sense of his performance.\u00a0 She began to unzip her half of the sleeping bag while he cursed her for being a \u201ccock teaser.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the truck locked?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll go sleep in it.\u201d\u00a0 She saw the keys on the table and quickly picked them up.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll see you in the morning when maybe your sanity has returned.\u201d\u00a0 She retreated to the truck still hearing Spencer curse her for having deceived him.\u00a0 The truck was old and did not have bucket seats.\u00a0 \u201cThank God!\u201d she said as she wiggled into the sleeping bag and curled up on the seat.\u00a0 \u201cA blow up doll!\u201d she whined; and then she began to cry.<\/p>\n

In the morning, Spencer took the truck to check the property for more streams that could be used by the hermitages.\u00a0 The smell of coffee and bacon filled the hill top as Nola made breakfast; but an hour passed and Spencer did not return.\u00a0 Fearing that he had had an accident with the truck, she took the rifle and some extra rounds and went to look for him.\u00a0 There were the usual bird sounds as she trudged down the trail and suddenly she detected the sound of laughter.\u00a0 She stepped carefully to get closer and saw Spencer speaking on a cell phone to someone in an excited voice.\u00a0 She listened and could tell he was speaking to a woman.\u00a0 She retreated, walking up the trail until she came to the cabin. \u00a0 She drank some coffee and ate a few pieces of \u201cfireside toast.\u201d\u00a0 Then she walked outside the cabin in a circle some hundred feet in diameter.\u00a0 From what she could see, the lower land looked fit for vegetable gardens.\u00a0 To be sure, they\u2019d need a geologist\u2019s opinion.<\/p>\n

Spencer\u2019s opinion differed.\u00a0 He returned ebullient, \u201cI\u2019ve given the place a good going over,\u201d he said, and I figure we can charge $30,000 per leased unit.\u00a0 Everything\u2019s pre-fab and it wouldn\u2019t be Wabi Sabi unless the floor was dirt.The walls have to be strong because of the bears.\u00a0 And they will all need fresh water. We\u2019ll build cisterns and outhouses. Some may want hothouses attached.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have to get prices for those.\u201d<\/p>\n

After they had eaten he announced that regardless of what he had promised Paige, they\u2019d have to stay another night.\u00a0 \u201cWe need to experience life here on the mountain before we subject greenhorns to the dangers of the wild.\u201d\u00a0 Knowing how Paige would react, Nola objected.\u00a0 Spence silenced her by telling her that he was still her boss.\u00a0 \u201cMy wife is my responsibility,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cYou can miss square dancing or whatever it is you do with those farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a small waterfall near the cabin. Nola, trying to be conciliatory, suggested, \u201cAfter we clean up the kitchen let\u2019s take some photographs of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spencer grunted and said simply, \u201cMaybe. First I want to bathe there.\u201d Nola cleaned the breakfast and lunch dishes while Spencer went to the falls to bathe and dress. Feeling that she was being punished for not capitulating to him the previous night, she was awkward and confused.\u00a0 The guilt for hoping to use the weekend as a romantic getaway mixed with the anger she felt at his behavior towards her.\u00a0 Nothing was happening the way she assumed it would; and she didn\u2019t know how to approach him to regain some semblance of the friendship or teamwork that they had for so long enjoyed.\u00a0 They were antagonists in the cabin and she was hurt and bewildered by the situation.<\/p>\n

After Spencer dressed he checked the truck.\u00a0 Nola came out of the cabin and joined him, using the excuse that she wanted to make sure she had removed all of her things. \u201cListen,\u201d he said, I saw some interesting rocks – colorful ones – throughout the upper areas of the site. They\u2019ll make a nice fireplace or entrance adornment.\u00a0 I\u2019ll recheck and photograph the waterfall while you gather the stones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nola said that she would and then added, hoping to continue the conversation, \u201cI don\u2019t know how the others feel about killing deer, but I did see deer scat all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHmm,\u201d he said as he checked his watch and got into the truck.\u00a0 \u201cYou keep looking for rocks but make sure you take the rifle with you… not for the deer, but for the bears.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll see any snakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He drove away, but she could see in the damp clearing that the truck had not taken the trail to the falls, and his distinctive hiking boots had left no marks on the damp ground, either.\u00a0 Suspicion spurred her to clarify the confusion.\u00a0 She walked down to the lower part of the hill that was more level and with a long hundred-foot measuring tape she did mark with orange tags good places for cabins and gardens to be built.\u00a0 She wrote a number on each tag and recorded it in a notebook.\u00a0 She saw no colored rocks anywhere and continued to go down the trail.<\/p>\n

