Gallup on the Road to Damascus, Part I

I'm being interviewed on Gallup public radio today to promote my novel today. Paul had a vision on the road to Damascus. I had a life changing experience on the road to Gallup.

As a lawyer, I had a 9:00 AM hearing in Gallup. I had figured two and a half hour drive so I left at six and subsided on energy bars and Red Bulls. Unfortunately, there was construction on the freeway and I arrived at 8.59. Without getting too graphic, let's just say the Red Bull wanted to stampede out of my system. I checked into the court before heading to the rest room, but the judge called the case and I had to run up to the podium, literally writing in agony. The judge didn't care. "Ready?"

Thankfully, the other side, which had an office inside the building, was not in the courtroom. "May I be excused your honor," I asked, and the judge let me run out. That could have been the most embarrassing moment of my legal career.

The lawyer on the other side said that the elevator hadn't been working, but I wondered if something else had intervened.

After the hearing was done, it was a Friday I decided to broaden my horizons. The Navajo Nation Fair was taking place and I drove up to the village of Rock. I did not get phone reception, and it was like I had passed to a different era. I had some of the most relaxing hours of my life. I ate mutton for the first time and loved it. I saw barrel races on the rodeo grounds and got the autograph of Ms. Navajo Nation, a vision of beauty.

But something was missing. I saw plenty of rocks, but none of them had windows. I was then told that the actual rock formation itself was a few miles away.  What the heck, I thought. My luck has been good so far.

I deliberately lowered expectations. When I was a kid, I'd been to a natural history museum that had a replica of a blue whale hanging on the ceiling. It was the size of the Starship Enterprise to me, and yet when I had gone back to the museum as an adult the blue whale might looked more like a fake model of a tuna fish.

I parked on the side of some government buildings, and then I saw the Window Rock itself it was actually bigger than I had anticipated. I looked into the window, the massive blue space in the middle of the rock and it was like looking into a mystical eye.

At that moment, everything changed....

To be continued...