Two Days Ago
Sunday, July 27, 2008
“Yeah?” I gasped, barely able to get the word out. Every muscle in my body ached and I was so out of breath. We were walking straight up this mountain. It was just the two of us and I didn’t think I was ever going to make it to the top.
“Two days ago we were at your house. We were watching television, and drinking tea and eating toast. And now we’re here.”
I looked out over the horizon, down to the canyon we had crossed earlier that morning and across the endless stretch of mountains. There was not a trace of civilization in sight. It had only been two days; two days that had felt like an eternity, a full day on the roof-top of a bus and a full day of walking, from dawn to dusk. We still had another day ahead of us.
“I know Rhani,” I said. “It’s crazy, isn’t it? It feels like we’re a world away.”
“Those days are over,” she said.
“Yup, those days are over. I want some tea and toast.”
“I want to watch T.V.”
We looked at each other and started laughing.
“I’m not going to forget this moment,” I said to myself over and over again. I had shown her my world and now she was showing me hers.
I guess this is kind of how I feel right now, in this warped place stuck in the middle of two worlds. It’s like I’m hanging on the side of a cliff, not sure whether I belong on the top or the bottom. I’m in the U.S. and I’m happy. I’m so happy. But it changes things when you know that there’s another whole world out there just waiting for you to come back to it.