there was the brightest starlit night, forever ago, somewhere on East Coast Zanzibar.
I had finished a work in Tanzania and taken the first ferry off mainland.
I was all alone. Such freedom, total detachment of everything, I’ve rarely felt before or after.
Nobody in the whole world knew where I was.
I had no watch. Mobiles – or any other phones – didn’t work in the country, nor did email or internet. I couldn’t remember when I’d last had contact with anyone I actually knew from my own life.
I’d taken a lift away from StoneTown Zanzibar, towards something they called the East Coast. They said you could swim with dolphins there.
That was all I needed to know. I’d dreamt of swimming with dolphins since I was a child.
On the East Coast, I found Alan from the US. He was touring the world, writing the next great American novel.
I found Derek, a handsome South African, looking for the love of his life.
It seemed like the little paradise was full of lost souls in search of something.
Me – I was looking for peace of mind.
But it soon turned out, my peace of mind wasn’t hiding there on spice island. I hope Alan and Derek were luckier.
However, there, somewhere on the East Coast where the van dropped us off, we found a little fishing community. We hired little huts, some two meters long and a little less wide, with little… luxury. There was a kind of bed – made of concrete (why oh why, nothing softer) – but no mattress, cover or pillow. Theres was a door without a door. Just a little opening with a piece of fabric flying in the wind. But most significantly, there was the sound of the ocean that filled every sense of one’s body.
There was a white neverending beach a few meters away from my door without a door.
We ate whatever Poseidon graced our hosts with. Lobster, crabs, best grilled fish I’ve ever had. We listened to Alan’s guitar by the fire at night as, of course, there was no electricity and in the night of the tropic all life gravitated around the little light we had.
We had conversations I’ll never forget.
One particularly bright moonlit night, when the stars were hanging so low I swear you could touch them, Alan, Derek and I decided to walk by the ocean beach to confirm our hypothesis that we were the only people left in the world. We walked for hours. And were greeted only by more and more ocean waves, breaking to our bare feet in the fullness of the moon.
Suddenly the voice of my mother entered my thoughts as we walked on that endless beach. If anything was to happen to me, she said, well, it would just happen. Nobody knew where I was. I’d only just met the men I was with.
Yet I’d never felt safer.
Us wanderers, we don’t hurt anyone. Other than ourselves maybe.
Tonight I remember those men and our brief – absolutely unforgettable – moments together. And I so want to know whether Alan wrote his book… Derek – I am sure Derek has found his love.
Me… Well… Still searching.
~*♥*~
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