The Desert Holds Many Secrets

The Cooler: Chapter 6

The Desert Holds Many Secrets

“Peter, I need you to do this, " a dark-haired man said to another a few feet away.

The two men were standing in the middle of what appeared to be a typical southwestern desert. They were in a valley covered in pale yellow pea-sized gravel. Off in the distance were red-streaked hills. The sky was cloudless, with a summer sun making stark shadows. The vegetation was a mix of saguaro cactus and small scrub brush that looked like a cluster of prickly-looking sticks. The man who addressed Peter was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, standing in the center of a circle of white rocks that seemed to glow in the oppressive sunlight. Peter, standing a couple of feet outside the circle, was dressed in a short-sleeved button-up shirt and kaki-colored pants. Just off to the side of the circle a dozen feet was an abandoned road that was nothing more than a path of broken asphalt with typical desert scrub brush growing up between the pieces. Further out in the distance were the skeletal remains of a building. A faded and shot-up sign towering over the crumbling walls advertised vacancy and free local phone calls.

“I know you said this was the only way, Simon, but are you sure?” Peter said.

“No, Peter, there is no other way. Besides, this is only temporary,” Simon said. “I need you to cast the spell so I will not be detected. If he senses me, he will block me.”

“Ok, I’ll do it; give me a few minutes to prepare,” Peter said.

Peter closed his eyes and started breathing in and out to try to calm his mind.

* * *

“Beep … Beep … Beep,” the sound of an electronic beep woke JJ from his dream.

“Code blue room 357. Code blue room 357,” an amplified voice said.

JJ opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying on his back in a bed in a hospital room.  He rubbed his eyes to try and clear his slightly blurry vision.

“How did I get here?” JJ said to himself. “There must be a call button somewhere.” He looked around and finally found it wrapped around the bed railing. He reached up to hit it just as a nurse came in.

“Oh, you’re awake, Mr. Presley,” the nurse said, walking into the room.

“Where am I?” JJ asked,

“You are at UMC,”  the nurse said. I am your nurse for today.” She walked up to a whiteboard mounted on the wall opposite where JJ was lying. A few things were written on it to help JJ know what was happening during the day. “Can you tell me who we should contact to let them know you are okay?”

“Uhm, no, I don’t have anyone here. Oh wait, maybe Arnie; he’s at the Crystal Palace on Las Vegas Boulevard. Sorry, I don’t know the number.” JJ said.

“Do you know his home number or his last name?” the nurse asked, holding a pen at the ready to write down the information.

“You know what? I don’t know what his last name is or even where he lives, but he’s the only one in town who might want to know where I am.” JJ said.

“Is there any family somewhere else who might be concerned about you?” the nurse asked as she wrote Arnie in a box on the board labeled “contact.”

JJ thought for a moment and, for some reason, drew a blank of any names of his family back in Salt Lake City. He finally shrugged and said, “No, there is no family,”

“Ok, I will bring you a Yellow Pages, and you can find the number for your friend,” the nurse said as she walked out.

“I must not be able to remember any of my family because of what happened that put me in the hospital,” JJ said with an uncharacteristic lack of concern.

JJ looked around his room, and his eyes settled on the call button device. Picking it up, he realized it was a TV remote and a device for requesting a nurse. He looked at it for a moment longer, then put it back down and closed his eyes.

“Sorry it took so long, but I couldn’t find one on this floor, so I got one while I was at lunch, " the nurse said, walking in with a thick phone book.

“What?” JJ said, opening his eyes. “Oh, I guess I fell asleep.” JJ looked at the clock and realized he had been asleep for two hours. “My head is clearer, so I guess I still needed some more sleep.”

“Because three days unconscious wasn’t enough,” the nurse said. “Here you go. I am starting my rounds, and I will be back to your room in about an hour.”

“Ok, thank you. What’s your name?” JJ asked.

“It’s there on the board,” she said and walked out.

JJ looked at the whiteboard again. At the top, there was a spot that said “caregiver," and next to it was the name Rachel. There was other information on the board, including a box that said “doctor” and a blank next to it, as well as a box that said “goal for the day,” also blank.

JJ picked up the phone book and found the quarter-page entry for the Crystal Palace. It featured a black and white headshot of Arnie looking off to infinity. “He really plays up the Egyptian priest thing,” JJ said to himself. He found the number in the listing and then tried unsuccessfully to get up. He was stopped by an IV line that was tangled up by the blanket. It took him a moment, but he was able to untangle the blanket and the line. He was about to roll out of bed when he realized he would need to drop the railing. He looked at it and found the mechanism to drop it. Finally, he was able to escape from the bed.

