A dozen members of Molly's 'tribe' had joined in with a handful of parents to do some urgent landscaping at a preschool in Western Sydney. The trucks delivering the topsoil were only available during school hours when most parents were at work, so the principal had turned to one of the new believers. Molly's growing army of volunteers was in great demand all over the country.
Chaim hadn't seen Molly and Bess for a few weeks, so he slipped over to the site to have a word with them.
"Great to see such enthusiasm," he said to Bess as they looked out on the playground area from the window of the staff room.
"We bin gettin' lotsa calls," Bess replied. "Tomorruh dis mob'll be letter-boxing most of Parramatta with some health pamphlets, bout AIDS or sumpin."
Bess and Molly were a good team. Molly was much older and wiser, but Bess had the push and energy to keep the team going. In their separate ways they both had a gentle and loving disposition that inspired others.
Just then Molly poked her head in the door from the hallway outside.
"Chaim, ABC feller wants ta talk to you out here," she said.
"Molly, you know I can't do that," Chaim whispered intently. "Did you tell him...?."
"Didn't tell him nuthin', Chaim. He told me. Says he knows you, and he knows you're here."
"What's his name?" Chaim asked.
"Bum, or sumpin like dat. Geoffrey Bum," she said with a smirk at such a rude name.
The name was familiar, but he couldn't place it. "Does he have anyone with him?"
"Fell a with a TV camera."
"You say he knows my name? Bring him in, but not the cameraman."
When the big man walked through the door, it all came back. He was the reporter who interviewed Vaishnu when Chaim first met the guru in Chennai.
"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Rosenberg," Baum said as he reached out his big hand.
"Call me Chaim," Chaim replied. "Geoffrey... yes, Geoffrey. I don't know how you knew I was here, but it's very important that no one know who I am."
"I figured it from what's happening in India. The BBC sent me to ferret out a connection between the two movements. I had an appointment to film the volunteers today, and I spotted you going into the school."
"Geoffrey, you can cover what you like, but I can't come into it. No one must know that I have anything to do with this."
"Sure, I can do that," Baum promised. "But it would be better if I could interview you. What're you afraid of?"
"I don't want you to even mention me," Chaim said. "It's not a problem now, but I think it will be later. You do know what happened with Vaishnu, don't you?"
"You mean when they had to hide? Yeah... heard about it. I just finished an update on what's happening there now, and I didn't bring Vaishnu into it at all .
I can do the same for you if that's the way you want to go."
"You can get all the information you need from Molly and Bess," Chaim assured him.
"But where are all these people coming from? And how are you finding them?"
"I don't know if you can appreciate this, but I think it's just happening,"
Chaim said. "It's not like any movement I've ever heard of before. People are sort of being brought together miraculously, often before they even know about the free work. But Molly and Bess are the ones you need to talk to," he added, gesturing toward the two women.
"They're puttin' the soil in the wrong place!" exclaimed Molly, who had been looking out the window. "Bess, you go tell 'em to put it over there by the back fence. See there? Where the rains washed the old soil away."
"Sorry about that," Molly said to the two men, as Bess left the room.
"Is it connected with a church?" Baum asked, still directing his question toward Chaim.
"There's a meeting house up in Newcastle where people gather on a Sunday and just sit in silence," Chaim explained. Something happened there, and so now people are coming from other places to see for themselves. But mostly it's just people meeting up in other ways.
"Bess attends in Newcastle, Geoffrey, not me. She can tell you about it when she gets back. Molly and Bess meet over at Molly's place too. But then, you must already know that," Chaim added, "if you've had enough contact to be here now."
"Yeah, I've got that," Baum said. "What I want is the bigger picture. Who or what is behind it? I want to hear your story."
"Look, I'll talk to you, but no cameras, and you must promise to keep my name out of it?" Chaim bartered.
"Agreed," said Baum, reaching out to shake Chaim's hands. "Can we sit down?"
They had been standing while Chaim wrestled with his chances of getting out of this without his name being broadcast.
"Sure. Over here on the couch will be fine. Molly, come and join us," Chaim added.
"First, I'm not the leader. You should know that. Vaishnu was doing this long before I ever came along. But it's bigger than him too."
Baum nodded his head. Chaim was talking now, and he was listening intently.
"The whole thing seems to be a spontaneous spiritual awakening."
"Are there Hindus involved here... locally?"
"Not that I know of. Yet. But even with Vaishnu it's not just Hindus anymore. It's bigger than that."
"I picked that up from Vaishnu," said Baum.
"Well , it's that way here too. The meeting house is Quaker, but our own people aren't running it. The truth is, only a few Quakers have joined. But I don't think any church would have been able to tolerate it the way Friends have."
"Are you getting opposition?" Baum asked.
"Surprisingly little. At the moment we're making friends faster than we're making enemies. Free work helps," he said, nodding toward the window.
"So why the secrecy?"
"Geoffrey, I'm saying this to you as a friend, and not as a journalist, okay?"
Chaim was looking deep into the big man's soul, and he felt that he could see a spark of faith there.
"I have what you might call premonitions about some hard times ahead.
At some point, people are going to start feeling that we expect them to do the same thing that we're doing, and then they're going to react."
"So do you expect others to do the same?"
"If you found the cure for cancer, wouldn't you expect others to use it too?"
Chaim asked. "But I don't think any of us is really preaching. We just seem to be led to people who like what we're saying. There's nothing to sell."
"So tell me about the free work. If they're all working for nothing, who pays the bills?"
"You've been to India, Geoffrey. You must know how rich we are here by comparison, even without paid jobs. Molly and Bess are teaching us to live more simply. Many of us own houses. We're selling them and moving in with others in rented accommodation. There's more than enough money, for ourselves as well as for brothers and sisters in some of the poorer countries."
"So you're saying it just happened. What's your take on free will?"
"It's not theological. There's no doctrine... yet. What we have in common is just that we're all trying to follow our inner voices."
"But what about you personally? Do you think you were predestined to be part of this?"
"I don't feel that way. But I do feel a wonderful peace about everything, like what's gonna happen is gonna happen and there's nothing I could do to stop it. Things keep coming up that are so different to the way I've always thought, but then I just step outside of myself and kind of observe what's going on. It's great entertainment!" he laughed.
"What I'm experiencing now is like being tossed around inside a washing machine. What might be torture to some is like a joy ride if you just relax and go with it.
"Your turning up here today is an example. I felt panic at first, because I really do want to keep my face out of this. But then I figured, you must be here for a reason. Why worry? Go with the flow."
"And what do you think is the reason?" Baum was not asking as a journalist now. He was genuinely curious.
"I think you're trying to trick me into selling!" Chaim explained, with a laugh and a slap on the back of the big man. "You're the only one who knows the answer to that one."
"Do you think I'm meant to be part of this movement?"
Chaim gave no answer. He just raised his eyebrows and smiled.