‘I know what else you could do,’ said Lisa, ‘it’s obvious. If your last point of contact was this group, the Rainbow Children, you need to track them down. If my mother was involved for as long as you say, she was bound to have made friends there. Maybe some of them are still around. Have you looked?’
‘No. We haven’t. Why didn’t I think of that?’ I said. ‘Lisa, you’re brilliant. We’re not very good sleuths, are we?’
‘The Rainbow Children may have a website,’ said Jo, ‘although I don’t think they exist as a group any more. I haven’t heard anything about them for years, decades.’
‘Let’s google Rainbow Children, see what we can find,’ I said.
On cue, we all bent down and pulled our phones out of our bags.
Jo was the fastest. ‘There are lots of pages about the Rainbow Children,’ she said a moment later.
‘Try Wikipedia first,’ I said.
Jo did as instructed. ‘Got it.’ Four heads bent over so we could all see.
The Rainbow Children. A movement started in 1971 in San Francisco by John Reed, Robert Sanders, Debra King and Maya Hayes, inspired by the teachings of Guru Sadhu Devanagari. Dissolved 1977.
• Commune members lived a monastic lifestyle.
• Community members lived a normal life and supported the movement.
The movement expanded globally in the 1970s and ended when the founders closed all the communes and disbanded what was left of the movement in 1977. Robert and Debra now run a lifestyle coaching retreat in California. John made his fortune when he developed a meditation app called Peace. Maya died in 1984 after a short illness. Guru Sadhu Devanagari died in 1978.
Surviving members of the group went on to found Rainbow Foods store, which changed its name to Harvest in the 1980s.
‘So it was dissolved in 1977,’ I said. ‘That’s about the time we lost track of her.’
‘Wow,’ said Jo. ‘So it is no more.’
‘Apart from Harvest foods,’ I said. ‘I know the shop well; they took over the premises where The Seventh Star used to be.’
‘Maybe there are some of the old followers there?’
‘Worth a try, but we’re talking forty years ago. I often go there to buy bread and most of the staff are in their twenties.’
‘Maybe there’s a link for old members on the page for the Rainbow Children?’ said Ally. ‘There often is for these types of groups, those who want to stay in touch, share memories.’
Jo scrolled down. ‘You’re right. There’s a heading saying “Members”.’ She read the page. ‘There are a few links here. If there are any contact details for them, maybe one of them could tell us what became of Mitch. I’ll do some more research when we get home.’
‘Put Rainbow Children into search and click on images,’ said Ally.
Jo did as instructed, and we all huddled together to look. Jo pointed at a photo of four hippie types that was repeated many times on the page. ‘They were the Americans who founded the whole movement.’
‘What were they hoping to achieve?’ asked Lisa.
‘Promoting a more caring world,’ said Jo, as she continued to scroll through the pages, ‘that’s what I understood, anyway.’
‘Sounds cool,’ said Lisa.
‘Stop!’ said Ally, and pointed at the screen. ‘There, that group there. I’m sure that’s Mitch.’
‘Zoom in,’ I said.
A photo showed a group of about fifteen people, some standing, some sitting, all beaming at the camera. Underneath it said: Indigo Group, 1976.
‘Indigo?’ asked Lisa. ‘What was an indigo again? It said something about them on Wikipedia.’
‘They were the travelling teachers,’ said Jo. ‘I remember Mitch telling me about them. They needed them because there were only four of the founders and they couldn’t get around everywhere as the movement grew. It was before FaceTime and Skype and all the global links we have now. Some of the followers who’d been around a while were trained to pass on the teachings and they went around from place to place.’
‘Like sales reps,’ said Lisa.
‘Sort of, I guess. Looks like Mitch became one,’ said Ally.
‘Or maybe she was just photographed with them,’ I said. ‘I can’t see Mitch becoming one of them; they really were like travelling monks, from what I remember her saying about them. I reckon she just happened to be in the photo.’
‘She looks happy there,’ I said.
‘I wonder if she was,’ said Jo, ‘or if she ever had times when she wished she’d gone a different route.’
‘Let’s get to the office and print out the photo,’ I said, ‘then if we can find an ex-member, we have a visual as well as a name to jog their memory. Mitch was involved from the beginning, so we’re bound to find someone who knew her. This is brilliant, Lisa. At last, we’re getting somewhere.’
Chapter Thirty-Four
Sara
Present day, February
Ally, Jo and I set off for the Little Dog Productions office to see if Lauren had any news for us and to update Gary on the latest. I could see it the moment he and Jo set eyes on each other through the glass partition in his office. Ding-dong. Chemistry.
‘Give me five minutes,’ I said. ‘I just need to talk to Gary a moment.’
Jo and Ally sat on chairs in the reception area as I went into Gary’s office.
‘Who is that gorgeous woman?’ he asked as I’d shut the door.
‘The taller or smaller?’
‘Taller. Looks like an exotic goddess.’
‘That’s Jo. She’s my old school friend, I told you about her. I’ll introduce you.’
I beckoned Jo to come into Gary’s office and, when she did, he blushed and looked at his shoes, looking every bit the love-smitten teenager.
I offered to make coffees, and as Ally and I busied ourselves in the small kitchen at the back, I could hear Gary in his office roaring with laughter. When we went back in, Jo was regaling him with stories about her livestock and tales of Jonathan Livingston Chicken (after Jonathan Livingston Seagull), who was always escaping and how he’d ride on Jo’s shoulder back to the coop. And Rambo the smiley-faced sheep who’d
