I find myself thinking of this guy, a single serving friend on a day long excursion. With this Guy We went to the coast of Africa and Angie and Me split off from the group and had lunch in Essaouira. The waiter told Us they had no Sardines to grill Then halfway thru my Casablanca Beer He sent a child to tell Us Grilled Sardines are back on the menu the boat was just pulling up. I went out onto the upper patio to have a smoke and watched the dingy pull up at the restaurant while the waiter lowered a basket on a rope and waited until the fisherman's son filled it with jumping bubbling sardines. I watched the two teens in the square I spoke to earlier who were selling hashish. And there in the boiling hot 40 c sun I blew out the smoke leaned back and thought.... life is just so extraordinarily unknown. We can soak in the brilliance if We choose to. I walked back into the restaurant with one of those 1 beer smiles. Angie turned to look if I was ok. And i just threw my hands up and shook my head and quoted the Young Girl form yesterday. " Just soaking up this MADNESS!" The Journey can be amazing if You want it to be, if You allow it to be.
If there is anything I have eaten its sardines and calamari I order them whenever and where ever I can. But those sardines I watched the fishermen unload up to the cook from waters lapping up onto the African Shore. Somethings You eat slowly and with relish without determination or reason. . Knowing with each mouthful I doubt I will ever be here again or do this again. Sometimes We cry for happy too.
I ate warm flat breads with honey and yogurt and sweet teas with Our single serving friend. I climbed the fucking Atlas mountains with him. Scurrying up the almost vertical Stoney way. And ate lunch during Ramadan( Travelers may eat during daylight hors during Ramadan) beside a mountain river. His wife had passed away and left in her will an itinerary plane tickets bus tickets hotel reservations. For Him to travel from Cambodia across Burma India Arabia Egypt Morocco and back to England. All the places He told he they would visit when she finally got cured. But she knew she wouldn't get better. And so He carries a bottle of Gin and an Urn to deposit her ashes a little everywhere. Truly the Best single serving friend. I should have gotten his e mail. He has become some kind of icon to me. I can hear his voice but recognize no words. Perhaps it is best I didnt have a contact perhaps it is best I remember this as it is. was. would be should be. But I do on occasion think of him. of Us on that day of days. At those times I think of how utterly crazy and chaotic it all really is.
