One day Jean received word from Baba that he wished them to relocate to a place farther from the city, somewhere one or two hours from a big city. They decided to take a drive in the afternoon and look for property. They invited a woman who had come to stay at the Center to come along. Her name was Agnes Baron. Agnes, 39, was not interested in Meher Baba because she had been disillusioned by another spiritual teacher. She had been directed to the New Life Center as a quiet place where she could do some writing, and had subsequently rented a cottage there. Jean had given her the manuscript of Avatar , and though she was put off by Jean's writing style, she was drawn to the descriptions of Baba and asked Jean, "Is he for real?"
Having nothing else in particular to do, Agnes went with them. Another lady who was also staying on the property had a little girl whom she wanted to put in a private school at Ojai, 75 miles away, so they drove there. While returning, they noticed a property on top of a mountain with a lot of trees and greenery on it. "Let's go up and see it," they said. "Maybe it's a Baba-place."
They drove up the mountain and came to a big wooden gate. "Baba's going to send six of the mandali to live with us," said Jean. "We'll need a lot of buildings if we move." Agnes was sure there were more buildings on the property, so she jumped over the gate to investigate. There were several other buildings and a brand-new house with beautifully landscaped grounds, an orchard, vineyards and rose garden. The property was being looked after by a local farmer who was not there. They located his wife, who told them that the property belonged to Gertrude Ralphs Macconaty, the wealthy heiress of a chain of grocery stores called Ralphs . She was thinking of selling the land, but would surely ask a high price for it.
Jean, Markey and Agnes returned to Hollywood, where Jean said, "There's no point in calling; we won't be able to afford it." But at Agnes' insistence they phoned. The woman said that though she had planned to retire there, she and her husband were now divorcing and the property was to be sold. "Go and talk with my business manager," she told them.
