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March 13, 2005

Chapter One - Elephants With Blinkies

It was late in the evening when I saw the blinkie; so late the sun was about to come up. I guess it was morning. The rumble of the bus shook me lightly, like constant nudges from a friend trying to keep you awake during a movie. I stared out the vast window from my seat on the top floor of this VIP Bus heading north and thought about the networks of roads that have been paved into the ground across the globe. Like artificial veins of the Earth, we're all interconnected with bridges, tunnels, giant intersections, massive concrete ramps and elevated freeways, moving like ants, always coming or going. Cultures differ, but roads are universal, appearing basically the same everywhere it seems.

As the dotted line flashed by below me like the ticker in my old office, I imagined myself anywhere in the world; Siberia in the summertime, Route 66 crossing the States, Brazil, New Zealand, Ireland. In my head the roads all looked the same. Just as that thought occurred to me, I was slapped back into reality by a little blinking red light. It was the kind of LED light you might attach to your bicycle for riding at night, or, if you are so inclined, you can attach it to the tail of your giant pet elephant to make sure nobody misses the lumbering hulk gracefully strolling down the side of the highway at four in the morning. I looked, then looked again, and finally shoved my friend in the shoulder and pointed. His eyes widened as he let out an open smile and a sly nod.

My friend isn't impressed by much, but elephants are too cool for anyone to deny their coolness, even Ray. And an elephant walking down the street with an LED blinkie on it's tail? We were still talking about it as we sat down to breakfast in a funny little coffee shop downtown. Ray was wearing his huge Gucci sunglasses again, probably to cover his bloodshot eyes, due to lack of sleep of course from that overnight bus ride. Both of us looked a bit disheveled, messy hair, but important at the same time. The waitresses shared rose-faced giggles between themselves as we walked in. I assumed they thought we were movie stars from Hollywood; in fact the truth wasn't too far off. The giggling continued so I went and got the menus myself. The cute one came to take our order of banana pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, french fries, toast, butter & jam, coffee, and orange juice. Within minutes we were chowin' down on it all like we hadn't eaten in days.

The cafe had the feel of a 1950's drugstore and ice cream shop. Black and white checkered tile floors, red vinyl seats with black frames, the early sun shining in through the half drawn venison blinds. On the wall hung a framed piece of paper with a man drawn on it looking quite self absorbed. He had a blue top hat hung loosely in his hand. Next to him was written a little ditty about big egos. The moral of the poem basically stated that if you are full of yourself, put your fist in a bucket of water and then remove it. The hole that's left there is how much you'll be missed when you're gone. I told Ray to read it, but his eyes aren't too good these days and couldn't see it from where we were sitting. He said he'd read it later, but of course we both quickly forgot, shoveling in the food and talking about our plans for the day and whatnot.

Ray and I left that cafe with full stomachs and empty wallets. It was time to sleep; we'd hit up the money changers later on. Our rooms weren't far from the cafe, fortunately, and we had a pool too. It was nothing like my pool back home, but if you've got clean water to swim in, a couple of lawn chairs, ice cold mixed fruit shakes, and a nice pair of shades, what else matters? As I closed the blinds in my room and climbed into bed, a very content smile spread from my lips all the way to my toes. Have your toes ever smiled? I was happy we'd arrived, it was nice to experience something new for a while. Ray and I were gonna have a load of fun, but not before some much needed sleep. My dreams leapt over the possibilities of the next few months. Sanuk indeed.

Posted by Tom Bodhi at March 13, 2005 02:30 AM

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