The Buddha of Lightning Peak: Cycle of the Sky, #2

By Yudron Wangmo

Sometimes it seems like no one has seventeen-year-old Dee Adair’s back. She’s got enough stress dealing with her little bro being locked up, a heartless homophobic grandmother, and an ex-girlfriend who gives her trouble every time they cross paths.
Now, sacred Lighting Peak—her only place of peace—is scheduled for destruction. Bulldozers and dynamite are poised to excavate the mine, massacring the animals who live there in the process. Matrika Shergill, the mine’s hot no-nonsense owner, couldn’t care less about the furry little darlings.
Dee must find the inner strength from her meditation practice to weather violence and betrayal—and harness the power of friendship—if she is to save Lightning Peak. Discouraged by apathetic adults, pursued by murderous goons, inspired by a sage, and yearning for love, she presses onward.
The Buddha of Lightning Peak forges the transformational journey of an imperfect African-American lesbian teen lit up by the heroic promise to help all living things no matter what. 



 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mayum Mountain Resources
• Release date: Jun 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9780996924139

Book preview

1

Look—I’m a nice person. Really !

Okay, maybe I get a little testy and do some dumb things when I’m stressed out. Sometimes there’s so much pressure and shit going down in my life, it isn’t even funny. Gotta make good grades and work at the store and deal with

Kordell’s

BS

.

Try to have a life, too—know what I mean? Angel broke up with me in June and not one date since then. That shit tripped

me

up

.

That’s the kinda stuff I was thinking about, sitting around the campfire on the first night of the October meditation retreat up at Jade Camp—right before my life

flipped

over

.

---

My shoulders were cold. I reached for my jacket behind me and looked at the rest of the women round the fire. Shanti, Pauline, and Leslie were sitting cross-legged on camping pads on the ground. Sandy, majestic in an old white hippie kinda way, was on her camp chair, eyes focused on the space in front of her, arms resting on her thighs. Smoke from the fire rose up and vanished into the black of the October night.

I let out a big sigh, and the others shifted in their seats. Couldn’t handle that kind of meditation with no mantra or nothing. My thoughts went crazy, and I forgot what I was doing.

Sandy glanced at me and smiled.

Busted.

Okay, everyone, she said. "How did that go for you? Are you a little more

relaxed

now

?"

Nope, I said, shaking

my

head

.

Shanti cracked up, letting out chirp-like trills and holding her sides. She was the easiest one to see cuz her blond hair and puffy white coat were lit up by the firelight. At least one person there got me. Two, really, cuz Sandy understood me most of the time. Even when she didn’t, I still loved her to pieces. You could say she’d been my teacher—like, for meditation and spiritual stuff—since Mr. Archer went back to Tibet in September and stopped teaching in her

living

room

.

Sandy pressed her lips together sympathetically and nodded again. I love your honesty, Denise.

She still called me Denise, like the teachers on the first day of school, even though it’d been five months since we first met at the Health Stop. Someday I’d tell her everybody called me Dee. I was so not a Denise. What were the angels thinking when they sent a baby dyke down to Earth with a name for a femme?

I know I’m ’sposed to be paying attention to my out breath, but my mind goes right on thinking ’bout everything. For a while, I forgot I was even here,

I

said

.

I hear you. That’s no biggie, Sandy said. I’ll give you guys the skinny on how to handle distraction later in the weekend. She yawned, and her ancient aluminum camp chair creaked as her weight shifted. But, right now—I’ve got to level with you—I’m totally wiped. Let’s head to our tents. We can start up again after breakfast tomorrow.

After I got in my sleeping bag, it all started to seem real. Yeah, I’d been a counselor here for two years—and a camper since I was twelve—but I didn’t really think Jerome, the camp director, would say yes when I’d called him at his office at the

Oakland

Y

.

Hey, Jerome, I’d said. "It’s Dee Adair from Jade Camp. Any chance I could invite the meditation group I’m in up to the camp for a retreat after it closes in the fall? It’d be mostly adults and one of my friends

and

me

."

"Why not? As long as you’ve got adults there, better the place

gets

used

."

It was true—the simple green wood buildings did look kinda lonely now. Maybe they missed the sixty city kids who came up each summer session from Oakland to be in nature for the first time—where a marshy branch of the Sacramento River ended at the sharp rise of Lightning Peak, the closest mountain of the Cutter Range. Even though it was a bird watcher’s paradise, a major birdie hangout on the Pacific Flyway where all the West Coast migrators rested on their way north or south, the place was deserted in October.

The wind started to kick up outside the tent. I’d heard they get some serious thunderstorms at the camp in autumn. Personally, the sound of the wind outside chilled me out. I lay there, looking up at the roof of my tent, cradling the back of my head with my hands. Or maybe it was the meditation.

Maybe Sandy was still awake. The impulse to go tell her that that little bit of meditation mighta helped me after all charged across my brain. I could check on her tent to make sure it was staked down good in case the wind got worse.

Okay, that would be lame. She’d camped out a lot and was probably already asleep.

