After my trip down south, I returned to Chicago where I stayed a few months with my mother and step-father. However, the search for answers had not ceased and I was still very restless. Finally, I decided to return to Pensacola after receiving another invitation from the 13-year-old girl to stay with her.
On June 16, 1974 I caught a bus to New Orleans, where I was to transfer to a bus to Pensacola. However, I never made it to Pensacola. I had taken an all-nighter to New Orleans and it was early afternoon when I arrived at the bus station. Since I had some time to kill before catching the next bus, I decided to stretch my legs and step outside the station for awhile. While standing there, gazing at the city around me, I was approached by a young Japanese man who invited me to attend a lecture. Normally, my response to someone like that would have been, "Get lost!" I had been approached many times before in Chicago by Hare Krishnas and other religious groups, and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with them or any religion. As a self-proclaimed atheist, I couldn't believe there could be a God with so much suffering in the world. So I stayed as far away as possible from religious people.
It was only because of a combination of circumstances (or fate?) that I actually decided to go to the lecture with this man. My main reason for going with him was the look in his eyes. When he looked at me, he didn't have that sexual look that I had come to expect. This took me completely by surprise. I couldn't believe that he looked at me with such pure eyes. So something inside of me trusted him (a little). The second reason for going was that I was hungry, and he had mentioned that a meal would be served after the lecture. So off I went with him, little knowing that my life was about to completely change.
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