Noon had come and he had not returned and she could hear no sound of an engine.\u00a0 She continued to follow his tire tracks to the road and the motel came into view.\u00a0 His truck was parked outside one of the rooms and beside the truck was a new Volvo that had a sticker bearing a medical insignia of some kind on the windshield.\u00a0 Staying as far back as she could, she recorded the Volvo\u2019s license plate\u2019s number. Slowly, and letting her suspicions fill in all the gaps that had been blank, she returned to the cabin.\u00a0 She marked a few more hermitage sites and then went into the cabin and found a tattered book on camping in a cabinet and, tucked inside her sleeping bag, tried to read it, but she was crying and could not concentrate on anything except her overwhelming disappointment and childishness. Soon darkness fell and the light from a single kerosene lamp was the only light in the cabin.\u00a0 Finally, she fell asleep.<\/p>\n

It was late in the morning when Spencer returned. She had remained in bed, trying to read. \u201cCome on!\u201d he said gruffly.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go!\u00a0 Paige is gonna have a fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nola dressed quickly and got into the truck.\u00a0 She did not ask him where he had been all night, but he volunteered that he had gotten stuck in a ditch and had to go down to the motel to ask some men there if they\u2019d help him.\u00a0 Naturally, they couldn\u2019t do anything until morning.\u00a0 Nola pretended that she believed him and asked routinely curious questions. \u201cHow deep in the mud were you?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDid they pull you back out with a chain?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI guess that we ought to stay on the trail until we can lay gravel down.\u201d<\/p>\n

After thirty minutes of silence, he began to talk about Paige\u2019s sexual preferences. \u201cWhat does she say Gregor does to her?\u201d he asked in the most innocent voice he could create.\u00a0Nola refused to comment about Paige, saying that she didn\u2019t know and wouldn\u2019t discuss it if she did.\u00a0 Spencer revealed in sordid detail what the last groundsman had told him.\u00a0 \u201cYes, rough.\u00a0 My lady likes the rough stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nola wondered, \u201cHow did I ever let myself get romantically involved with him?\u201d She repeatedly asked herself this as she tried to forget how witty and charming he usually was.\u00a0 She thought about the car parked next to his at the motel.\u00a0 It probably belonged to that blonde Swiss physician.\u00a0 It had to be a torrid love affair for him to get her to drive an hour and a half all the way up there.<\/p>\n

They drove in silence, stopping only to get gas.\u00a0 Nola felt both the tension of fearing what Paige would say about their being a day late in returning and more, she felt the bewildering disappointment that is created by realistic expectations that somehow go awry.\u00a0 She had every reason to assume that it would be a romantic weekend or, at least, a \u201cfun\u201d weekend; what she did not take into consideration was what Spencer was anticipating. Projecting thoughts and desires onto someone else and then making assumptions about results is invariably a mistake. Nola knew that – a fact which made her feel even worse. Now she was sure to be admonished for having taken an extra day with Spencer. Oh yes, she thought, it would be her fault.\u00a0 She prepared for the inevitable scene as they pulled up to the portico at two o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n

Paige did not disappoint.\u00a0 \u201cI guess you two love birds had quite a nice time nesting in that broken down cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spencer answered.\u00a0 \u201cI drove the truck into a ditch and needed help to get out.\u00a0 The muscles between my shoulder blades are in some kind of spasm.\u00a0 Instead of making things worse by your ridiculous imagination, could you try to get the knots out of my back?\u201d\u00a0 With that Paige followed him into the master\u2019s bedroom; and after hearing maudlin pleas that Nola could not quite understand, she heard the bed begin to thump.\u00a0 For an hour she watched the illuminated hands of her clock measure out the grunts and groans and yelps of an old ritual before she finally took a shower and prepared for dinner.<\/p>\n

