Chapter VII. Letter - Letter From A Persevering Friend
Chapter VII. Letter
The city had life and the whole surroundings felt sprightly. It was rather odd. In December, it rained a lot in Vancouver, but for the past one week, there was no rain. Though Lara preferred gray and rainy days, she did not mind the recent weather. She felt energy and excitement. As she left work early today for it was a very slow day at the office, she walked home. It was one of warmer days this winter. Streets were full of people and she wondered if anyone in the city was staying home today; it almost did not seem like it. They were out here to feel this air and the sun. She did not feel like going home though that was where he was heading just a couple of minutes ago. She felt like she wanted to be out here all day long. She thought about going over to see a friend of hers from work and later hanging out with other friends; she felt so much energy. Christmas was just a few days away; though she was not too enthusiastic about the holiday, she thought that she might want to do something this year. It had been a while since she did anything special for Christmas, but she did not have to follow that tradition. She was not religious, but she felt that one did not have to be religious to enjoy the festivity. She decided to walk to the nearby park facing the ocean. Warm and sunny; she felt light heat on her face. This was the classic perfect day in the middle of winter. Though she was not too fond of the idea of accepting and following conventional ideas blindly, this day just felt right. After a long walk, she headed home, and there, she found a letter. The postal date was only a week back; it was sent from India. She was hearing that the post office there delivered mails very late almost always, so she asserted that this was one of few that happened to be delivered so swiftly. She turned around, went to a nearby coffeehouse, ordered a shot of Espresso and read the letter.
”Hi,
My guess is that, when you receive this letter, I have not mentioned a lot about disastrous aspects of my venture in India for the past one-week or so. It is not that things are going great. It is not that the problematic situation has been rectified. But it is that, at least for the time being, I made up my mind; I shall stick out around here. I cannot say that I am happy now. I cannot say that I enjoy any aspects of my life here. But I want to see how things turn out to be. I think it is too early to quit. Life ought to be about exploration and discovery; it ought to be about evolving from one stage to another, and I personally believe that, in that process, if one has enough physical and mental strength, he/she ought to take challenge, and physically and quite literally live in different environments. I often describe this place as if this were the land of death cult. Most people probably wonder why I am here, and I guess that what I just wrote about exploration and discovery is the best explanation that I can come up with right now. (I shall think about this and write to you again. When I do that, I shall come up with a more refined answer.)
I must admit that I feel eerie about my life after I read Philip K. Dick’s essay ‘How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later’, but first, I am not a very religious person like him. I certainly appreciate ideas that different religions present, but I do not follow their doctrines. Also the more I think about the series of my past events and the series of events taking place now, there are not that many striking similarities like ones that this science fiction writer experienced in his life. Even if there were, I do not believe that life is about following an established belief or a theory that is not proved scientifically; life ought to be about searching, learning, and discovering, but at the same time, breaking patterns that you think exist. So, I shall stay here. I have not given you the answer as to your question of whether I plan to leave here anytime soon in IM sessions, have I? Well, here you have it.
Starting over in Vancouver sounds fabulous, but I would not move there to ‘start over.’ If and when I reach there, I reach there as I move into the next stage of my life and begin my new expedition and encounter.”
After she finished reading the letter, she stared at it for a few minutes with the blank face. Then, she signed slightly and the faint smile appeared on her face. She whispered, “This guy …”
