At ten, his second brother died. Peter was not like his other brother or sister, he was often sick. Roger didn’t understand why he was buried. He would visit the grave and hope Peter would return. On a hot summer day, he climbed the ladder to the old water tower. In the dark coolness, he enjoyed the complete solitude. He had visitors one day, they were people and he hoped one would be Peter. But he was not among them. He tried talking to them in the two languages he knew. But they spoke a different language, one he was surprised to find he understood. A silent language that sent sensations coursing through his body, but those were familiar to him. The people were like fine floating dust; he did not understand how the light they emitted caused no shadows. They would not let him touch them at first but by the end of that summer, he was flowing with them, through them and the walls of the tower..

At 65, Roger found himself unemployed, with no formal education, he was also unemployable. He had worked all his life in a highly technical field of engineering. The aerospace industry was faltering as it often does. He had given it up for some ten years before and became a professional sailor, a captain for hire. Now, it seemed his only option was to return the sea. He bought an old sail boat, worked at odd jobs to pay for the refit. Through his old contacts, he placed himself back on the active list. He thought that with his social security check and a few jobs here and there, he would move back to Mexico where he had live before with his friend Stan. It had been some time since he had heard from Stan, perhaps he had moved on as most boat people seem to do.

One night, he gets a phone call, it was Stan. He was excited; he wanted Roger to fly to the old place in Mexico. Roger had never heard Stan as excited and since Stan offered to pay, he went. Stan had found what he had been looking for all along; the rest of the pirate treasure that was found in the mid 50’s when the road to Pichilinque was under construction..

In the remains of a sunken ship, he had found some odd shaped squares and four ceremonial masks, all of hammered gold. He photographed one square and one mask and sent them to some people he worked for before. They were more than interested, they wanted to buy everything, including and most emphatically, the four masks. As Roger and Stan talked, Stan could not explain how they knew there were four masks..

The loot retrieved and the deal made, Stan and Roger were going to be millionaires. They were to deliver the loot to the east coast, by a specified route. There was one glitch, first they were to deliver a load of diesel fuel to a ship at sea. The buyer would pay all expenses, including a vessel. In the interim, the two where on salary, of sorts. The payments were in cash, notes in bundles of 100 bills, wrapped in a page from a Sears Catalog, mostly in denominations of tens, fives and ones. This could only mean one thing. .

When Stan worked with them before, he was delivering duffle bags to waiting hands on dark beaches along the El Salvador and Nicaragua coast in the 80’s. It was not drugs or guns and it was in the other direction, so he thought it was fine. When his boat sank on his last delivery, he received no help and he didn’t expect any, it was part of the deal..

During the waiting, the sea and land voyage, Roger had time to ponder his dilemma. He knew what he was doing and wondered why it didn’t bother him as it should. When he worked in engineering, there was always the apprehension of someone finding out he had no schooling, now there was no anxiety. There were also no views of a lavish lifestyle, which had never been his way. He simply wanted to follow this thing through and see where it lead..

Near the end of the road trip, they were met by the buyer; they were to choose the manner of payment. As Stan was deciding, the buyer takes Roger aside. He asks Roger to be associated with him to the rain forest to deliver the masks. When Roger asks why, the answer sent him back to time he had disregarded all his life. He is told that he has ancient memories and they would be helpful. A bolt of panic courses through Roger’ body, tears well. With no conscious effort, words spill out. Roger recounts his lifelong avoidance of what comes so easily. Roger is spent after his ordeal, he asks how he knew. He is told a colleague has been aware from the start and it had been her suggestion to invite Roger on the final leg of the venture..

When the final chapter begins, Roger has decided to no longer suppress this thing that he has. At the meeting before his departure, he is introduced to Cynthia. She is drawn to him as much as he is to her. If Roger had not felt this before, he would say he was in love. But, he knew the feeling, he knew it well and it was not love, then or now..

His clandestine entrance to South America was an adventure. His new point of view allowed events to be seen with a crisp vision. With aid of the military of one country and the relaxed borders of anothers, he could see how these people; calling themselves The Zoo had been so successful. Trafficking in 3 tons of product at a time, their profits allowed a substantial payoff. The others, moving three or four hundred kilos or less were, from time to time, to be caught so as to have a body count for the war on drugs. There had been a fix set in place, a hushed permission lubricated the machine..

Roger felt at home in the village deep in the rain forest. The customs, the food and the people were not foreign to him. The villagers didn’t question his knowledge of their ways; it facilitated the covenant with the Zoo. The return of their long lost gods for four harvests of coca, a good deal for all. His work done, Roger returned to his plan of sailing away from the life he had made. He was now three fold a millionaire, and more..

Not far from where Roger prepares, Karin is restless. She needed to get away from her job in Child Protective Services. She vacationed in Australia, where strange events would prepare her for what was already in motion. .

Roger had befriended two young people, a man in his thirties and a young girl of eleven years. They were attracted to each other and Roger. The three would talk of what Roger had avoided so long. They learned from each other as Roger prepared for sea. His two young friends were as different as anyone could be. The man was a digital wizard and the girl lived with her drunken grandmother in the slums..

When Karin returns, she learns a girl has been found dead from unusual and unknown circumstances. With the help of the local police, she learns that there had been another identical death of a young man. The only thing in common was Roger. When they meet Karin is terrified by her attraction to him. The investigation finds Roger with no complicity in the deaths and is allowed to leave..

Karin is uncertain, she convinces the investigator to follow Roger and meet him at his last port of call before he leaves the country, San Diego. Karin relates her suspicions to the Coast Guard, who agree to render what aid is needed. While in port, Karin and Roger spend some time. She is held aback as Roger tells her things, things no had ever known, secret things. The attraction grows, she wants more but her suspicion of him is in conflict with her emotions. After Roger leaves, she drives to some high cliffs that overlook the sea. She watches as he disappears..

Karin remembers Roger’s words and finds she cannot get past them. She leads a life different from before, she finds it suits her. Events happen as Roger had said they would. Roger had been gone over a year, one day she is haunted by a tune, music she had heard before, with Roger. She is compelled to go to a place she had never heard of, far off the beaten track. As she gets near, the music grows in intensity until as she rushes down a cobble stone street, in a village next to a green river, where Roger’s boat is tied to a great tree, she at last releases the turmoil inside her..

On her way there, she knew she was in love, the love she had waited for. She expected to make love as she or anyone had ever, ever experienced. She found neither, she found only what Roger had said she would..