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to add to that of the first two swallows. My eyes met Adam’s, and there was an at-one-ment of mutual understanding, such that a few well-chosen words could tell the history of an 1 entire solar + tw1o41¢e 1: . c system. I nodded for him to go on—I was eager to hear more of his story. “Well, Orfeo,” he resumed, “I had only nine months to live, and as I closed my practice, I flailed out, trying to grasp as much life as could be packed into each day. It was a mixture of desperation and rapture within me—fear and courage and ecstasy, all alloyed into one tangled cocktail of livingness.” He paused a moment, trying to recapture the acute power of that tornado of consciousness. But for the nectar we drank, neither he nor I could have remained so placid at the assault of his words. His aspect rendered him overwhelmingly handsome as he continued to tell his story. “That is how I came to be interested in even such things as flying saucers, and all pertaining to the universe. Before, I had considered such things as silly and of interest only to simple and io . “T went to hear a talk on flying saucers, sponsored by a small group in Seattle. At this gathering I obtained your book, The Secret Of The Saucers, among other books and articles. “In your book I found a kindred spirit. I felt it was trying to say something to humanity, pointing clearly to something which goes mainly unseen. Then, also having read your essay, I found the two wrapping up the whole concept from alpha to omega. “Well, in a short time I had closed out my practice. I did not even know where I was going, nor to whom I could turn for that final assurance and courage. Suddenly it dawned on me that through all the years of my practice I had missed out on warm friendships such as most people enjoy, and there was not even a woman I could call my beloved. Within me there was one inclination, crying out silently, but ever so strongly. It was the call ca 1 of the desert. “In your own writings you had mentioned Twentynine Palms, and this place rang within my consciousness with a tone of 23 ADAM IN THE DESERT peculiar mentalities. «er ea .