Extract from The Accidental Pilgrim
Life's a voyage that's homeward bound.
Herman Melville, novelist and sailor (1819-91)
Standing on the cool, bare tiles in the shade of the wooden shutters at the window, I squinted into the bright light. Directly below was a military checkpoint, and to either side the road was lined with tumbledown buildings. Beyond them the sandy landscape was cobwebbed with olive trees and far away in the distance some new buildings on the upper slopes of the hills shone dazzling white in the late afternoon sun.
In the shade of my room, my few clothes hung in the cupboard, my backpack was stowed away and my notebooks sat in a neat pile on the small desk next to a polite notice warning guests not to drink the water from the bathroom taps.
There was an hour until supper - too long to do nothing, but not enough time to get very far afield.
Then came a soft knock at the door, and Rudy's shaggy head appeared.
"Settled in, then?" he said.
"Didn't take long."
"I know what you mean," he said, looking round. "My room is a carbon copy of yours. So - did you feel it, then, the mystical thing when your feet touched the tarmac?"
"Don't be daft."
"What, no spiritual feelings at all? No magical sense that God is here?"
"Give me a break. No - wait - don't tell me you had an epiphany?"
Rudy laughed. "In an airport? I can't imagine a less likely place for a revelation."
-by Maggi Dawn
© 2011 Hodder Faith
Enjoyed this taster? You can purchase the whole book from Amazon
EAUK.org
