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transport us to the Great Basin National Park,” Ek Chuah told
Mahucutah what he wanted him to do to help.
“Load up!” Tital yelled out.
“Leave out your Mayan Staff of Power. I think it might come
in handy,” Ek Chuah told Tital.
“It’s about time it was good for something,” Jonathan said
opening the small door on the trailer where it was kept. “We’ll
have to tie it on the outside of the truck; it’s too long for it to fit
inside.”
Moka and Eegh rushed up with some hemp rope, so Tital
could tie it on outside his driver’s door of the Ford truck. As the
crew drove off, Mahucutah released the lioness and her furry
cubs. Once on the main highway they drove straight south. The
first town the crew would come to is called Shiprock. A strange
name for a town nowhere near any ocean. Bardala was driving in
front, and managed to make it through the only stoplight the
small town possessed on an orangie-green. With the town
fathers needing outside revenue from passing strangers, the
stoplight’s time to change from green to red was set at one
second instead of a more normal five seconds. This small
stacked-the-deck change had boosted local revenue up twenty
times normal. It was especially good when the New Mexico
Highway Patrol sat parked alongside the local Dunkin’ Donuts
building hidden out of sight. There they could sit eating Swiss
Chocolate filled éclairs and wait for strangers. As fortune would
have it, when Tital’s big Ford truck passed through the
intersection, both patrol cruisers were sitting side by side.
“Brother! Did you see that big rig run the red light?” said A.J.
to his older brother.