The sound of thunder rumbled in the distance. Then a huge bang sounded, and my tent lit up with blinding light. I sat

straight

up

.

Lightning. Here

we

go

.

2

The pitter-patter of the rain was more soothing than scary, and I settled down into my

comfy

bag

.

Next thing I knew, I was zooming up high above the circle of the Cutter Mountain Range looking down at Lightning Peak, like a vulture spiraling. I caught an updraft, and my stomach jumped—an elevator kinda feeling.

As I was swooping through the crags, something strange came into view. A clear, deep yellow Buddha—like the Buddha, you know?—was floating in the air over the mountain. A bolt of lightning flashed from the mountaintop, shooting downward at a peak below. Buddha turned his head and looked me in the eyes like he knew me. Better than anyone.

It made me feel good.

Real

good

.

After that, I was wide awake from the moonlight glowing through the green nylon wall of my tent. No, couldn’t be that—the rain had ended. That light had to be dawn. I reached out to grab my flashlight and brushed my arm against the cold, slick skin of my sleeping

bag

.

Dew

.

I’d been dreaming. Something about that dream made me feel like I was soaked with joy. Not joy like kicking it at a party. Joy all through me. Every muscle loosened, like during the night I’d set something heavy down I’d been carrying my whole life. It felt important. But Buddha? Really? Who would ever have thought that this black girl from the East Bay would be meditating and dreaming about Buddha? Couldn’t it’ve been Sojourner Truth or something? But ever since I met Sandy in the spring, going to the classes at her house was one of my favorite things. I didn’t even tell some of my friends, cuz they’d give me shit about it

for

sure

.

I grabbed the travel alarm from the gear pocket on the side of the tent and squeezed it so it lit. 5:45 a.m. If this was summer, I’d already be late to help Collin set the mist nets in the woods so we could catch birds and band them. Birds flew low and almost blind in the low light just before dawn, smack dab into our net that hung like a baggy volleyball net a few feet above the ground.

Once we caught ‘em, Collin would untangle each startled little guy from the mesh. The first time it was a chickadee. He taught me how to hold it—its tiny heart beating against my palm—and how to fasten a band around its leg. I’d hold my breath, worrying I’d break its tiny ribcage by accident. Someday, someone might find it with the band on its right leg and know that the bird had flown from Jade Camp, by Lightning Peak in California. Represent!

I pulled on a long-sleeved tee and some sweats and unzipped the inner mesh door of the tent and then the outer flap. The small noise of the zipper sounded as loud as a siren in the still blackness. My hood caught on the tent’s fly, pulling it back and shaking droplets loose that wet my neck as I ducked outside.

When camp was in session, ice cubes crashed inside the ice machine day and night, but now it was dead quiet. Oh, and—check it—Jerome’s damn air conditioner wasn’t punishing us with its

rattling

moan

.

A flashlight flicked on fifty feet in front

of

me

.

Who there? I whispered.

It’s me. Without a doubt, it was Shanti, chirping like a sparrow.

Did you stay dry last night?

It was fine. That thunder was amazing.

Yeah, it was dope. Whatcha doin’ up so early?

"We went to bed at eight. I’m done lying around in a

sleeping

bag

."

"Me too. You wanna go out to

the

dock

?"

Sure!

I shined my flashlight up a dim dirt path. That’ll take us out to a wooden ramp through the marsh. The ecosystem is fragile out there, so we don’t usually walk around off the ramp. I sounded so dorky.

Our feet made creaking thuds on the ramp. Then, when we stepped onto the floating dock, it echoed hollow and shifted a little as we walked.

Weird not to see the canoes there, even though I was the one who put them away. It was one of my jobs to help stash all six of ’em in the shed when camp closed in August.

Rippling water slapped against the sides of the floats under the dock. A hoarse bark echoed through the reeds. A grackle. They sounded more like bulldogs than birds. The eastern horizon whitened. None of my homies back in the East Bay would want to be out here in the musty air, watching the sky change color.

Shanti started doing yoga right there on

the

dock

.

Girl, you are twistier than a pretzel,

I

said

.

Come on! I’ll show you how. She bounced up to her feet like a spring.

Not my thing. Don’t you want to look at the birds and stuff? You can do yoga anywhere. No reason to get into yoga when I wouldn’t be any good at it. Too stiff. I had plenty of things I was great at. I liked it

that

way

.

"I can see birds pretty much

anywhere

,

too

."

That’s how I used to think. Birds were birds. Now it was different.

Part of my job here is to survey the wildlife,

I

said

.

"Does that mean you

count

them

?"

"

Uh

huh

."

On cue, a bird flashed up from the inlet and sailed off down the waterway.

I shaded my eyes with my hand and followed its flight path. "That one’s a green-

winged

teal

."

"I don’t know how you can tell what bird that was. It flew by, like, zooop!"

"It’s not that hard. First you figure out the outline of each kinda bird. A teal has a bigger head than the other water birds. Then you take in the color. If you’re lucky, the bird will make its call. That helps. Birding’s pretty easy. It’s the reptiles that are a pain in the ass

to

I.D

.."

