Doug and I were to meet Pat and Sue at Silver Springs, MD. Catching a bus for the short ride, we were met by Pat at the bus stop and driven to their house. The free afternoon with these good friends sure felt good. We had a cook-out in the back yard.

Pat is not just a marathon runner but a very good one. He runs every day but said he couldn't imagine what it would be like to walk fifteen miles a day for months. We spent the rest of the day talking about the good ole days and about the peace walk. I went to sleep in the church that night feeling refreshed.

   May l7, Washington, DC to Lanham, Md
_ After a few days of not walking it always felt good to set off again on foot and today was no exception, though it was very hot. We had 18 miles to cover, the L.A. walkers setting a faster pace than we had -- we were almost running. We walked fast even through the city.

Our police escort was with us all day. The escorting was excellent, but they upset us at one point by threatening to take a walker away. That was twelve-year-old Paul, to be with us for a week. His Quaker parents were not with him but had walked with the L.A. walk recently. When the police saw him not in school and without parents present, they were going to take him to the juvenile authorities. People circled the police cars to prevent this. Then a walker with a letter from his parents reached the scene. After reading the letter, which explained that Paul was to meet his grandparents in a few days, the police were satisfied.

We were well out of town at lunch, which was provided that day by the DC Catholic Worker. It would have been a big job to make sandwiches for the seventy-five of us -- and they had added watermelons!

I talked with some of the Catholic Worker people. John and Chris were planning to walk a few days, but ended up continuing with us the whole three weeks. They had both recently gotten out of jail for civil disobedience. Bill told me that he and John were arrested at a press conference for President Duarte of El Salvador -- Bill had tried to disrupt it and John had crossed police lines. I talked too with Marsha. When she learned I was from North Carolina, she asked whether I knew Pat O'Neill. She had been arrested with him at the Good Friday demonstration at the Pentagon. I learned then from her that the trial had been postponed. In a few days, Marsha too would decide to stay with the walk until the end.

Two Lanham churches hosted us. The New Orleans walkers stayed at the Methodist, the Los Angeles walkers at the Catholic church.

After our arrival, Morishita, Nagase, Kajo, and Sakamaki set up their altar. We were resting on the church grounds outside when Sakamaki ran out shouting, "Afternoon prayers! Please come!" It was more command than request. The last few days of prayers and rituals must have been a heady experience for Sakamaki, but none of us heeded his call. After a few minutes he gave up and walked back into the church, not trying to hide his anger. Young, he got angry easily, the only monk who did.

The New Orleans walkers held on to their own character by forming a circle and signing for supper's grace. In a few days Mercury would use the circle as a visible form of rebellion against Yoshida's strict discipline. The monks would respond by refusing to join hands in the circle.

After supper I called Tim McGloin to be sure I had a ride back to Durham from New York. Tim told me he had written Pamela a letter protesting Sam's expulsion in Richmond.

   May l8, Lanham to Crofton
Today should have been an easy day, since we had to walk only twelve miles. But it was hard, with a couple of bad incidents. Our hosts in Crofton, the Presbyterian Church, had requested that we not arrive until 4 o'clock. So we started late, 10 o'clock, and took long rest breaks.

The morning started on a very sour note. David, one of the L.A. walkers, kept to himself and didn't seem to have friends on the walk. He communicated with notes written on scraps of paper. Some of the L.A. walkers told me he had refused to talk as a personal protest against nuclear weapons. I couldn't understand the wisdom of this, in fact thought it foolish. But this morning he decided to end his silence in a big way.

Mary Jane was packing up the van with sleeping bags. Backpacks were to go into Bob's bus. David didn't like the arrangement and wanted his backpack also to go into the van. Mary Jane refused to accept it. David got angry, threw the backpack at her and, shouting obscenities, ran into the church. Upon entering the building he ran into the minister, who was carrying a cup of coffee -- and with such force that the minister spilled the hot coffee over himself. Not stopping to apologize, David continued running and raving.

Next David ran out of the church and said he was leaving the march. He got his pack and walked down the road. One of the L.A. walkers followed, hoping to talk with him. David turned and started swinging his fists, landing a couple of blows. The other walker did not try to hit back but left David to himself then.

We thought this would be the last we would see of poor David. Some of us went to the minister to smooth his understandably ruffled feathers but couldn't explain David's actions to ourselves, much less to the minister.

We finished packing the rest of our luggage, formed our prayer circle, then began to walk to the Catholic church to join the other walkers. They were waiting for us along the side of the road in front of the church. David was there, talking loudly to Tetsul and Yoshida. I had no doubt that Yoshida would tell David to leave the walk. David had hit another walker and had alienated the minister. I'm sure that Morishita and the other N.O. walkers would have told David to go. But Yoshida did not and there was no further debate about the incident.

Though not asked to leave us, David chose to walk on the opposite side of the road. He now wore a cow bell on his belt and resumed his vow of silence. He kept the logic of his actions to himself. Many people began referring to him as Tinker Bell. He allied himself with Mercury in rebellion against Yoshida's authority.

Then we began the day's walk, again at a fast pace which continued until the end of the walk.

In the afternoon, Ohms Le Sabre was hit in the leg by a bottle thrown from a passing car, getting badly bruised. Ohms was carrying the prayer banner at the time. In his forties, he was a strong personality among the L.A. walkers -- a native American and AIM member. This was his third transcontinental walk and he was in excellent condition, often proudly setting the pace as carrier of the prayer banner.

Ohms had started out with the San Francisco walk. After a few weeks, the weather proved too severe and he came south to join the L.A. walk; he had frostbite scars on his face from that first two weeks

_ After many long rest breaks, we arrived at the Presbyterian church on schedule. Then at supper I saw an ugly side of the peace walk. Yoshida had imposed a strict social order, and the monks were first in line for food; there was hierarchy within their ranks too, according to how long each had been a monk, making Yoshida first and Sakamaki last. Then came the nun, followed by Tetsul, his wife, and two children. Next in line were the other Japanese, then Ohms (the only native American), then the Europeans, and finally the Americans.

The New Orleans walkers were outraged at such nationalism and chauvinism but we didn't do anything. Kajo however noticed our displeasure and showed his support. He did not join the other monks at the front of the line but waited until everyone else had been served; he ate last. Due to this and other actions, Kajo was ostracized by the other Japanese. He stayed in his earlier circle of friends -- Mercury, Carole, Sandy, Mary, and Jane. I understood that Kajo was then even considering leaving the Nipponzan Myohoji order and entering medical school in Japan. He had already studied acupressure for two years. go to page 46