The 911 Call
Laurent Weichberger
CARETAKERS Laurent and Lilly Weichberger with their daughter Aspen. They lived at Meher Mount from 2005 to 2006. (Photo courtesy Laurent Weichberger.)
By Laurent Weichberger
It was our last day at Meher Mount in May 2006 after a year of caretaking. We were packing up the house along with our things on the porch at the side of the barn.
That day my wife Lilly told me that I had worked for an entire year without a break, except the week of vacation when we went up to Mt. Shasta early on in our stay at Meher Mount.
She explained that I had been either caretaking with her or out in the world teaching to make an income. I hadn't realized that for some reason, because Meher Baba kept us all going in the amazing atmosphere of His love at Meher Mount.
The Car Needs a Last-Minute Fix
Nonetheless, as we were packing up the moving truck, Lilly's friend noticed that one of the tires on our Peugeot car was not only bald but that some of the metal radial cords in the tire were exposed! So, Lilly and her friend prepared to go down to a tire shop to get the tire fixed.
There were many Baba-lover helpers working on the Meher Mount grounds that day, helping us move out and taking care of the center on many levels.
I looked around and realized that with all we still had to do before leaving and with Lilly heading down to fix the tire, it would be late before we could leave Meher Mount.
Looking for a Nearby Hotel Room
I spoke to Lilly saying that we should find a motel room nearby in Santa Paula, sleep there that night, and drive the rest of the distance to Flagstaff, Arizona, in the morning.
I tried to find a phone book in the chaos of packing and moving, but couldn't. So I reached for the phone to dial 411 for "information" to ask for motels nearby. Because I was so tired, instead I dialed 911 for "emergency!"
In shock at what I had just done, I immediately hung up the phone before anyone answered. Then I dialed 411, found a motel, and made a reservation for the night. Then I returned to my work of packing the truck.
The 911 Call Is Answered
Within 15 minutes, a police car arrived at Meher Mount's front gate. An officer got out of the car and started walking toward me where I was working on the truck. I walked over to him, and he explained that someone had called 911 and he was responding to an emergency.
I laughed, and said, "That was me. I called 911 by accident, as I was trying to call 411 to get a motel room, since we are packing to move from here tonight, but we will be too tired to drive very far..."
"What is this place?"
He looked at the truck, almost full of our stuff, and he saw Kanji [Miyao] kneeling over a flower bed, and this-one raking, and that-one tending to something else. The officer then looked at me and said, "What is this place?"
I responded that it was Meher Mount, a spiritual center dedicated to Avatar Meher Baba, and did he want a tour? He replied that he did, and we walked to Baba's Tree together, all the while I explained about Meher Mount to him.
Then he said, "I have lived in Ojai all my life, and I never even knew this place existed." He was amazed to be under Baba's Tree. He loved it and expressed his sincere gratitude at being shown the center, and promised that he would return.
We went back to finishing up the packing and getting underway.