You guys count snakes and stuff? Shanti asked. She was on her hands and feet, pushing her butt up in

the

air

.

We try. We get way muddy looking for those fuckers.

Why go to all that trouble for a snake? Swamps are full of snakes,

she

said

.

Swamp. Inland marsh. Totally different. Was it worth it to try to explain? She didn’t care, and I didn’t like sounding like a nerd. Did she really need to know that I actually cared about every last one of those creepy crawly things? The fact that they were invisible made me care about ’em

even

more

.

I checked my words carefully. "There’s an endangered species of garter snake—only lives right around here. During camp, anyone who finds one doesn’t have to do chores for a whole week. They get a

prize

,

too

."

Shanti inhaled and moved from a forward bend she called Uttanasana to standing then straightened herself and looked up. She breathed out and jumped both feet back into a push-up position, her

elbows

bent

.

What’s that one called? I asked.

Chaturanga Dandasana. It’s a lot like a plank. She could talk and do the most outrageously hard yoga postures at the same time. So what’s the prize? she asked.

Oh, the prize, yeah… I said. A garter.

"An actual garter, like you wear on

your

leg

?"

"For real. You get to wear it until the next

person

wins

."

Please tell me you have a garter on underneath those butch jeans.

My face got hot. ’Fraid not. Jackson Everly is the current Holder of the Garter. I did have it once last year for about two weeks, though.

And?

And I wore it on my upper arm, outside my clothes.

Me, I’d get a little skirt and some pink tights and wear it around my thigh,

she

said

.

I looked at her perky blond ponytail. Goes without saying.

I inhaled a deep breath of the magical air. If I could only put this in a jar and take it home to our apartment in Alameda. I figured when things started to get to me, I could unscrew the top, and the air of Jade Camp would, like, waft around my room, and it’d be like I was right here looking up at

Lightning

Peak

.

Humm. That dream was so intense. What was up with that? Musta been my mind playing through everything that’d happened in the evening.

Or was it something more? An omen? I glanced at the actual mountain, lit up by the

rising

sun

.

3

The five of us ate breakfast, spread out over two picnic tables. As I poured my cereal, Leslie came over from the other table and plopped herself down like a kid, even though she was

twenty

-

five

.

Can we go up there and climb that thing? she said, pointing to the rocky outcropping on top of Lightning Peak. Her ginger head followed my gaze to the peak above. At the bare rocky peak, there was a huge boulder shaped like a flat triangle.

I furrowed my brow. Are you psychic or something? I was just thinking about that mountain.

Nope, she said. "You’ve hardly taken your eyes off it. You’ve barely climbed any natural boulders outdoors yet. I know you

want

to

."

"You got that right. The mountain got its name because lightning strikes those rocks, like, all

the

time

."

"Sure sounded close last night. Is that what was

going

on

?"

"

Guess

so

."

Why? she asked.

There’s big iron deposit up there—magnetite. The scientists say the metal draws the lightning.

Makes sense.

This summer, an elder from one of the local tribes came to visit us at camp. He said no one lived in the Cutter Range back in the olden days. They only collected acorns for flour in the mountains. He brought us some acorn muffins he’d baked. My mouth naturally puckered up from the memory of those bitter hockey pucks. I don’t want to be dissing his people’s food, so, uh, let’s not go there.

She pointed at my downturned mouth and laughed through

her

nose

.

I smiled a little. "Anyway, he also said Lightning Peak was where the spirits of his people went after they died. I guess I shoulda

asked

more

."

In my family, there was only heaven and hell. And it wasn’t heaven that Gran always held over my head. My shoulders pulled up around my ears just thinking about that old biddy.

So. What do you say? Do you want to climb it? she asked again.

You bet your ass I want to, but we can’t. It’s on a family ranch, I said. They don’t let anybody up there.

Pauline popped up from breakfast and headed for her van. I didn’t know her that well, but we were both part of the same group that met at Sandy’s house. She was probably about forty and was always busy wheeling her mother around—so we’d only said hi here and there. Pauline and her mom and me were the only black people in Sandy’s meditation group, and I wouldn’t say it didn’t make me more comfortable that they were always there—you know, sistahs and whatnot.

I sprinted after her. Hey, whatcha doing? I asked.

Going out to grab some hamburger patties for grilling. Otherwise, I see veggie burgers in our future.

Pauline wore REI like an African goddess, everything so pristine and fit all perfect. Her tidy pixie cut. The beaded necklace. Was she wearing makeup—camping? If she was twenty years younger and one hundred and eighty degrees gayer, I woulda totally gone

for

her

.

I pulled my shoulders back and stood up straight. Aren’t you gonna miss the morning session?

"Sandy said she’s going to start at ten. There’s plenty

of

time

."

I checked the clock on my phone. 8:30. Yeah, there was time to go to the Gas ’

n

’

Go

.

Since she’d rolled in the night before, Pauline hadn’t let on