Chapter Eleven
That night, walking the aisles of the outdoor gambling amphitheater, Ms. Morales had an exasperated look on her face. The noise of the lottery terminals and gaming machines was deafening, and the severe lighting illuminating the area was blinding, ruining her view of the sky. As she looked up, she felt drained; she was tired of speaking to tourists in the amphitheater, tired of trying to convince them that gambling was not good for them. Every time the former head of village tried to speak to a different tourist, in order to understand why they liked gambling so much, Clarity saw several members of Zephairi's crew lead Ms. Morales outside the gambling amphitheater, annoyed by the woman who was interfering with the guests' proclivity to gamble. Duldu kept informing Zephairi of the crew's activity with the stubborn woman. The Egyptologist was in his tent examining the intricate hieroglyphs of the Xuleiha codex, and a vase found inside the burial ground. Around eleven PM, after being driven out of the ballcourt 'gambling' amphitheater, Ms. Morales busted in, she was impatient and irritated, holding her arms in the air.
"I need to cool down," said Ms. Morales. She found Lanai looking at her, carrying the pink marble toucan that she had been studying. The former head of the village began talking to the librarian from Hawaii about all the problems she was facing and the pressure to lead a village on her own. Lanai listened without saying a word, whereas Clarity tried to comfort her, which made Ms. Morales feel worse. Ignoring Clarity, Ms. Morales took Lanai by the arm.
"Let's go to the temazcal to relax," she said. Clarity felt unsupported by Ms. Morales and she followed them from a distance to a domed structure nine feet n diameter that had been miraculously left untouched by Zephairi's crew. It was made of volcanic stone and mud. The temazcal, or 'house of heat', offered a steam bath coming from heated volcanic stones, which purified the body after a battle. Clarity observed both women get inside the structure, aroused by the thought of sharing a sauna with an authentic keeper of the Mayan Mysteries. She warmed her hands on the round roof of the structure, listening to any noise, but hearing only silence. She led her hand towards her mound of Venus. The tingling in the neighboring area told her it was time to engage in her favorite way to cum, without caressing herself with her hands, simply thinking of an arousing fantasy. The fantasy lasted three hours, and the moaning’s of Lanai from inside helped in sustaining the arousal, which became a kind of trance. After several satisfying orgasms, which led her back from her altered state of consciousness to ordinary consciousness, Clarity saw the head of Lanai emerge from the stone bath, breathing fresh air. The marble toucan was wrapped in a cloth because it too, was hot from the steam.
"Did you get naked?" asked Clarity. "Is it hot in there?"
"Yes, we both got naked, it's pretty hot, takes some time to get used to it."
"And?"
"Ms. Morales is staying inside for twenty more minutes, but I can't tell you anything else, Flower told me you don't want to be an adept, the sweat lodge is a sacred ceremony, and it's only for those who want to be an adept."
Clarity acknowledged that sustaining her spiritual independence sometimes meant that she had to work harder to know the esoteric secrets she was trying to uncover.
"I don't want to be an adept, but tell me something about what happened, I shared my underwear with you a couple of days ago, it's as though we had been naked together in there, there are no secrets between us."
"Well, it was a spiritual experience and it was a physical experience, it has to do with the chakras and how the toucan is used. I’ve been reading the Book of the Adept, but you're not that familiar with these correspondences, it's not easy to explain."
Somewhat annoyed by the secrecy of her friend, Clarity walked back to her tent and slid inside her sleeping bag. She slept well, comforted and validated by the long orgasm next to the warm walls of the stone sauna.
Ms. Morales got up early the next day to speak to the villagers of Miradorcito staying in the camping site, in order to propose the idea of the ecovillage in a referendum to them. She went from tent to tent. People liked the idea of fighting to recover Miradorcito as a traditional village, adding elements of a sustainable economy, and modern amenities. Satisfied with the result of her poll, Clarity noticed that her legitimacy as head of the village was restored. She saw Zephairi speak on his cell phone for long periods of time, and around mid-day, after lunch, a van drove into the newly found Mayan site, and the two large buses labelled with the Egyptair sign opened their doors for the villagers of Miradorcito.
