He had been unable to come to Myrtle Beach for the May 17 darshan, and though he had sent a telegram asking if he could meet Baba in Prague, Baba had not permitted it.
As Ivy brought Don into the library, though injured, Baba stood up to embrace him. Ivy beamed, "Baba, here is my boy!"
“”Baba spelled with a smile, "You say he is your boy, but I say he is my boy!" Making a play on words, he said, "Don, we have been together since the dawn of time."
Don thought: "My God, how corny! Here is the Avatar making puns."
Baba called a halt for afternoon tea and called in Enid Corfe, Margaret, the Shaws and John Bass. As tea was served, Baba narrated the story of King Janak (a Perfect Master and the father of Sita who married Ram). Darwin's family came to Ivy's every day to help with all the arrangements. Each was given specific duties such as answering the telephone, directing the visitors arriving for their appointment with Baba, et cetera.
Leatrice Shaw was sitting at Baba's feet listening to him tell the story when she thought: "I should be loving Baba, but instead I am adoring him."
“”Baba suddenly stopped and spelled on the alphabet board, "I am adorable," which surprised Leatrice and eased her mind.
Towards the end of Baba's narration of the story about King Janak, Don made the "circle of perfection" gesture with his thumb and forefinger ("almost involuntarily," he later related). Just as he did so, Baba turned, looked at him and made the identical gesture. A few minutes later, Don again raised his hand and made the gesture, this time deliberately, to see if Baba would respond. As he started to close his fingers, Baba turned and made the same sign. As Baba was being wheeled away in a wheelchair by Sarosh, Don crouched behind Sarosh and raised his hand for the third time. Baba braced himself on the handrails of the wheelchair, painfully turned around, looked directly at Don and repeated the gesture in acknowledgment. As Don later recounted:
God has never spoken in my presence, but I am sure that I have seen Him act in human form. That is the only manner in which I can explain the incredible sensitivity of action and reaction which characterized Meher Baba during those brief periods on a Saturday afternoon in New York when I first saw him in action ... He has the capacity to warm the cockles of one's heart as perhaps no other living being is able to do.
