A childhood episode and true story. |
When I was four-years-old I had four girlfriends. We lived together in the desert. We lived in an ancient oasis in the middle of nowhere. To the east there was desert. To the west there was desert. To the South there was desert and to the North there was…mountains, beautiful mountains, intriguing mountains, peaks that were home to jackals, ibexes and even leopards. They sparked our imagination. What lied beyond those mysterious hills? I was a fearless four-year-old. My four girlfriends and I decided we would set off one morning, climb the peaks, and find out what lay beyond them. We sneaked out before sunrise so no-one would see us. But after just a few moments, some of the ladies of my harem got cold-feet. Miriam turned back, Lamour said she remembered that it was her father’s birthday and Oriti all of a sudden felt unwell. I was left with only my sweetheart, my darling Maya. Maya and I walked together hand in hand, two kindred spirits on pursuit of a great adventure. As we walked to our destination we realized that the mountains were situated further than than what we anticipated. Nevertheless we continued on out perilous journey. We walked for miles and said nothing, but it was our hearts spoke to each other. They said “together we will discover the world’s secrets and return as heroes to our village” and “maybe we should have eaten breakfast”. As the sun rode over the dessert dressed in white robes so clean that if you were to take a look it would leave you blind, Maya and I began to tire. By noon, the temperature reached 100 degrees and our throats felt thirsty. An hour later we found ourselves in each other’s arms, lying down on the hot desert ground with no energy to get up. Was our fate sealed? Two young lovers dying from dehydration, lost in the desert, beaten by the merciless rays of the sun? No. An angle descended from heaven, clothed in a cloud blocking us from the deadly sun. His name was Mr Roth. Mr Roth was the local tractor driver who had set off to find as after Oriti blabbed to her mum what we were up to. He picked us up and drove back to our village, our lives were saved. Twenty-one years later I married my Maya and we live beyond those mountains and away from the desert. But together we dream to return to that oasis where to the east, west and south there is desert. But to the north there are mountains. |