WHAT DID SHE HEAR, cont'd.-2
We left our story at, “This group had rented the entire hotel. It was 1976 at the historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Every room was filled. “
While waiting to check in, Ramey stood next to a fiery redhead who immediately turned to Ramey and offered her hand, “Hi, my name is Sarah Walker.” Ramey jumped, ready to flee before she caught herself and held out her own hand. She wasn’t used to people being so fearless. Although Sarah was small, her presence made her seem bigger than she was and Ramey unconsciously stepped to one side to give her more room. Ramey couldn’t imagine this small dynamo afraid of anything. Sarah began to shout, “Patrick, can you get the bags? They don’t have anyone to help us. Watch the corner.” Addressing me again, she queried, “How long have you been here? Our plane just got in.” Shifting back to Patrick, “Be careful. I think you can maneuver the bags this way if you just…”
The people Ramey grew up with all respected each other’s bubbles. No one penetrated those bubbles except to do harm. She would soon find out, however, most of these people didn’t seem to live in bubble land. They were open and welcoming. Ramey had a hard time trusting that. Such openness unnerved her.
After checking in, Ramey headed for the elevators. She bumped her baggage over the threshold and into the metal box. As it began to move up, the elevator suddenly dropped a foot without warning except for the terrible scraping of metal against metal. They had traveled nearly to the next floor before dropping. The passengers began to scream and the elevator dropped again, then started up and thankfully brought its passengers to the safety of the second floor.
Before the elevator departed the lobby, Ramey watched as a woman approached. She was a bit past mid-age but she was elegant, and every bit of the word “beautiful” applied to this white-haired stunner. Regal also fit nicely on her shoulders. While the others were screaming and grabbing for stability, Norma Keller (this, Ramey learned was the woman’s name) stood casually smoking a cigarette with a drink in hand. She hardly registered the bangs and bumps of the rogue elevator. When the door opened, she glided out and disappeared down the hall.
Ramey also noticed a tall, sophisticated-looking boy by the name of Al Haferkamp. As soon as the elevator started acting up, Al immediately launched into calming everyone down, “Let’s just stay calm everyone. Everything will be all right.” And Ramey could tell that he, himself, was speaking from a center of calm. He was quick of motion in offering his hand to steady people but it seemed like he had all day. Ramey wanted that. She longed for it. Calm in the midst of a storm was something that had always eluded her.
Departing the elevator herself, Ramey noticed the wallpaper in the halls was yellowed There were strips of wallpaper pulled loose, looking very much like they were performing a back flip off the wall. She thought the only old hurt that needed to be healed was the hotel itself.
As she rounded the corner to her room, she hadn’t gone five feet before a chandelier crashed to the floor behind her, barely missing her. Ramey jumped and grabbed her bags out of the way. The floor was littered with prisms from the light shining through the broken glass crystals. She whirled around to show her shock and exasperation to anyone who was there, but the hallway was empty. She called the front desk and reported it when she got to her room. They didn’t seem surprised.
Ramey seriously doubted her sanity to have come so far on so little information. Two nights before Assembly, she lay in bed unable to sleep. She tossed and turned then lurched out of bed and her heart filled with agitation. She felt a sense of urgency that was almost crushing. She was looking for something but she didn’t know what. She opened drawers and closets, looked in boxes, then she spotted it—the trash. Check the trash. She pulled all the trash out onto the kitchen floor and at the bottom found the tossed flyer. She felt a hard agreement from her soul that was almost palpable—“YES!”, and someday she would think about why she attended this Assembly and process all the steps it took to get there, but right now, she had a schedule of classes to attend and she felt as though she would be cast out into the darkest dark all alone if she didn’t attend. She had to come to this Assembly knowing very little about it but she felt she had no choice.
It pressed so hard on her as to cause panic that she wouldn’t get there in time. Panic bought a plane ticket, packed bags, called a cab, and got on a plane…for the very first time in her life. The fear of missing out was so great, it overcame all resistance. One day Ramey would look back and decide if there were ever such a thing as a “calling”, then on that day, at that hour, Ramey was called.
(Watch for the continued story next month. You might recognize yourself or a friend. See you then.)