Tuesday, November 30:
San Gabriel Wilderness Area
From the position of the sun in the sky, Johnny knew that noon was long past. It was time to return home.
Four sunsets and four sunrises had passed. Four times he had tracked the sun as it traveled east to west. Four times he had watched the moon trace the sun's path at night. Four days and four nights he had sought wisdom. He had shivered with cold. His stomach had pinched with hunger. His throat longed for the cool wetness of water. He was tired. And confused. In the depths of his soul, he believed his path to be that of the healer. But he still did not see how that was going to be possible.
Johnny's Place
Johnny was surprised to see several pieces of paper taped to the door of his apartment. He pulled them off, threw them on the kitchen table and headed straight for the refrigerator. It was nearly as empty as his stomach. 'Dang! Thought I had some fruit in there. Guess I'll have to go out and get some.' While he had drunk quite a lot of water after leaving the mountain, he had waited to get home before eating. Fast food was tempting, but he knew that it was safer to break an extended fast with fruit, juice or lightly cooked vegetables. He hadn't brought any along because he thought it wouldn't keep.
Roy's Place
"You're going to wear a hole in the carpet if you don't stop that pacing, sweetheart." Joanne watched her husband complete a circuit of the family room for what must have been the thousandth time. She patted the space on the sofa next to her invitingly.
Roy sighed in exasperation and plopped down next to his wife, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Where can he be? He said he'd be back this evening. Maybe I should drive over there?" He looked worriedly at Joanne. "Do you think he's gotten hurt somewhere? You know how he's just a magnet for trouble."
"I think you're letting your imagination get the better of you. Although I will grant you that he certainly has more than his fair share of bizarre problems. This whole thing with the exam is a case in point."
Just then the phone rang. Roy fairly bounded from the sofa to pick it up. "Hello?"
"Hi Roy. What's with all these notes on my door?"
"Johnny! Where were you? Did you just get back? Guess what happened! It's great news! You'll never believe this!" The usually unflappable Roy was talking so fast that for once Johnny was the one who was not able to get a word in edgewise.
When Roy finally paused for breath, Johnny leapt in, "Well, what is it?"
"Grab a beer, junior! You passed the exam!"
"What?"
"You passed the exam! Your exam got mixed up with Brice's. He didn't pass. You did." Roy's grin could be heard through the phone wires.
"What?" Johnny's ears were hearing but his brain wasn't getting the message.
"Remember those numbers we had to write on the top of each page? You and Brice had almost the same number. Somehow they got mixed up. You passed, Johnny!"
"Brice didn't pass?" His mind was fixating on the wrong details.
"Johnny! Are you listening to me? You passed the exam!" Concern about the lack of coherency on Johnny's part began to creep into his voice. "Are you okay?"
"I passed the exam? I passed the exam? I passed the exam!" Johnny finally got it.
"Welcome back, partner. You better call Cap. I think you're already scheduled for us tomorrow."
"Yeah, I'll do that. I don't believe it. I just don't believe it." He had been so convinced that he had failed the exam, that the idea he had actually passed was now hard to credit.
"Believe it, Junior. Believe it!"