Baba stood with us, then I saw Him slip Across the lagoon bridge and up the hill. I followed Him over the narrow path, and through the screen of bushes, I saw Him standing in the headlights of the car talking briefly for a few moments with Kitty and Elizabeth. Then He was gone. The last fireworks died into the lake with the faraway shouts of the children. How like children we must all seem to Him, the Divine Father!

Sunday, July 29

Early, after breakfast, we all followed Baba in His turquoise jacket down the rustic road to the beach. Baba walked into the water barefooted and threw a stone far out into the ocean. His fingers worked for a moment. Then He sat down on the shore and began to cover His feet with sand. He built a sand face, poked eyes and mouth in it and told bystanders, “This is the original man!” Then He broke it up.

The mandali stood about near by while the rest of us began scouring the beach for perfect shells, as Baba said He had promised to bring Mehera seven shells. One by one, each of us brought back our treasures to Baba, who accepted some, and rejected others, with a mock-serious frown, sometimes asking a bystander whether a shell was worth considering. Many kept the shells handled by the Master as "prasad." Dana reports that after Baba gave him a cat's eye shell, He signaled, "This Ocean has a shore. I am the Shoreless Ocean."

Lud gathered the chosen shells in his shirt pocket and hat. Carrie toted others in my raincoat. Baba Himself went looking for shells and the first thing we knew He was holding a small plastic pipe, and we all smiled at this bit of "magic." We walked behind Him on the sand, with the broad expanse of ocean glittering in the early morning sunlight, as happy and carefree as children beside a beloved father. At the last moment, Fred Winterfeldt, who could not find a perfect shell and had told Baba "The perfect shell is not to be found, it is like spiritual perfection, it can only be found when we drop this shell of a body," picked up a lovely double shell and gave it to Baba. Baba then solemnly broke it in half and gave one-half to Ella and one-half to Fred.

Then we walked over to Alligator Lake, Baba beckoning Renee to lead the way as promised. Baba jokingly told Harry Florsheim He saw six alligators, and Harry replied, "Now I believe it," like Kalyan. Actually