Zephairi looked at his watch. According to him, all members of the Miradorcito community were expected to leave in the buses, going to Cancún first, and then flying to Egypt. They were helped by Fahibian's crew of construction workers and by Duldu, who led all security measures. Zephairi began giving new Egyptian passports to the members of Miradorcito, along with a small sum of money, which he said, would become larger in Egypt. Explaining that would happen as soon as, the Mexican tourist attraction of Miradorcito, including its dismantled large pyramid, was in place. It was all to be managed by Fahibian's Mangrove Barrier resorts mobile tourist unit. Zephairi then added a small bag of food for each member, containing genetically modified maize made by Folsanto, one of the sponsors of the Alabastriah foundation. Economic interests merged with the tourist value of exporting a genuine Mayan pyramid to Egypt, along with authentic Mayan descendants. Relocation was considered simply a minor cost of carrying out business.
"You can't do this, you can't make everyone leave, it's the end of the village," said Ms. Morales. A tone of voice with a higher pitch than usual showed the feeling of desperation she was trying to hide.
"The money I receive to make archaeological findings depends on a successful tourist venture for Mr. Fahibian, and Egypt will welcome all members of the Miradorcito community," said Zephairi, "the governor of Campeche likes to see improvement in people's lives. You should consider leaving as well."
"Give me half an hour to think things through," said Ms. Morales. She called a meeting in her palapa, and with all of her constituency getting ready to leave, the only attendants were Lanai, Clarity, Flower and Kish. The head of the village didn't want to leave her former village, and her dishevelled hair showed the disarray of seeing Zephairi carry out his plan of dismantling everything she liked about her place.
"Is there a way to stop this gambling madness according to you?" asked Ms. Morales.
"I'm not leaving, I've worked too hard to build my small textile business and I like this place," said Kish.
"You should consider the idea of the ecovillage," said Flower, claiming that an ecovillage would be less noisy.
"We need to find someone from the Institute for Ethnoconservation and Ecology," said Clarity. Ms. Morales kept saying that she didn't know anyone at the Ethnoconservation Institute and that the cement foundations of the new gambling resort were already built, making Clarity's idea futile. For fifteen minutes, the former head of the village argued that they should march against the office of the governor of Campeche in protest.
"Zephairi has all the permits, that won't work," said Clarity, "we want to engage substantial change." Ms. Morales glared at Clarity, who she felt; somehow, always saw a problem where she saw an avenue of survival for the village. Lanai insisted that accepting the gambling resort and the position as conservationist of the site, working under Zephairi, would be a wise choice for Ms. Morales. They heard a knock on the door of the palapa. Ms. Morales opened it, and Zephairi stepped inside.
"It's time you decide," said Zephairi.
Zephairi showed Ms. Morales the papers allowing him and the Alabastriah foundation to provide work permits and to hire the whole population of Miradorcito as the 'Xuleiha Maya tourist attraction'. Clarity looked over the shoulder of Ms. Morales; seeing that the papers were the equivalent of a legal contract to work for Zephairi indefinitely, also giving the Alabastriah foundation a concession to exploit the land of Miradorcito. Ms. Morales shook her head, convinced now that the fu
ture of Miradorcito lay with the building of an ecovillage.
"Think about everyone in Miradorcito, their lives will improve, they will have jobs now and easy food. They won't be subject to floods, they will enjoy sunny weather," said Zephairi.
"There are floods in Egypt," said Clarity. Ms. Morales threw a look of appreciation for the first time to Clarity. Clarity could see that the woman she wanted as mentor of the Mayan Mysteries was not considering her so much as a gringo meddling in the local affairs of the population.
"No, everything is under control, the Nile is part of the prosperity of the country," said Zephairi.
Clarity saw the head of village look inside her pockets. There was no more money in them. It was one thing to fight for the future of Miradorcito, but another to decide where someone else wanted to live if you could not provide a living for them. If the members of Miradorcito wanted to go to Egypt to work there, it was their choice. She agreed to sign the papers on the condition that she and Kish retain an option to recover the concession to exploit Miradorcito as an ecovillage, which could be exercised if they found an investor before the resort was built.
"And if you don't find the investor before we're through?" asked Zephairi.
"Then, Kish and I will leave Miradorcito," said Ms. Morales.
