The Tourist

The Tourist

It came to me suddenly, like most good things do. It was a particularly hot day, well it had been a very hot month, but that day was the hottest of them all. True. Sade had gone out with her boyfriend and Linda was in the middle of another heartbreak and another tub of ice cream, so I had to make do with my own company.

After my third shower and tenth bottle of cold water, I was almost contemplating subjecting myself to Linda’s latest heartbreak story – a fate worse than torture by Ramsay Bolton- just so I could share her ice cream. That’s when I knew that I had to get out or risk losing my mind and my ‘almost flat’ belly.

I grabbed a mat and headed for the veranda.

It was a moonless, cloudless, and dry night. I made a note to fervently pray for rain during the next prayer meeting.

It came to me while I was counting the stars. Or maybe it came earlier, when I noted that the earth was dry and thirsty... almost like me

But at least the earth knew that it wanted, needed, water

Three stars were perfectly aligned, with equal amount of space between them (at least from where I lay)

I realised that I do not know much about stars, what they are, why they are where they are, how important they are to sailors...

I realised I do not know much about many things

I knew what I wanted

No, needed

Linda drove me to the airport the following day.

“Hope is not a strategy”, he said.

I had hoped to travel the world long enough...

It was time to ‘do’ it.