I returned to Antelope with a tan and a couple of cool T-shirts. "Here today, gone to maui," said one, and the other proclaimed, "Inside this hawaiian t-shirt is one terrific kid", both in a delightful shade of maroon. I couldn't wait to get back to Antelope, kidland, and be with all my friends again.

I had one friend in particular, Yasha, that I couldn't wait to see. I'd known Yasha since Geetam. She was a tough, cranky, no-nonsense individual and she had been my best friend there. When I left Geetam to go to the Ranch, I missed her terribly and talked to my dad about her constantly. When she arrived at the Ranch a few months after me, my dad fell in love with her instantly. They formed a special friendship which lasted for years. She was, more or less, the closest thing I had to a sister or sibling. She looked out for me and challenged me and pushed me to my limits.

When I returned to Antelope, I learned that the people in charge, the Moms, had decided that there should be no further communication between Yasha and my father. So, that was that. I never ferried messages between them, but they maintained their friendship anyway. But Yasha was never one to listen to rules. She smoked pilfered cigarettes and drank stolen liquor. She skipped work and meals and got into trouble in ways I would never dare.

At the Ranch, we would sometimes have these terrifying meetings at Ramakrishna, the Office of Getting Into Serious Shit with the Moms. Usually, we would be called in one at a time to get a stern lecture and punishment and then we would go on with our lives. Well, something unusual was happening. The entire community of kids was being called not into Ramakrishna, but to Jesus Grove, where Sheela, the biggest Mom and Bhagwan's personal secretary, lived and worked. Sheela and Vidya needed to speak with everyone.

I honestly have no idea what that meeting was about. But at the end of that meeting, several kids were singled out. This one had better "Shape Up Or Ship Out," that one received a warning. But one kid, one Deva Yasha, had gone beyond the line. She was singled out and used for an example. She did not get a second chance. She was to pack up and leave the Ranch. Her mom and dad were both living on the Ranch, so I think she went to live with her grandparents, also sannyasins, in San Diego. I didn't see Yasha again until shortly after the Ranch dissipated and she visited my dad and me in Northern California.

The kids were then unceremoniously removed from the town of Antelope and replaced onto the Ranch. We attended school at Ko Hsuan, a new building near the housing and we were farmed out to either kids houses - double-wide trailers that most people lived in - or to regular adult housing. I was kept in a kids house near Magdalena, the cafeteria. We were then all given new jobs on the Ranch and that was how we spent the rest of the time. This time, I was placed on a cleaning crew with Nicky, Sadhu, and Sanjay, three boys my age.