"I'll give you a week," said the Egyptologist. The eyes of Ms. Morales widened, while Zephairi was scribbling the added clause with a pen.
"I need a year, you can't find this kind of investor in a week."
Ms. Morales complained for several minutes about the unfairness of the deal, but Zephairi didn't budge. She signed the papers reluctantly, adding her name and the name of Kish as the only exceptions to the rest of the inhabitants who would be allowed to stay in the new resort, retaining an option to recover Miradorcito as an ecovillage, an option that would last and remain open for a week.
Still, by agreeing to Zephairi's proposal, she was buying some time and ensuring the possibility of a new, kinder reality for Miradorcito remained. The notion of time among the Mayas included resilience, and waiting for a cycle to complete was essential to the effectiveness of prayer, her experience of ritual with the toucan had taught her that. Signing papers was not changing anything in her mind.
Following Lanai's suggestion, Ms. Morales proposed a job for herself as assistant conservationist of the new Xuleiha site. Knowing that he would have more leeway to get rid of Ms. Morales with most of the village in Egypt, Zephairi accepted the new conservationist role for the strong woman, although she wasn't his first choice. In his mind, he was set on replacing Ms. Morales after a few months with a more convenient conservationist from Egypt, leaving the former head of village in charge of something less important, showing the pyramids as guide for instance, or taking care of gardens, or bringing flowers to the resort as decoration. At some point, he wanted her out of the resort, taking her complaints and demands somewhere else. Clarity looked at the new asphalted road paved for the buses, watching the members of Miradorcito step on them.
"What about Kish?" asked Ms. Morales.
"He'll supervise the gambling machines area, and will be in charge of ensuring all of the gaming machines work. It'll be a regular eight hour day job."
"He won't like it."
Duldu came to speak with Zephairi. He showed the Egyptologist the duplicate keys of the G-earth excavator, which was ready to crush the home of Kish. Fortunately, there were gambling tourists and over two hundred video lottery and gaming terminals acting as protection for the thatched home of the loom craftsman. Kish refused several times to gamble any of his hard earned money, hidden under a wood lath below his loom.
"His new job as bellboy at the Moneghetti Suites is ready," said Duldu, glancing at Kish. The craftsman needed time because there was no space for his loom on the Egyptair buses, and he didn't like the idea of being a tour guide in Egypt of his own dismantled pyramid. He refused to leave the site, he along with Ms. Morales, were the only members of Miradorcito remaining.
Zephairi challenged him to play Bul. The winner would decide the fate of Kish's home.
"So if I win at this game, your home is mine, and you leave," said Zephairi.
"I don't leave, but the home is yours, and if I win, I can stay in my home, and my home can stay where it is, and my loom can stay in my home," said Kish.
"It's not a good deal, he should be a bellboy," said Duldu. Zephairi saw opportunity where Duldu saw a problem and an overly astute way of delaying the levelling of the craftsman's home. The Egyptologist entered the home of Kish and began learning the rules of the ancient board game.
"When are we playing?" asked Zephairi.
"Tomorrow night."
"Let's do it over dinner," said the Egyptologist.
"All right, in my home not in the gondola, I'll cook," said Kish.
Zephairi left Kish's home with Duldu. Clarity left through the backdoor of the craftsman, following them from a distance. She could see Duldu holding a vase given to him by Zephairi, and receiving a piece of paper, but couldn't hear what they were saying.
"Prepare a mixture inside this vase for the craftsman according to the ingredients in this piece of paper. We'll bring the vase to him as gift, and you'll pour some of this liquid in his drink while I distract him with the loom," said Zephairi.
"What is this liquid?" asked Duldu. The henchman of Fahibian looked at the list of ingredients, which he'd never seen before.
"Something I found listed in the hieroglyphs of the codex, a drink that will change his thinking, it will make him lose the game he wants to win, the odds will be in our favor."
Duldu smiled at the astute plan of the Egyptologist, thinking that once the dogged local craftsman who was refusing to leave was thrown out of the gambling site, he might one day become the head of security of the whole Xuleiha resort. That is a promotion he would like. Mr. Fahibian would be impressed, and Duldu would watch out for all keys, keeping them at close range. Kish would pay for having lost the keys of the G-earth excavator.