There I was on another “Putting Myself First” vacation in the desert, traveling companion in tow. We were splayed out at the pool soaking up as much Vitamin D as possible when what to our wondering eyes could appear? – A man skipping/dancing into the pool area with a small bag, leather bound notebook and can of sunscreen. Now, the skipping/dancing was enough to grab our attention. I got a side jab from my friend and she said, ‘You are going to want to see this. What is going on by that tree?” I turn to the left to see this man hugging the palm tree and talking to it. Odd? Yes. Completely crazy? Not enough input to determine so just yet.
It wasn’t long before I rendered a verdict. This man skipped/danced over to the pool chair next to where we were camped out and by camped out I mean we had our floaties, sodas, sun screen, books, iPods, snacks and flip flops strewn around us. What happens next seemed like something that should have been kept for indoors. This guy opens a plastic baggie with some dried brown/green leaves. Mmm Hmmm. You know where this is going, don’t you? He sprinkles some of this out into a white paper and begins to roll it up cigarette style. By now, our books are placed in our laps and our eyes are looking as far to the left as possible without turning our heads. My friend and I are mumbling to one another short phrases that encapsulate the sentiment of “WHAT THE HECK?”
Soon enough he lights this cigarette up and is up dancing again. He then sprayed sunscreen on his face in such a caked on fashion that it pooled and was running down his nose and cheeks, dripping onto everything within a three foot radius.
It gets better. The cigarette is extinguished and he tells my friend and me that he has found God. Now, I am a believer in the Almighty. It was a hard sell for me that this guy was a true convert though, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. It hadn’t been my experience that people who find God smoke odd smelling cigarettes at resort pools in broad daylight, but perhaps I was up for a new learning curve. He continues to tell us, well really just me because my friend had already decided that she was no longer interested in him and buried her nose in her book, that he and his boss were selling these cigarettes and wondered if we wanted to buy some. My dropped jaw summed up my reaction. For sake of conversation I asked, “Well, what are they?” His response? “I don’t know. My boss won’t tell me what is in it, but I promise it is legal.” With that my friend let out an audible gasp. I pretended not to hear her and politely declined. So, instead, he left a business card and a “sample” on the pool table next to us saying, “Try it. You will love it.” - One thing I am sure of is that I am too old to be smoking anything, let alone something that I don’t know the contents of.
He then moved to the pool. He jumped off of the hand railing. My friend and I look at each other in disbelief as he climbs up the water fall that is about 15 feet in the air at the south end of the pool and begins shouting Bible verses out to the small crowd of pool goers. After all it is 109 degrees in Scottsdale this July day. Only the strong at heart face this kind of heat. He then leapt into the pool. On his return trip to the fountain he brought his camera to a pool goer and asked if they will take a video clip of him doing another stunt. The pool goer smiles and agrees. The man then climbs back up to the fountain and starts yelling out something about the Prophet and how none are righteous, no not one. That wasn't a news flash to me. I spent a lot of time in church and had heard similar statements many times before. Then he started back floating in the top section of the fountain. This is simply too much for my friend and I, and the other 8 people at the pool, to not drop everything and tune in. In an instant he is up and shouting more Bible verses before plunging from the top tier of the fountain back into the pool.
This theatrical acrobatic show goes on for the better part of an hour. We make our way into the pool to conference with some other pool goers who also look alarmed. “Is he with you?” That is the opening line we use with every person we chat with in the pool about this odd, yet highly entertaining, situation.
It just goes to show that you never know when you are going to be entertained and you must always be ready to ride that wave when it comes because it comes when you least expect it, people.
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