After adjusting the hospital gown for some privacy, he slowly walked over to the whiteboard and wrote the number for Arnie next to his name.

“Well, now that I have found the number, I guess I should call him,” JJ said, then went back to the bed. The phone was sitting on a nightstand next to it. JJ picked up the handset and punched the number. It rang three times and then was answered by a machine.

“You have reached the Crystal Palace. Leave a message and a number where I can reach you, and I will call you back.” The machine said.

“Hey, Arnie, this is JJ. I’m in the hospital at UMC in room uhm, one sec,” JJ said, quickly looking around for anything that said the room number. He finally found a number on the small label on the base of the phone. “Oh, here it is, room.”

“Beep,” the machine beeped, indicating that it was ready to start recording a message.

“Wow, that is a long pause for the beep. This is JJ I’m at.” JJ started to say and then was interrupted by the machine, and the line was disconnected.

“What? I didn’t even get a chance to tell him anything,” JJ said in frustration. Then, he hit the hook button to get a dial tone.

“Hello. This is the Crystal Palace,” Arnie said when JJ dialed again.

“Hey, Arnie, this is JJ,” he said.

“Hey JJ, where’ve you been? You were headed to the imperial palace a few days ago, and then nothing.” Arnie said.

“Yeah, I’m in the hospital,” JJ said.

“Hospital? Which one, and why are you in the hospital?” Arnie peppered JJ with questions.

“I’m at UMC in room 415,” JJ said.

“Ok, I’ll be there in a bit. It’s been slow today, so I will close up shop and visit you; I have a lot to tell you,” Arnie said and hung up.

“Uhm, goodbye,” JJ said to a dead line.

JJ lay back in the bed and turned on the TV.

“This hot spell should last a few more days, and then it will drop back down to the high nineties,” a local weather girl was doing a teaser for the weather segment. “Thank you, Tracy. We have an update on the casino robbery last week right after these commercials.”

The commercials started, telling the viewer that they couldn’t live without some item.

“I’m really glad I’m not taking any painkillers; these commercials could cause some major hallucinations. Elves making cookies in a tree, and a tiny man in a dishwasher.” JJ shook his head.

The news continued with a story of a group of men who walked into a downtown casino and took $800,000. The interesting thing was they never showed any weapons. They simply walked in, went straight to the cashier’s cage, and asked for the money. The cashier, along with her manager, handed them the money and then told them, “Have a lucky day.” The news anchor went on to say, “After an investigation, the cashier and manager were cleared of any legal wrongdoing. They both have been reassigned to a non-money handling position.”

“I didn’t know there were any non-money handling positions in a bank,” One of the other anchors quipped.

“I guess security guards,” the first anchor responded and then laughed.

When the news was over, a soon-to-be classic Pauly Shore movie, “Encino Man,” came on. “So, how’s my quietest patient doing?” His nurse, Rachel, said as she walked in.

“I’m ok, just a little tired. When can I leave?” JJ asked.

“Well, we need to run a couple of tests now that you are awake, but I think the doctor will release you tomorrow,” Rachel said. “Right now, I have to take your vitals. I already let the radiologist department know you were awake. They said that a technician would be up in a while. If nothing more important comes into the ER, you should get the CAT scan done by midnight.”

“Well, what do I have to do except wait,” JJ said. “Oh, what are the visiting hours here? My friend Arnie said he would be by later.”

“The rule is don’t wake the patients. Vegas is a 24-hour town, so the hospital has to be 24-hour.” Rachel said.

“Well, that’s good to know,” JJ said.

“Open,” Rachel said, placing a thermometer in JJ’s mouth. “I figured you wouldn’t want me to check your temperature the way we did yesterday.”

“Shss E ar?” JJ tried to ask around the thermometer.

“I’m just kidding; it wasn’t that way we used the ear thermometer. I’ve been having problems with them recently, so I’ve been using an old reliable today.” Rachel said.

Rachel was looking at the chart while she waited for the thermometer to finish registering.

“98.6, just what it should be,” Rachel said. “Alright, that’s it. Dinner will be here around 6 in about another hour. Hit the button if you need something, and one of us will get to you as quickly as we can.” Rachel said.

“Thank you, Rachel,” JJ said as she walked out of the room.

JJ went back to watching the highly entertaining Pauly Shore, “He is definitely an American Treasure,” JJ said of the comedic actor.

“JJ!” Arnie said, walking into JJ’s room. “Pauly Shore, really?” He said after seeing the movie on the TV,

“What? He’s a great comedian who explores the ridiculous of the American experience.” JJ said.

