Death Valley: An Allegory

It’s no telling how long Benjamin and Jamie DeVere have been lost in the desert of Death Valley, California, as they theorize differently with memory. The couple slumps through the same footprints walked for hours, days, weeks, each footstep digging deeper with recollection. The sandy circle is the master of their minds as they muddle through another day in the valley of death. Arguments become conversation as they gripe on about where their destination started and how it will end, each voice raising a beckoning call to end the trip. The deep, lowly valley is soft and confined, but their temperaments are hardly close to home. If they could only find water, Benjamin and Jamie would understand that have walked by the same crevices of the rock, etches of the valley, and sandy footprints for days with no end in sight. It is only a matter of time before the young couple realizes that dehydration is a master of defeat.

Benjamin DeVere, at the prime of his life, was a successful businessman. He met Jamie and engaged to her within months of their first date. Their marriage hit a turning point once he found out that Jamie was 3 months pregnant with their first child; a girl. He flew off the handle; smashing their wedding gifts and thrashing their house they once worked hard for. After a few months of this, Jamie wanted out. She tried everything; trial separation, couples’ therapy, you name it; Benjamin did not want that baby.

Jamie DeVere was a well-mannered woman. Her calm and peaceful demeanor was attractive to Benjamin, and being an ambivalent and insecure man, he latched onto her in unhealthy and rather damaging ways. Benjamin’s obsessive needs seemed to have mellowed out to Jamie shortly after they engaged. These feelings did not re-surface for a while, and things seemed to be okay, that was until Ben heard news of the pregnancy. The new father’s psyche came over him in ways that it never had before, changing and molding with every new onesie bought and every financial plan arranged. Jamie was ecstatic, but she felt as though she couldn’t be because she had no one to share it with. Her excitement and anticipation only fueled Ben’s fire.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ask for help?!” the wind is warm and beats on her face like a heartbeat.

Ben hacks a lung in attempt to answer her question, his dehydrated and shortening breath spits into his wife's ears.

           “How many times do I have to tell you, Jamie? There is no one here to ask for help!”

Stranded deeper now, Jamie plans her next move. Her bare feet scorch and slip deeper with every step into the sand below, but she finds a rock and steps onto it, her toes blistering, but without pain. The young woman props herself against the boulder and cranes her neck up to the sky: a little bit of endurance and she could be out into an oasis of her own making. Is that what she wants? She weighs her options: a bed to sleep in and a new warm shelter where that bed would be. With crunching of familiar sand, Benjamin forges ahead, and Jamie feels unfortunate for lack of another choice. Lifting herself from the rock, she follows on, cradling the underneath of her belly until she can no longer see her hands. Just then, a Braxton-Hick, a gentle kick, and a stomach full of bees (not butterflies).

“Sometimes, I feel as if I am the only one with common sense!” Jamie's voice breaks with every step. “Tell me why we are we still going in circles...”

Benjamin stops in the same footprints from just a moment before, sinking and sliding until the sand is at his knees.

 “I already told you, Jamie, we are going this way for a reason… remember? Eventually, these circles will turn into squares, and those squares, into stars!”

“What? That makes no sense!” The new mother wipes her tears away and sniffles air up her nose that is hot and sharp.

“Jamie.” He comes in closer now. “Sometimes you have to make sense out of things that don’t make sense. Once our path changes, and our minds clear, we will eventually find our way out.”

“We can’t clear our heads if we don’t have water, and we can’t get water if we don’t find help!”

With hardly any strength left within her fragile body and clouded mind, maternity grapples onto the side of the same rocky sand dune that had been walked alongside for countless hours. The boulder is Jamie’s step stool as she braces herself onto the edge. Her feet slip along the crumbling sand dude below, but she recovers with support from the boulder.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to do something I’ve been meaning to do for days.” Her voice shakes and her body goes numb, but she does not let it dissuade her from the mission.

` Benjamin is stoic as he stands back in regret for his fault in the matter. Neutral now, he leaves all expression behind as Jamie makes her way up the base of the cliff. He is too afraid to offer support, fearing it would be too late. His wife is already out of arms reach, anyhow. Jamie nears the top of the cornering sand dune and stops. She looks back at the mess she had made and wonders if it was all worth it.

The wind will blow the sand and cover our tracks, sure, but memories will always remain.

With one last heave, the young woman lands on a grassy safe haven. She does not, however, forget to leave without a gentle wave goodbye.

Benjamin remains in the desert long enough for his limp body to be taken to a nearby rescue lodge. Although he has no recollection of his former whereabouts and can no longer feel any emotion but aspiration, the rescuers are able to rejuvenate him with all the water he can drink and revitalize him with a plate of hot bread.

With butter, of course.