Page 31 of The Presidents Shadow

MADDY HAS A lesson with Dache coming up. In fifteen minutes. Damnit.

Yes, she knows that to be taught by Dache is a unique privilege. Lamont has told her more than once, “Every class with Dache is a master class.”

And while she knows all this is true, she’s also in a really rotten mood, and that is not a good jumping-in point for lessons with Dache.

Since she was younger, years before she became a protégé of Lamont’s, years before Dache took her into his intense training regimen, Maddy could totally chill just by high-speed running.

Not jogging, but burnout running, the kind where you go until your body simply can’t anymore.

Her usual route these days was parallel to Central Park, pounding the pavement up and down Fifth Avenue.

Once, during a session with Dache, she hesitatingly asked him about her homemade method of “centering” herself. The great Dache did not mock her for her running method, but he certainly didn’t endorse it.

He told her, “The word centering is highly inadequate for what the practice actually is. What I teach you is far greater than ‘centering.’ I teach you control. Then that control leads to power, and the power produces strength for both body and soul. Then, and only then, will you carry the capacity for doing good.”

Yes, Dache was right. Yes, she would learn. But for now Maddy is longing for a quick fix. So running at top speed up Fifth Avenue will have to do the trick.

When she reaches 72nd Street, Maddy turns into Central Park and keeps on running. But, damnit, her mind is not clearing. Her confusion is not diminishing.

R.J. is still a fool. Lamont still faces the most extraordinary challenge of his life.

And Belinda is still living in a hovel while her friend Chloe is missing, with no one looking for her.

And what about Joanna? After showering, eating, and staying at Maddy’s overnight, she insisted on leaving the next day, returning to the street, claiming that she could take care of herself.

No, a high-speed run through Central Park won’t help solve any of those problems, something Maddy quickly learns as her body begins to fail, but her mind is still spinning in circles.

She slows down, then slows some more, then stops.

She now stands at the top of the stone staircase that leads down to Bethesda Fountain and a crowd of people who are seated nearby.

Breathing heavily, she puts her arms above her head and walks toward the west side of the park, until she reaches the forestlike wild acre that sits close to Belvedere Castle.

Suddenly overwhelmed with fatigue, Maddy crouches down next to a boulder. She lifts her T-shirt and wipes her sweaty face. She is alone. Completely alone… until she isn’t.

She hears a voice. The man says, “Ah, an accidental seminar.”

It’s Dache. He has found her. No one apparently can escape the great and gifted monk.

“You have ignored our meeting time, Madeline. Unacceptable. You know that.”

She wants to respond intelligently, but all she can think of is gimme a break. But she knows that such a disrespectful phrase is also unacceptable. Finally, she simply says out loud what she is feeling inside.

“Everything I touch is falling apart. I haven’t created any real changes for Belinda. I certainly can’t find Chloe. Joanna ran out on me. I accidentally killed someone trying to help Lamont. And as for my boss…”

She stops talking. To her surprise she manages to hold back the tears.

Dache does not approach her. Dache does not try to soothe her. He is always beyond that sort of action. And he expects that Maddy should be also.

“I will give you one rule, and the rule is an insight to cherish.”

Then, in the voice of an old-fashioned Sunday preacher, he says, “ Problems belong to all people. Solutions belong only to the chosen few. ”

Then Dache is gone.