Chapter 3
The Elder Question
Adrian Monk was quiet in the front passenger seat of Stottlemeyer's silver SUV, for the first 8 hours of the trip to Arizona. It would be another 8 hours to get across Arizona to where Monk thought he might be going. Randy was enjoying his iPod, sprawled in the backseat while Leland squirmed in the silence. There was nothing palatable to be found on the radio in the part of California they now drove through. He could stand it no more and finally demanded some information.
"Monk, we've been driving for 8 hours. Are you going to tell us about this dream you had?"
Adrian shrugged uncomfortably. "I'm going to ask Natalie, you know, to marry me," he blurted quickly, not paying attention to the original question.
"That's what your dream was about?! What's that got to do with Arizona?" Stottlemeyer asked, confused.
"Nothing," Adrian answered, keeping his focus out the passenger side window.
"Okay.' Stottlemeyer breathed in exasperation. "So, you're going to ask Natalie to marry you," he repeated. "That's good."
"Yeah, could you help me?" Adrian asked nervously.
"Help you? How? In case you haven't noticed, I'm not that great in the romance department."
"Well, how'd you ask Karen?"
Stottlemeyer had to go way back for that. "That was a long time ago, Monk. What about Trudy?" he dared ask.
"It took me three hours just to ask her parents. It took another four to ask Trudy," he confessed. "I don't want to ruin this."
"Hey Randy!" Stottlemeyer yelled at the rear-view mirror. Randy didn't hear but broke into a high tenor, lost in the fantasy of singing with his favorite band, "Korn". Monk flinched at all the sudden cacophony of noise around him.
"Randy! Knock it off!" Leland yelled, finally getting his attention.
Randy hastily removed his headset. "What?" he asked loudly, forgetting that the music was no longer in his ears.
"Romeo here is going to ask Natalie to marry him."
"Sweet!" Randy replied with a grin.
"Oh, great, why don't you alert the media while you're at it, Leland!" Adrian whined.
"C'mon, Monk, he'd be a big help to you. He's Mr. Romantic, remember?" Adrian glanced back to see Randy's silly grin staring back at him. He turned back to the window with a heavy sigh. "Now, about that dream," Leland reminded.
"What dream?" Adrian asked innocently.
"Monk! The reason we're driving 16 hours to Arizona! That dream!"
"Right," Adrian sighed again. "Here's the thing. I don't know what it means or even where we're going," he admitted.
Stottlemeyer glared at him for a minute in confusion, not believing what he just heard come from the mouth of Adrian Monk, the man who was always right.
"All I know is . . ." Adrian recounted the dream to Stottlemeyer and Randy. Randy sat forward in his seat, eyes wide with wonder. When he finished, he looked at his two friends to gauge their reactions. Randy he could easily read. He seemed to border on wanting to elect him for sainthood or superhero status. Adrian twisted his face at what his expression held and looked at Stottlemeyer. His expression wasn't so easy to read. He turned and gazed pensively out the window. "I'll know when we're there," he quickly said.
"This isn't like you, Monk. You look at facts," he reminded him. Then he stopped for a moment. "Y'know what, forget I said that. You haven't been like you for the past six months," he exhaled through his teeth.
"It's all about growth and change, right?" Randy shrugged with astonishing wisdom. Stottlemeyer glanced back at his young Lieutenant. That wasn't like Him either.
"Don't worry, Monk," Randy affirmed, slapping him on his shoulder. "I'm with you," he promised.
"Thanks, Randy," Adrian said with slight concern.
"I'm with you too, buddy." Stottlemeyer added. "It just kind of threw me, y'know?"
Adrian nodded, eyeing his friend, deciding to hold onto his trust in him. "It threw me too," he replied, looking back out the window.
"Hell, we're driving to Arizona, aren't we?" Stottlemeyer chortled.
Adrian cracked a grin, and a chuckle of relief came out of him. "Yeah, we are," he sighed happily. "Hey, thanks guys!"
"That's what friends are for right?" Stottlemeyer reasoned.
They finally stopped for the night in Needles, CA. electing to drive the next 8 hours the following morning. Adrian protested only a little, keeping in mind that they were doing him a huge favor and, he remembered the motel he'd made his temporary home in Sparks, Nevada when he was in hiding. He survived it, so he could survive this. People couldn't be that dirty, after all. But they couldn't be as clean as Adrian Monk either. He'd have to live with that sad fact.
