"Chaya"

As I was coming back to my bike after visiting the men's room, and as I was about to put on my helmet, Chaya came walking over.  She looked like she coulda been from my hometown.  Long flowing skirt… long somewhat messy brown hair… barefoot… beads… the typical hippy girl look.  She had a question mark in her eyes as she approached, and I was hoping it might involve…  (edit out non-important bad joke).

Alas, all she wanted was an anti inflammatory for her headache.  I gave her my bottle of Aleve, which she handed back to me after professing to be able to read the microscopic printing on the bottle, in the almost complete darkness.  It had an ingredient in it that she couldn't take… young eyes… must be nice.

We talked for a few minutes and I found out she was going to school in Prescott, which she told me the locals pronounce 'press-kit'.  I told her I had always wanted to visit Preskit, and that I would like to call her, if my journey ended up taking me through the area.  She quickly and easily gave me her number, which I immediately dialed to make sure it was valid.

She was smiling at me as I punched in the numbers, and then again as her phone rang.  I left her a message as we were standing next to each other… "Hello Chaya, this is Ned… now you have my number too."  I'm sure she was probably thinking something like… “What a goof this guy is… what am I doing giving this old man my phone number?”

I told her if she didn’t' hear from me in the next few days, not to worry, 'cuz if I didn't go thru her town on my way towards Austin, I would try to, on the way back.  She was very cute and nice, and young enough to be my daughter.  Yee haw, she sure made an old tired grey beard a happy camper.  I had absolutely no intension of perusing any kind of physical relationship with her, but in the spirit of the moment, I gave her a wink… blew her a kiss… and rode off.

                                               - - - - - -    4 days later   - - - - - - -

I left Peoria and the GPA (Greater Phoenix Area) heading west, the opposite direction of my destination.  Why, you ask?  I had decided to make a slight detour and go thru Prescott, to buy Chaya a meal, and then thru Sedona to see that area again.   It had been many years since my last visit and I just love physical geography, especially when it's unusual and/ or spectacular.  Yosemite is one of my favorite places in the world.  I never get tired of going there.  I've been on top of Half Dome four times, and hiked all thru the Park, thanks mostly to my father, who took us there for at least two weeks every summer when we were growing up.

My ride through Prescott and Sedona was as beautiful as I had hoped.  Chaya relaxed after I was able to convince her that I was not a pervert trying to get up her skirt, and we had a very nice lunch.  We shared things with each other that strangers normally wouldn't.  For some reason, I felt I should tell her about my attempted suicide.  That led her into her story about her rock climbing accident, where she fell 50 feet and 'bumped her head on a rock.'

She told me she spent two months in a coma and when she woke up, the doctors didn't think she'd ever walk or talk.  She sure proved them wrong.  After a few months of recovery, during which time she also thought about suicide, she seemed to have recovered to (almost) 100%.  I had noticed there was something about the way she spoke, when I had met her the Friday before at the rest stop.  It was a little bit slow and a little bit mushy.  Not anything major or dramatic, just a little hint of something not quite right.  I think that's one of the reasons I was attracted to her.  She seemed special to me for some reason, and like they say… birds of a feather…

I hope she doesn't mind me putting that part of her life into my story.  She didn't want me to take her picture, and seemed to be a fairly private type of person.  I'm gonna send her this story so…

Chaya, please don't be upset with me.  I only wanted to put you in my story because I really do think you are special.  I feel you have something wonderful to offer, and hope that you will find happiness and fulfillment, and stay that way for a long, long time.

A quick shout out to her friend Kim, who owns the store below Chaya's apartment…  “Hi Kim !!"  Chaya told me I had to meet her, before we went to lunch, because she trusted her judgment and wanted to get her 'approval' before trusting me enough to get on the back of my bike.  Fortunately Kim gave me a thumb's up.

One last thing about Chaya… when we met, she said her name was 'Hi-ya'… and then spelled it for me, and said, "The C is for decoration."  Her halo is her decoration for me.