At dinner, without explanation, Spencer announced that he intended to return to Switzerland to complete his therapy.\u00a0 \u201cAlso,\u201d he casually added, \u201cI just got an email from a man I forgot to mention – a fellow patient I made friends with in the Clinic who runs a home in Akita on the Sea of Japan side of the island.\u00a0 He had said that the home had been created to care for the homeless people who lost everything after the Fukushima disaster.\u00a0 Little by little the home\u2019s population had dwindled as the people found residences closer to their work places or went to live with relatives.\u00a0 He has room, he assures me, to accommodate the old Abbot at ZBA. My friend\u2019s term of therapy is expiring In Lucerne, and if we want to bring the old demented Abbot to him, he\u2019ll happily accept him. Caring for the sick, he explained to me, was his way of expressing gratitude for having been spared in the nuclear catastrophe.\u00a0 What do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nola, surprised that this was the first she was hearing about such a plan, thought that The Council would be delighted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been teaching my friend – his name is Yoshi – colloquial English. \u00a0 As one of my teaching tools I\u2019ve gotten him interested in crossword puzzles.\u00a0 I\u2019ve developed variations on the puzzle theme which have proven to be very instructive to him.\u00a0 I\u2019ve promised to continue the exercises – much like people used to play chess.\u00a0 I\u2019m speaking, of course, before the electronic age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow is the Abbot supposed to get there?\u201d Paige asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf all goes well, someone from the council has to bring the old man to meet me and him at the Cairo Airport and then I\u2019ll personally escort him to his new home in Akita.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already checked with the Japanese authorities and there should be no problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

That evening, as Nola was sorting the garments she\u2019d ask to be laundered, Paige came to her room.\u00a0 \u201cIs it true that he had car trouble?\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what he told me.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see it, myself.\u201d\u00a0 Nola did not tell her about the Volvo and the motel. \u201cAnd for the record, this is the first I\u2019ve heard about returning to Lucerne or going to Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI could tell you were surprised. Did you have sex with my husband?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe you.\u00a0 I checked your two sleeping bags.\u00a0 Yours was absolutely clean and his was full of semen.\u00a0 He\u2019s too lazy to get up and clean himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so cold up there at night.\u00a0 I can\u2019t fault him for not wanting to get up and clean himself in icy water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tried so many new positions with me this afternoon.\u00a0 Why is he so interested in sex lately? I have the feeling that he\u2019s practicing on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe somebody is inspiring him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doctor from the clinic?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u00a0 As you can tell from the important things he \u201cforgot\u201d to tell us, I don\u2019t know too much about his private life.\u00a0 I do know that I think it\u2019s time that we considered him to be as cured as he\u2019s ever going to be of colitis.\u00a0 Really, Paige… I\u2019m no longer needed around here.\u00a0 We can compose the crossword puzzles by email, text, or phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo! I don\u2019t want you here for him.\u00a0 I need you.\u201d\u00a0 She began to cry.\u00a0 \u201cMy life is falling apart.\u00a0 Things that I was so sure of have not come to pass; and things I never expected are deluging me. Things are so upside-down that I don\u2019t want Spence to know that I\u2019m personally asking you to stay.\u00a0 If he thinks that, he\u2019ll fire you for sure. He\u2019s been seeing his attorney lately and I hope and pray it\u2019s about your puzzle stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Nola could say was, \u201cI know exactly how you feel about the upside-down business.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll stay awhile longer if you think you really need me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nola finds that creating a Zendo is an expensive and unappreciated task as Ming Zhen Shakya show us some behind-the-scenes chicanery in Part 4 of The Crossword Puzzle <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,21],"tags":[23,41],"class_list":["post-804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-free-e-books","tag-tales-from-the-sangha","tag-the-crossword-puzzle"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":806,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions\/806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}