John Saunders

Soon after Mollie left I was given the choice from SEMCOR to work from their office in New Jersey for at least three months, which would be in the winter, or be laid off. I took off in my 1949 VW Westfalia Camper, and visited with the sister of a friend in Phoenix. By the time I got to Albuquerque I doubted whether the VW would make it to the east coast, and anyway its heater was inadequate. I traded it for a Dodge Ramcharger SUV at the first dealership I came to, because it had the cargo capacity to hold all the stuff I was taking. This was a miserable cold damp winter and the work at Fort Monmouth was non to great, so I returned at the first opportunity.

On the way back I dropped in at a favorite haunt of the Camping Bares, "Oh! My God" hot spring. Some members were there, including Judy, whom I shall have much to say about later. She is a gold prospector, and persuaded me to accompany her and others to a mine and do some gold digging. I went, but mostly hiked around.

My condominium was occupied by a male roommate from South Africa while I was in New Jersey, and also part of the time by a lady recently returned from living in Israel. Sheila was a widow, the mother of the lady in Phoenix and her brother. By the time I returned, she had rented an apartment in Pacific Beach. I paid her a courtesy visit, and was interested in her religious views. Although Jewish, from England originally, but of Polish extraction, she was an adherent of a Hindu sect. I went to Hindu services with her, and on a bus trip to Los Angeles for a big rally. There the lady guru who headed the sect gave the best sermon I had ever heard. Afterwards, some of the faithful lined up in the central aisle to be patted on the head by a pole tipped with ostrich feathers. Some had instant religious conversions. This further convinced me that some persons have a genetic pre-disposition for religiosity, and that no religion is unique.

I never intended to establish a sexual relationship with Sheila, but it gravitated that way. Maybe it was helped by my habit of being nude while visiting her, because it was hot by then and she did not have air conditioning. However, this relationship suddenly ended after I met Mollie in Santa Maria for business, because Mollie soon seduced me. I sold the condominium and bought a house in a white area so that David would not have to go to a minority school. However, that did not work, since David threatened suicide if we were to live together again anyway.