Adrian of course didn't sleep, between wondering how clean the sheets were, and the dream, flashing through his mind every time he closed his eyes. By morning he was exhausted. They loaded up, with Randy driving and Stottlemeyer in the back seat. Adrian took his usual point position in the passenger seat up front, doing his best not to remind Randy how to drive. After four hours, Randy and Stottlemeyer switched, got everyone sandwiches and water and headed off again. By this point Adrian's lack of sleep had caught up to him and he slept through the pit stop and remained asleep for the next four hours.
The scene of the dance circle intensified in Adrian's dream. The mournful singers grew louder in their chant-like lament. Again, that out of place spirit, or feeling Monk had the first time he had the dream, came at him, and, not seeing it but rather feeling its threatening presence.
He awoke with a gasp.
"Hey, you okay?" Stottlemeyer asked with concern.
Adrian put his right hand to his brow, wincing in thought. "Pull over!" he suddenly commanded, with urgency. As Stottlemeyer pulled his SUV to a stop alongside the deserted highway, Adrian quickly abandoned the vehicle and walked purposely out through the scrub a few yards. He stopped suddenly, his hands up as if exploring a crime scene. He studied his surroundings, as a slight wind kicked up, creating a mini dust tornado. It danced around the detective, who stood transfixed for a moment and watched as it moved across the highway and dissipated. Adrian looked across the highway and fixed his gaze on a far distant red mesa. The cry of an eagle echoed off the canyon walls that lined the South side of the highway where he stood and drew his attention to the sky. Adrian lifted his left arm to shield his eyes from the sun and put his right hand out, as if wanting to touch the soaring creature. He cocked his head as the eagle let go another cry. He stood that way for a long time, following the bird's flight.
After a while, he slowly brought his arms down and noticed he had two spectators. Leland stood leaning on the hood of the SUV from the driver's side and Randy stood leaning against the passenger rear door with eyes of wonder. Adrian opened his mouth slightly, as if trying to pop the pressure in his ears and shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. He cocked his neck again and walked toward the car, feeling the eyes of his friend's unfed curiosity.
"You finished?" Leland asked sarcastically. Adrian nodded with slight embarrassment.
"Hey!" Randy piped in, "I'm going to write a Native American Marvel comic about you. It'll be called 'Spirit Man'!" he said excitedly with wide eyes and pointing to his detective friend with the flip of his right hand. Adrian groaned, rolled his head around and headed away from the car again.
"Randy, get your head out of the clouds!" Stottlemeyer reprimanded, trying to keep his OCD friend from being so uncomfortable that he'd insist on walking the rest of the way to whereever it was they were going.
"Well, look at him!" Randy defended himself. "He was talking to that eagle. You saw it!" Adrian stood, his back to them, holding his head in his right hand and shaking it in disbelief at the conversation.
"He was not talking to an eagle," Stottlemeyer disagreed uncertainly. "Were you?" he asked as his beleaguered friend, once again returned to the vehicle.
Adrian ignored the question and posed his own. "Can we go now?" with annoyance. Stottlemeyer and Randy looked at each other as Adrian got into the SUV. They climbed back in, and the annoyed captain started the vehicle. He waited for direction as he watched the man search the sky through the windshield.
After a moment, he noticed they weren't moving and felt Stottlemeyer's and Randy's stares again. He looked from one to the other. "What?" he asked impatiently.
"Where are we going?"
Adrian shifted his shoulders again. Somehow, he felt very connected to the surrounding land, even the nature there, and yet, he felt very strange at the same time. He hesitated for a moment. "Go two miles, then turn left," he finally said, quietly. Leland raised an eyebrow and pulled onto the highway. Randy sat back, pulled out a pad of paper and began writing ideas for his comic book.
The Captain drove exactly two miles, according to his odometer, and saw a single, unmarked, gravel road to the left, just off the highway. He pulled onto it and stopped, gazing as far as his eyes could see. There seemed to be nothing in the great beyond but more gravel and plenty of prairie grass. He looked at Adrian in disbelief. His friend remained fixed on the scenery of the Arizona desert. Stottlemeyer shook his head and slowly motored down the nameless road.