Balancing Between Elements

  

I am fishing from the raft I made myself and attached to the lifeboat the sailors threw me in just before our ship sank.  I lost my whole family.  I am fishing to feed the Bengal tiger under the tarpaulin of the lifeboat who has already eaten the rest of the zebra that the hyena had started on, the hyena, the orangutan, a rat (probably a resident of the sunken ship) and some flying fish escaping from other predators.  I know I am on the Pacific but I don't know where I am headed.  Water, a vast ocean surrounds me.  I cried when I had to kill my first flying fish to use as bait.  I am a vegetarian and now I am killing turtles to survive.  I made this raft from the life jackets in the survival locker that I can only reach by pulling on the rope I attached to the lifeboat, hop on it and very quickly collect what I need.  Returning on the raft to live there most of the time, day and night, rain or shine and the ocean's salt water has destroyed my blankets and my clothes, so much so that I am using the turtle shells for protection from the elements.*

I raise my head to take a look at the horizon and I find myself seated on a patio overlooking the red rock mountains of Sedona.  Dry country yet so beautiful.  The trees between the patio and the mountains are green and birds chirp constantly.  There are small lizards that pass by from time to time.  Here in Sedona, one can be transported to another country one has known in a matter of a few steps here and there.  Thus, I was on a Lebanese mountain village a few times.  Bhamdoon, Shtaura and Bickfaya paraded daily.  The way the shades fall under a tree or the steepness of a climb where pine trees are a certain size will send me back to where I have been.

I decided to stay at the hotel this morning and cure my temporary cold from the hike we took yesterday.  It was a challenging climb under a hot sun.  A five mile journey up to the Bell Rock and back.  Not too steep for younger or fit people.  From time to time I had to  stop to catch my breath and gulp some water down.  It was worth the effort if for nothing else but for having done it.  I have been sneezing ever since and my body does not want to be inside in the air-conditioned suite but outside where the temperature is almost 90 degrees today.

Back to my raft I realize I have to find a way to stay on the lifeboat.  To do this, I have to train the tiger into believing that I am number one and he is numero deux.  I have a plan.  It will take a lot of courage.  Right now I am watching the city around my raft where fish of all colors, shapes and sizes are going about their daily business and being curious about the raft from time to time.  I have to feed the tiger so it doesn't eat me you see.  How did the tiger end up on the lifeboat?  And the zebra, hyena and orangutan for that matter?  All I know is that my father being a zookeeper in India had sold some of the zoo animals to different countries and the ones on the ship were coming with us to Canada.  That's all I know.*

I had to wash my shoes from all the red dust accumulated during our walk yesterday.  By noon today, I was feeling better and the air-conditioner was not making me sneeze anymore.  In the afternoon, we spent hours visiting the galleries at the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village.  Original art at very expensive prices.  Every time we came out of a store I was transported to my uncle's house in Damascus or Damascus in general.  The architecture with mosaics here and there; the fountains in the courtyards; the connecting alleyways; and...the dry weather took me there and back over and over again. 

 

Now my eyes are fixed on the huge wall of the Indian restaurant we came to have dinner at.  The beautiful Bengal tiger painted on it is life size and is surrounded by trees and vegetation.

It is dark when we leave the restaurant and I look up to see the stars above, the same stars I'd see whether I am outside an Indian restaurant with a Bengal tiger painted on their wall, on a hotel patio in Sedona or on a raft somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

* loosely in my own words from Life of Pi by Yann Martel