December 2024

There was a firm knock at the door. Paul rolled out of bed to answer it. A tall, thin, tanned man with aviator-style glasses was let into the room.

“Paulie!” the man exclaimed, holding out his arms inviting a hug.

“Hey Conor, my man!” Paul hugged the visitor.

“It’s been too long, dude. Been wanting you to come out here since forever, glad you finally made it.”

“You know how it is, but being out here you know I had to see you, man.”

“So excited!” the man replied. “Glad you’re here. You got skinny, dude!”

“Ah, just been working out,” Paul replied.

“Nice,” the visitor responded. He then turned to Luke, who by now had stood up between the beds and was watching the exchange. “I take it this is your friend you were telling me about?”

“Yeah,” Paul said, turning to include Luke. “Conor...I mean Casper, right?”

“Yeah. Casper's my shaman name.”

“Sorry, man. That’ll take me a bit to get used to. Casper, this is Luke. Luke, Casper.”

Luke waved at Casper, who motioned with his hand to join him. Luke obliged.

“Any friend of Paulie’s is a friend of mine. Are you a hugger?”

“Yeah, hugs are cool.”

Casper and Luke embraced as well.

“It’s great to finally meet you, Casper. Paulie had a lot of great things to say about you,” Luke told him.

“Likewise, dude, likewise. So - are y’all ready to start our journey?”

“Hell yeah!” Paul excitedly responded.

“Sure!” Luke replied, a tiny bit less excited.

“Alright brosephs, let’s go! Oh, and by the way, bring jackets if you got ’em. It does get a bit chilly in the desert, even in the summertime.”

Luke and Paul retrieved hoodies, and the men left the hotel room. They walked out to the front entrance and looked up at the darkening sky.

“I’m surprised we haven’t seen fireworks since it’s the Fourth of July,” Luke noted.

“It’s hot and dry out here,” Casper reminded him. “Fireworks pose a bit of a fire risk.”

Luke glanced at Paul with a face of slight anxiety, to which he shrugged. They then followed Casper out to the parking lot, where a dark blue Ford F-150 Raptor was parked.

“This is my steed, boys! We got cases of water and supplies, so you’ll be just fine. Hop on in and be sure to buckle up!”

Paul got in the front seat with Casper, while Luke sat in the backseat. Once everyone was in their seats and ready, Casper tied his salt-and-pepper locks into a ponytail, started the large pickup truck, and zoomed out of the lot. They could view the sun setting in the great desert expanse as they headed southwest from the resort.

“This sunset is breathtaking,” Paul remarked.

“It truly is. I’ve been living out here for decades and it never gets old.”

“I’m glad you were able to come out here, Paulie. I wondered if that would ever happen, especially when you were talking religion,” Casper recalled.

Paul nodded. “Yeah, I was really deep into it back in the day. Figured I knew all there is to know about God and spirituality, and about what the right way and the wrong way was to do things.”

“I take it you got humbled.”

Paul sighed. “Yeah, yeah man, I did. In a big way.”

“Not surprised,” Casper noted. “That happens to a lot of people. I mean, the folks who use their religion as a shield are usually the least secure about it.”

“Hmm, how so?” Luke asked.

“Welp, Luke, think about it.” Casper explained, “If you’re confident in what you believe in, you don’t feel the need to avoid the experiences that might be a bit outside of those beliefs, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

“I mean, if you’re truly all in with what you believe in, you might get super involved in practicing it because it’s what you love, like going to church on Sunday, praying, reading the Bible, stuff like that. But you’re not gonna need all the extra rules to feel like you’re being faithful, and you’ll probably be more open to the unknown and the unexplained, know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I think I understand.”

“What a lot of people don’t get about what I do out here is that the idea isn’t to take away from what you already have faith in. It’s more about getting in touch with your inner self and seeing things more clearly.”

“I hear you. That’s awesome man.”

“So, Casper, what kinds of people do you get taking you up on the excursions you offer?” Paul asked.

Casper laughed. “Oh, it’s a lot of folks, Paulie. You’ll be surprised. On weekends, I might get groups of ten or fifteen people at a time, fifteen’s my limit. All different walks of life, different ages, colors, religions, all of that. The main thing is that most are looking for something a little different than what they get in their normal, everyday lives.”

“How do you take all of those people out to where we’re going? You’re not taking this truck for that, are you?”

“Oh, no way, dude!” Casper gave a wheezing laugh. “I use my party bus. But since it’s just y’all and especially since we’re friends, I figured we’d take my pride and joy. This is what I drive when I go out into the Sonoran by myself.”

“This is quite nice,” Paul said. “Feels very comfortable.”

“Thanks, dude. That’s the idea.”

“So,” Luke started, “Paulie and I noticed back at the resort that they have cornhole, of all things. Was that your idea?”

Casper snickered. “Yeah, it was.”

Paul looked back at Luke and mouthed, “Told ya!”

Casper continued. “Here they call it ‘beanbag toss,’ but, you know, where we’re from, we know it as ‘cornhole.’ And I’m sure you noticed what set it was.”

“Of course,” Paul bragged. “That’s how I knew that set was your doing.”

“Yeah, I still love The Ohio State. And I suggested The Big Game set to the folks running the resort since they get a lot of visitors from the Midwest. Figured it would give them a little taste of home.”

“How involved are you with the resort?”

“I’m a vendor partnered with them, so we have a nice profit-sharing agreement. It’s a great deal, and it allows me to live my dream and not have to struggle financially. Can’t complain.”

Paul smiled. “That’s beautiful shit, man.”

Luke piped up. “That is pretty cool. But I gotta ask, what about the legality of it?”

Casper smirked. “Good question dude. On paper, my excursions are called ‘desert meditation experiences.’ And technically, they are. But folks in the know are aware of what I really do and seek me out. And the cops around here, they don’t care. They’re more worried about border jumpers than some old white hippie from Ohio.”

A half-hour later, the men were traveling in the middle of the dark, increasingly cool desert, with seemingly nothing and no one as far as the eye could see. Then Casper spoke up. “Alright dudes, we’re about to turn off onto a dirt road. Then it’ll just be a few more minutes, and we’ll be at our destination.”

The pickup swerved to the left and sped onto a road of sand and dirt. Only the shaman knew where they were going.