“Uh yeah, right. I’m going to ignore your questionable choice of actors. I have lots of news. As I said on the phone, it was a slow day, so this morning, I went to the liquor store and grabbed a copy of the Review-Journal. I was flipping pages to get back to the sports section to get the baseball scores when a headline in the local section caught my eye. The headline said Imperial Palace Accident Update. I read down through it, and it said that it was determined that the explosion was an accidental short that caused the flash of light. The casino further said that the malfunction of the slot machines and card shufflers was probably related to the electrical short. It further went on to say that the only victim of the event was still unresponsive. I had dismissed the story until you called me.” Arnie said.

“Hmm, a short, that’s what happened to me?” JJ said.

“Well, I stopped by the library on the way over here and made copies of the original story. Here.” Arnie said and handed JJ the copy.

The story was titled “Unexplained Explosion at the Imperial Palace.”  The article said that there was an explosion at the Imperial Palace, followed by most of the slot machines and all the electronic card shufflers failing. It said that the only victim was found outside of a closed construction area.

“So what really happened?” Arnie asked.

“Well, I remember being at the bar, and the machines started to malfunction. And then I went over to where they had a big Buddha behind a plastic barrier. Hmm, I think I went in there, but I can’t remember anything else until I woke up here.” JJ said.

“In the follow-up story, it says there was a short circuit that caused a bright flash of light,” Arnie said.

“That would explain the light and maybe even me being outside of the plastic. A shock with the right amperage and voltage will throw you.” JJ said.

“So, was it all worth it? Did you find what you were looking for at the Palace?” Arnie asked.

“I’m not sure. I found the Budha that was talked about by one person, but if it was an electric shock, then it wasn’t what I was looking for.” JJ said.

“What did they say about the Budha?” Arnie asked.

“One person a few days ago said that they started winning after they touched the Budha,” JJ said.

“Do you remember what happened when I handed you that lucky charm?” Arnie asked.

“It got really hot really fast,” JJ said.

“I wonder if the Budha was so charged it was like a major static shock. I wonder if all that luck was like you touching something really charged up with static electricity. Have you gotten any pages since then?” Arnie asked.

“No, I haven’t. So, do you think the Budha was charged with luck?” JJ asked.

“Yes, I think so. But saying that the Budha was charged is a bit of an understatement. If touching the statue caused a flash of light that could be seen across the casino, that wasn’t a natural occurrence. I think someone charged the statue. How long have you been in town getting pages?” Arnie asked.

“A little over three weeks,” JJ said.

“Wow, that can’t be the only thing that was charged up with luck. Luck has a habit of draining away. My crystals only hold a charge of luck for a week.” Arnie said.

“A week. Does material make a difference? The Budha statue looked like gold. Would gold hold luck longer?” JJ asked.

“Most likely, it was bronze plating on a hollow cast iron skin. There are some materials that can hold luck longer. Some precious gems can hold luck indefinitely, but not any metals. That means there had to be at least one other thing that was charged up, or that Buddha was charged up multiple times.”  Arnie said.

“Why would someone charge a statue with luck?” JJ asked.

“That I don’t know, but I think we will have to figure it out,” Arnie said.

JJ looked down at the story again to see if there was anything else he and Arnie had missed. “Did you say that you had other news?” JJ asked after putting down the copy.

“Oh yeah, the biggest news. I found Aku Aku. You were right; they are the heads at the Tropicana. I’ve only been able to introduce myself and find out that I was the one they were looking for. They promised me some ancient knowledge if I came back,” Arnie said.

“That’s interesting. I thought the messenger said you were not the master.” JJ said.

“Aku Aku said that the messenger was mistaken. It said that the Menehune are not always reliable when someone is not right there to keep them on task.” Arnie said.

“Well, that’s good. So I guess you haven’t found out what Aku wanted to tell you?” JJ asked.

“No, I’m going to try to go there tonight at 2 am and talk to them,” Arnie said.

“Excuse me,” a man dressed in a white lab coat said when he walked into the room and saw that JJ had company. “I have an order to do a cat scan on,” the x-ray technician looked down at his paperwork. “Here it is, Mr Presley.”

“He’s all yours,” Arnie said.

“Great, do you need a wheelchair or can you … oh, you have a line. I will go get an orderly to transport you down to the basement,” the tech said.

“Well, I guess I should get going,” Arnie said. “When I wake up, I will try and stop by.”

“Call first; they said I might go home tomorrow,” JJ said.