I wasn't supposed to talk about it

I wasn't supposed to talk about it. They didn't want me to talk about it! I wasn't supposed to talk about when he burst into my employee dorm room WITH A KNIFE! I also wasn't supposed to talk about it when some members of SWAT, who were in body armor, told us we had to leave the building--IMMEDIATELY--because of a quote: Crisis situation!

And then they stormed the building because there was an eleven-year-old girl, from Phoenix, who had been kidnapped in Phoenix and brought up to Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona.

I wasn't supposed to talk about it, they didn't want me to talk about the blood on the wall in the employee dorm room, next to mine, and I CERTAINLY wasn't supposed to talk about the piece of carpeting that DIDN'T MATCH where the blood of the person who was shot in the throat and died -was.

I wasn't supposed to casually talk about it with my fellow coworkers--while working--about the murdered person's blood that had soaked into the carpet in my employee dorm room in Victor Hall, also known as: Victim Hall ...and for good reason.

Where is this terrible sounding place you may be asking...?

It is where lots and lots of people going on vacation with their family to quote "Getaway from it" Grand Canyon National Park.

When I was a front desk clerk at the famous and historic El Tovar Hotel, on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, I had once checked-in none other than the man who had flown around the world on one tank of gas, Dick Rutan!

I also stood-by and observed as another coworker of mine at the front desk of the El Tovar Hotel checked-in Lindsey Wagner, the Bionic Woman, on ABC TV, and I could also talk about when the cast for a Hollywood movie with Danny Glover and Steve Martin was on the property in the park--but we weren't supposed to let anyone know that--when they were there.

I wasn't talk about it when they arrested someone, in front of me, who had a warrant out on him, and I wasn't supposed to talk about when my boss was boxed-in, so he couldn't flee, before they arrested him and then transported him back to Texas to stay trial on charges.

In the former Wild West ...that's been tamed now. TRUST ME!

I was SO CLOSE to dying while hiking in the Grand Canyon, that I, delusionally, could hear the heavenly chorus, singing, as one enters the Afterlife.

Earlier that day I had stepped on a snake, and then after that I met another hiker from Milwaukee, who was near death, on the Bright Angel Trial and he had offered me money to help him get out of the canyon alive.

I'M NOT KIDDING!

In that jaw-droppingly scenic and wonderous 'take your mind off your worries' vacation spot...

So, when you visit the Grand Canyon, please remember to tip your waiter or waitress or the maid who made-up your room, because they may have had to deal with blood on the wall, or in the carpet in their employee dorm room, or they may have been told they had to leave the building--IMMEDIATELY--for a quote: Crisis situation!

Since the National Parks have the same... OR HIGHER incidence of criminals on-the-run and hiding from the law there, and they didn't want us to talk about it, we were NOT supposed to talk about it!

If I murmurously murmured it and talked about it with my coworkers, while I was working as a front desk clerk at the famous and historic El Tovar Hotel, and where lots and lots of people go on vacation to quote "Getaway from it."

Then they would tell me I'm not supposed to talk about it, they didn't want me to talk about it! I wasn't supposed to talk about the sharpshooter, across the street, who was trying to sight-in the hostage taker, that night, and I CERTAINLY wasn't supposed to talk about the guy who burst into my employee dorm room, number 28, WITH A KNIFE!

After we got into a fight when I was on my way back to my dorm room in Victor Hall, also known as Victim Hall ...and for good reason. I wasn't supposed to talk about it; they didn't want me to talk about it when they medivacced my friend Ben, and he died in the helicopter on the way to a hospital in Flagstaff.

As a comforting idea that... let's go to the Grand Canyon and get away from it on vacation... seemed like good old wholesome all-America FUN! And because they may have had to deal with blood on the wall or in the carpet, or they may have had to leave the building--IMMEDIATELY--due to a crisis situation.

Please remember to tip your waiter or waitress or the maid who made up your room when you are on vacation at the Grand Canyon. THANK YOU!

Now I don't like to be the bearer of bad news and dump all my grievances on my reader, so I will end with this with... my summer job at Grand Canyon National Park was the MOST MEMORABLE, as well as SAD, when my friend Ben died in the helicopter on the way to a hospital in Flagstaff.

And just so you know... the eleven-year-old girl who was being held hostage, after she was kidnapped in Phoenix, she made it out alive when SWAT stormed the building after we were told to leave it--IMMEDIATELY-- due to a crisis situation.

And my boss who was boxed-in by the police, to keep from fleeing in his vehicle, was returned to Texas to stand trial too.

And my near-death to the point I was so close to dying I could, delusionally, hear the heavenly chorus, singing, when I was hiking in the one-hundred-and-six-degree heat in the Grand Canyon, and it was revealing in out-of-this-world way that summer when I worked in Grand Canyon National Park.