The Great Race

Hola good people, just thought I’ll share that I’ve finally gotten off my lazy ass and got a book published. It is a collection of my blog posts on our recent trip to Turkey, and I am calling it an Un-travelogue, because it is unlike any travelogue you would have ever read, in that it is almost entirely a figment of my wild imagination.

For those interested in checking it out, here’s the Kindle link:

https://read.amazon.in/kp/card?preview=inline&linkCode=kpd&ref_=k4w_oembed_Y48k2ZFhA6e9cv&asin=B07KQ5FQLH&tag=kpembed-20

 

And now, on to today’s story!

 

I started off like the wind, and kept running at breakneck speed. I had no idea what lay on either side of me, and looking back had never been in my nature. My eyes were focused only on my target, the finish line, the pinnacle of my achievement.

But suddenly, a faint aroma caused my steps to falter, and for the first time in my life, I was unsure, hesitant….and disturbed by this strange new emotion, I decided to take a small break, and investigate.

I veered off the road, into a thicket. I realized that in the forest, I could not run as fast as I was used to. And strangely enough, it did not disturb me as much as I would have imagined it would.

My pace slowed even further as I crossed the thicket, and made my way closer to the source of that heavenly smell. It was then that I saw it.

Photo prompt courtesy Sue Vincent

A babbling brook that brooked no dissent as it descended from the mountains, on its way towards the sea, its home.

Home…..That is what the aroma had reminded me of, I realized then.

The sweet smell of wet green grass….I had grown up in just such a place. Only, I had left it early on so that I could run faster than anyone else in the world, leaving everyone behind, leaving everything behind….including home….and my true self.

And now, suddenly, I felt tired, as if my legs had grown weary of running, of targets, of the constant effort to beat someone else.

The gentle sunshine on the green wet grass seemed to be beckoning me, to come, lie down in the embrace of mother Earth.

“Just a few minutes,” I thought to myself, “What harm can it do?”

And so, I lay down by the river, and soon, the gurgling sound of the river, accompanied by the ambient melody of the chirping songbirds, had coalesced into a lilting lullaby, and before I knew it, I had drifted off into a gentle sleep.

I had no idea how much time had passed, when I was rudely awakened by a flash of lightening. I groggily opened my eyes, only to find an array of cameras shoved into my face.

“Wha…what happened?” I stuttered.

“Catastrophe, that’s what happened,” my Manager replied, trying to shoo some of the reporters away unsuccessfully.

Finally giving up on this Herculean task, he turned to me with a betrayed expression, and said, “While you were sleeping here, dead to the world, the tortoise has gone head and won the race.”

I thought of the warm sunlight, the song of the birds, the symphony of the river, and then, turned around, away from the cameras, the reporters, the crowds, and said, “Has he, really?”

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Written in response to the #writephoto Prompt – Hidden at Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo.

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