Author Information
The walking men
They are walking. They have been walking so long by now that they could not stop doing it, just like one cannot stop breathing. Among them there is him, the new one, the one that does not understand exactly why he is doing it and has to trust blindly in the word of the older, wiser in the art, of the group.
He carries a big, heavy backpack, by this time it is a part of him just like his heart, brain or other organ, and not an extra weight. It really is a part of him, it is the thing that maintains him alive in that harsh environment. He could survive the journey without an arm, but not without a backpack. Before they started the walking one of the wiser men of the group told him: “watch out very carefully your backpack, up there anyone can do anything to take it from you”.
Now they are walking through a straight, very clear trail that goes beyond sight. He is kind of surprise, they have not going through a road like this, surely they have not lost the track until now but the trails had always been sort of wavy and not totally clear. He thought they had lost the track a couple of times because of the conditions of the road. So this new situation gives him something to think about.
They continue walking and suddenly the straight, very clear path vanishes away and just a series of tight, unorganized bushes is left. A feeling of fear and insecurity empowers him. “Great, what nature gives nature takes, why does this surprise me?”, he thinks. He is expecting for someone to speak up and tell that everything is going to be okay, but no one speaks or even moves they are all freeze. Short after, one of the wise men of the group takes methodically out a compass from a compartment of his backpack and uses it. Then he says calmly and with a soft voice: “is to the north”, and points in that direction. No one denies the instruction, and all of them start walking at the instant.
He is amazed, no one protests even though that is the steeper, least clear direction of all. “I surely would have said something if I was an older member of the group and knew more”, he thinks. But he does not have time to think deeper on what has happened because the group has started to walk again and he was started to being left back.
They keep going but it is hard. They have to push the bushes´ branches to be able to continue going in the right direction. Sometimes when he is pushing the braches they scratch the cloth of his clothes. He knows that under the clothes his skin might be bleeding; he can feel the pain. But he cannot stop, he must continue going with the group, loosing distance with the group in this place is dangerous, he can end up lost very easily.
Night starts falling over them and little by little each member of the group starts to turn on their head lamps. First the less experience of the group that are afraid to stumble with the loosey rocks and sticks of wood of the ground. Of course he was among them and his head lamp is turn on when there is still some daylight left. At the end when darkness occupies everywhere still can be seen some head lamps turning on of the more experience of the club.
The night passes and at the dawn he wonders when if ever they are going to get wherever they are going if even there is a destination. Not much time after this they reach a kind of old cabin in what seems to be the top of the mountain they were climbing. Outside the cabin the older of the group stop what makes all the group to stop. Then one of them says: “Here it is, we have arrived.” He cannot believe it. He feels a mixture of joy and surprise. By first time a smile is drawn in his face. He is so excited that he asks very loudly: “Now, what is next?” to one of the wise men of the group without thinking. “Now, …, now we go back”, he answer.
