thud, thud

She landed, the shudder had shaken her to her core. She felt good, as if she had been broken all her life, and had never known, as if she were finally becoming whole. Unbidden a quote attributed to some Greek philosopher came to her, “in the beginning, humans were composed of four arms, four legs, two heads. Afraid of their power, Zeus separated them, now they spend the rest of their lives looking for their other halves.” She shook away the silly thought. Around her, people had gripped their seats, and were sitting in shocked silence. It was not always thus. She wondered if they had felt the shock. Of course they had. But how, she was bewildered. The plane shuddered to a halt, she relaxed. They had probably thought it was an emergency landing, or some difficulties in landing. Or they would think that way soon enough. The shock sometimes scared them. The power of the underlying world sometimes scared them. They explained it away with ‘logic’. Ha, what a joke. Logos, meaning reason. Reason did not show them the world. It hid it from them. So much the better. There, they were all better now. Clapping. Loudly. Raucously. Some people had even begun to stand as the plane had landed. Stewardesses had been asking them to sit down. Pleading. Almost begging. Now the stewards and stewardesses settled back with calm and watched the chaos unfold. Their job was done.

Three days later, she was out on the streets, ignoring the stares she felt on her back. The bazaars were beautiful, colorful.

Five days later, she was on a truck, now in more modest clothes. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. A bunch of village boys were running after the truck, who was this pale lady who had come to their land. Why was she traveling alone? Where was her husband? Her brother? Her father? A woman should not travel alone. They laughed and waved. Hoping she would take photos as some of the other foreigners did, and share them with her friends. She didn’t. Eventually, they got bored, and fell back as the truck trudged on.

It was nightfall and the skies were clear. Clean, beautiful. She hadn’t seen skies like this since childhood when she had used to lie on the grass and her father had pointed out the stars to her. They would camp in the back lawn, all the family and friends. In the end, it would be her and her father. Everyone else would go back inside. He would hug her and together, they would find shapes in the stars. She looked around. Her camp was sparse. A small tent. A withering fire. Glowing logs. But it was nice.

She sighed and thought ahead. Ever since she had landed, that internal compass had been pointing her in one direction. She had gritted her teeth and followed it, hoping it led somewhere. Besides, she had nowhere else to go. Not anymore. No, she couldn’t think of that. A shadow covered the full moon, and she felt a chill pass over her. Another shudder in the land, a thud, as if something had dropped from an immense height. Her compass went haywire.