March 9
It’s been 60 days since my wife died in a terrible accident the police haven’t been able to solve.
I’m on a plane to Tibet. I don’t know what I’ll find there, but this always works in action movies so I thought I’d give it a shot.
I feel lost, alone. Maybe this trip to the Far East will show me a new path, help me get over Marie’s death and my parents’ terrible death when I was seventeen.
Or I may just get mugged.
I hope the first option happens instead.
March 12
So far, enjoying my time in Tibet.
Can’t understand a word anyone says and some of the hostel’s food gave me cramps yesterday, but otherwise I’m fine.
I don’t feel like I’ve gotten any new direction yet. Visited a shaman the other day and told him my story and asked for advice. He said “no speak English” and offered me a genuine hand-carved yak cheese figurine.
Maybe this is a test of my will. Perhaps I have to plow through this time of indecision and then answers will come to me.
I really wish my parents were here to help me now. It’s not easy to know you desperately want parental advice but your parents were killed by an ice cream delivery van that lost control on Main Street. Even today I can’t order tripe chocolate chip without… Oh well. That’s all behind me now.
Yak cheese is completely impossible to eat.
March 14
Decided to just wander the city today and see where the wind leads. I almost got mugged three times, but it was interesting anyway.
This afternoon a tour guide told me about a monastery on the nearby mountain peak. I have an idea.
March 15
Stupid tour bus drive driver. He only drove me halfway up to the mountain even though the brochure clearly said he goes all the way to the monastery and back.
There were no locals nearby, so I decided to walk the rest of the way up to the peak. Shouldn’t be too hard. Better get started now.
March 15
My iPod died two minutes ago.
I must continue hiking up the peak without motivating music or podcasts.
This will be tougher than I thought.
March 16
So much has happened I haven’t had time to write until now.
I made it about 10 more miles up the mountain before I finally collapsed in the road. So much for a dramatic race to the monastery doors.
I finally got the strength to look up at the gathering fog. Something strange and ethereal was walking towards me, moving with a soft grace I remembered so well.
Marie? I thought.
The thing came closer and the mist cleared.
It was a flea-bitten yak.
I must have blacked out, because the next thing I remember I was lying on the floor of a small hut. An old Asian man with a goatee brought me a bowl of soup. Fortunately, he speaks reasonably good English and explained that his yak found me a few yards from his home.
When I told the old man I was headed to the monastery, he shook his head. Apparently, a recent avalanche sent large boulders down the mountain, destroying the monastery and blocking large sections of the road. This might explain why the tour bus driver refused to take me all the way.
I was about to give up when the old man mentioned he lived in the monastery before he decided to pursue enlightenment in solitude. I think my path is becoming clearer.
March 21
The old man – sorry, my master – has agreed to teach me the ancient ways of martial arts and tea-making. I wanted to skip the tea part, but he insists.
We spent most of this morning covering the basic points of self-defense in kung fu. By lunchtime, I feel like I know enough to take on any enemy who comes my way.
Bring on the masked men in dark alleys.
Lunch is six grains of rice and yak milk.
Fortunately, the milk is more palatable than yak cheese.
Tomorrow, we will discuss tea leaves, proper boiling of water, and my wife’s death.
March 23
Today, I finally had my breakthrough.
I was sitting outside the hut at midday, my master watching as I poured water over tea leaves in a bowl. My master would not let me get some sugar to go with the tea.
My master chatted as I made the tea, talking about the paths each man must make and so forth. I looked up just as he mentioned the paths we take when loved ones die unjustly.
I thought about Marie, about the fateful day she stepped into that train and never got off alive. I think about the police who couldn’t find out what happened between the time she got and the time she departed the train in a body bag. One of them, my buddy on the local paper tells me, has been implicated in several corrupt cop investigations.
I look back down, just in time to notice one of the tea leaves looks strange. It’s leafy veins twist in odd directions, almost creating the shape of a letter.
Actually, it looked exactly like a letter. The letter “I,” I think. Possibly a “G,” but I think it looks more like an “I.”
I spent the next five minutes trying to pick the tea leaf out of the pot with a spoon. Having burned my fingertips about fifty times, I finally got it out.
My master finishes what he was saying about paths, ending with the words “sometimes we must seek justice.”
I looked from the leaf to him, to the leaf again, to him again, and finally back to the life.
Suddenly, my path is clear. I know now what I must do to avenge my wife’s death. I know now how to save my home.
I stood up, holding the tea leaf triumphantly in my hand. I shall return to my city and combat the forces of evil there. I shall create a name, something strange and dangerous to scare my enemies to hell and back.
I shall call myself… Captain Intimidating.
April 9
Said goodbye to my mentor today. He would prefer I stay at least until my training is over, but I don’t like tea that much.
Anything I don’t know about kung fu, I’ll just learn when I get home through online tutorials.
I sprint triumphantly down the path to the village. My legs start aching after two minutes and I switch to a well-paced jog. I feel great. I feel free.
I am ready to embrace my new mission.
EXCERPT FROM A RECENT ARTICLE IN “THE HERRINGBROOK TIMES,” GENERAL NEWS SECTION:
Authorities reported today that an unknown man, wearing a diving outfit and a purple cape, sprinted out of a W. Main Street alley while waving a golf club above his head.
The unknown man jumped into a nearby car before authorities could apprehend him, but they did find two men tied and gagged in the alleyway.
These men have been positively identified as the culprits behind the recent Oppenheimer Jewelry Store robbery.
Authorities report the unknown man yelled something as he drove away, which sounded like, “Captain Intimidating strikes again!”