My work up North the first weeks was richly successful and invigorating. The new, very different and intriguing company of ‘K’, the fresh air, long walks alone by day in empty hills, relative sobriety, good sleep and meals which ‘K’ made, (nothing special but nutritious, as she was a vegetarian, which seemed richly ironic considering her former hamburger stand) and the solitude was also a healthy novelty to me.

The second time I went there, in the second week of December, I took Lindsey with me. I knew she had lesbian sympathies and I wanted to place her far away from me, so I wouldn’t have to support her forever. ‘K’ answered all these problems. Lindsey could not only help 'K' but earn a share of the money, relieving me from responsibility. Even though we'd been split up for eight months, she would continue to drop by and make known her latest financial predicament, which I'd always bail her out of, as I owed her my start in this business. They became friends and bed mates within days, like strong magnets placed near each other and soon stuck together, requiring a crowbar to pry apart.

Our nightly conversations were now more civil than ever, a pleasant trio debating equally, as we were all happy and two in a glow of love. ‘K’ now had a back-up teacher if I decided to ditch her. And I’m sure she had full control of Lindsey’s feeble mind after a few nights in bed with her. All she needed from me was supplies, for which she paid a high price, so our relationship became purely mercantile, far simpler than our previous, precarious, undefined partnership. I even enjoyed seeing this new enthusiasm in both of them, and the ridiculous gesture of Lindsey slipping back into the trailer and bed with me each dawn, as if our old love were something that still needed watering.

I continued my habit of long, solitary walks on every non-rainy day. I couldn’t help but notice the strange smiles on their faces each time I returned. They were in bed together every chance they got. But I didn’t mind at all. I smiled also, encouraged it, two friends happier and me free. We never discussed it and they never kissed in front of me. Everything worked out more smoothly, like a machine fully lubricated by all the juices of sex. I made it a habit to retire to the camper many nights by ten or eleven, saying I wanted to read. Lindsey would sneak in hours later and cuddle up, all three of us as happy as could be and pleasant to each other in the morning.

The arrangement worked out so well that I’m sure if it weren’t for my sudden, unexpected trip to Mexico, this trio partnership would have continued well into the next year. It was like the French movie “Jules and Jim” only backwards and without the tragic ending. Or perhaps it did end tragically for them. I only revisited the place once, for ten minutes the following March, almost unwillingly, Louie driving and asking me for my company, as I had no business with them that day, and I didn’t get out of the truck. Louie went to the cabin and told me he’d be done and back in five minutes.

‘K’ walked over to greet me politely through the open passenger window as he came back. We still had lots of business to transact in the following months. Lindsey had come out and sat on the two steps in front of the cabin door, a hundred feet away from me and in plain view, hunched over, her hands holding her face, crying. It was a gray day with mildly drizzling rain. By that summer, all contact was terminated.

But returning to Oakland from that scenario in mid-December I got word from Louie that his planned partner Larry, (Joel’s brother) had suddenly gained a slot in a picture exhibition in S.F. It was his breakout chance as an unknown, aspiring artist. He had to cancel his trip. The plane tickets were already bought and Louie came to me and begged me to take his spot. I accepted.

The original plan was for Louie and his girlfriend Robin, (the crimson-haired punkette from Maggie’s party) and Larry to fly to Mexico city and rent a car the week before Christmas and at a leisurely pace drive to Acapulco and then down the whole Pacific coast to Salina Cruz, near Guatemala, where his brother Joel had escaped to and been living very frugally for a year. There the brothers would reunite and spend a one week trip with Louie and Robin through the Yucatan and back to Mexico city by New-Years eve, Joel taking a bus back to his retreat and the other three flying home to S.F.

I replaced Larry at the last minute but with his stipulation that the itinerary didn’t change and that we hand deliver a long, apologetic letter Larry wrote his brother explaining his absence. So off we went.

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