Slower Than Usual
By Lucian C. Ban
Tom dragged his feet along the cobbled road. All he could hear were the bugs buzzing through the nearby field, but his mind had a different conclusion - that was the scorching sun, slowly roasting him. He hardly remembered how he got on this road, but he knew that by nightfall he should reach the edge of a forest, then home would be just around the corner. For now, he could not see any forest, nor trees anywhere; just the dusty road weaving slowly towards the horizon. Maybe he should just rest a little. Or did he just rest earlier? It bothered him that he could not remember. Only one way to go... follow the road. With all the heat and the constant buzzing he felt tired.
After a short while, Tom decided to rest a bit. He sat down on the side of the road and drank the little he had left in his waterskin. Looking around, he wondered who would be able to take care of these fields... they stretched as far as he could see. With renewed vigor, he got up and started walking again. He kept the pace for a while, but the sun and bugs were relentless and Tom got back to his slow measured pace, feeling even more tired.
Hours seemed to pass, without any changes. The road looked the same in front of him, as it was behind. What if he was heading the wrong way? His mind raced for an answer, but there was no clue that he could hang on. He might have started walking back after he stopped. For sure - he looked around, but did he continue to walk the same way as he did before stopping? The sun did not seem to have moved through the sky, it was on top of him, as if determined to drain out his every last bit of energy. Should he stop to see if it would move? Or carry on walking home? Was he even going there in the first place, or away from it? He could not remember. He could not even remember how he got on the road. Or why. Maybe if he could just close his eyes for a second he would remember. Tom closed his eyes, but no memories came. The buzzing seemed even louder with his eyes closed. Wobbling around, he opened his eyes. All he could see was the road, stretching to his left and right. Once again, he had no clue which way he was heading before. Or why.
One step at a time, Tom started slowly walking again.
June 22, 2022
Origin story:
This story was written with LivingWriter. I made a trial account and wanted to try it out, but kept postponing using it. One late afternoon, I was going back home from work. It’s a rather long commute, about two hours in total, but usually pleasant enough, with nice, green landscapes as the train approaches Toronto. This day however, the train stopped in one of the stations for (much) longer than usual. This notion triggered me, I pulled out my Chromebook and wrote the text above. I suppose it’s also some kind of exploration of our place and goals in life. With a everything that’s happening around us, sometimes we might have a hard time understanding where we are and where we are going. That’s the moment when we might need just a little bit of spirit - as the well known artist Johnnie Walker famously said: “Keep Walking!”.
Note: Image generated by Midjourney AI.