“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Can I come in for a while?”
Sure I said and I shuffled a little to the left to make room for him. He crouched low and crossed his legs pretzel-like and planted himself down. He hunched his shoulders up and hugged his legs tight, rather awkwardly. The space was small and he was rather tall. Quite a place you’ve got here, he said, looking around the little cove I had made for myself. I thanked him and showed him the things I had with me enthusiastically. I showed him the large red throw rug which we were sitting on, the multi-coloured quilted comforter draped lazily on the side, the orange glow of the little lamp I had bought recently and an old electric mini fan that was whirring softly away. It was not much but it certainly was cosy.
What do you do to entertain yourself, he asked.
I showed him the two novels I had bought months back but not read yet, my journal and my sketchbook. I said I rotate among the three. Read, write, draw. Draw, write, read. While listening to some music. And in between, I sleep. Why, that’s very simple, he said. I smiled. I told him that simple was all I needed now.
We chatted for a bit. I offered him some milk and cookies and we listened to some new tracks I had.
After a while, he asked, “How long are you going to be here?”
I shrugged. I was not sure. Out there is a lot noisy and a little scary. Everyone is angry or upset or things are just not going right. You just don’t want to be loud. You just want to be quiet for a while. It feels like war outside, but here it feels safer. You feel like you can’t possibly screw up here. What you do here can’t affect what’s out there.
You’re running away again, he said.
I’m not. I will come out again. Two books aren’t going to last very long. I just need to pause for a while. To recharge. You have no idea how tiring it has been. It’s been exhausting. So very exhausting.
We then remained quiet for a while. Somewhere in the distance I heard a bird chirp. It was not yet dawn.
Can I stay? he asked, after a long pause.
I thought for a bit, studied him a little and wondered if he could. Not the permission to be there because he was always welcome there, but be physically and emotionally detached for a while with me.
I told him he could, but only if he could follow the rules. If he couldn’t, then no.
We stayed in silence for a while letting the music fill us up. We chatted for a bit, munched on some cookies and laughed a little. Every so often, we would nervously peek outside through the flaps of the tent. We were both waiting for dawn to come.
