Alice could not believe it. Who would call her at 3am?
After all, she had just complete an assignment, forwarding all images, scripts and texts to the magazine. Well, of course. Who else but Dorothy?
Alice stretched out her arm and slid the mobile to green. Dorothy was as bubbly as ever.
“So where are you now ,” Alice yawned.
“Asia”, replied Dorothy, as she tried to smother a giggle.
Alice perked up, wondering what Dorothy was up to now, knowing full well how hard it was to get Dorothy out of South East Asia and back into stocking and shoes.
“Alice, it’s Luke, ” Dorothy spluttered. “He is going to have a baby!”
“Excuse me”, Alice replied, already sitting up and wondering how far the coffee machine was.
“Luke is going to have a baby. And he wants us all to be there for him, ” Dorothy continued.
Coffee. Black. Strong. Alice needed the kick of caffeine to begin making sense of this.
“But Dorothy, just how is Luke going to have a baby??? You mean that he woke up and decided that he wasn’t gay anymore? Did he actually get a girl pregnant?” Alice required a degree of logic at this point in time as well as black coffee.
“No, no no!!! Listen to me!!! Wake up and just listen to me, Saffy! Luke and Marc are getting married and now Luke wants a baby as well. I spent the whole day talking this over with him, and explaining how he couldn’t continue travelling with a baby in tow. He won’t listen. Will you speak with him?” Dorothy continued. “He insists that he is going to have a baby and that we must all be there with him. So. And you simply must be there as well otherwise you will break his tender heart.”
Alice sipped her coffee, savouring the silence around her. Standing by the french window of the veranda, Alice wondered when any of them would actually settle down into whatever was supposed to be “normality”. Dorothy went on to tell her how she ended up in Laos again and of her latest encounters. Alice smiled as caffeine warmed her body. Laos… How predictable that Dorothy would be in Laos again. Dorothy always drifted back to her passions, rummaging dreams in jungles, climbing mountains she could not reach, the peak always just an armful away, crossing rivers while cursing the lack of bridges.
Luke. Whatever could one do about Luke? Blonde and rugged, a heart and soul as peaceful as a newborn. A gifted artist, Luke roamed as much as he pleased, returning to his musical gigs when the band pulled him back to tour or record. It was during one of his breaks while with the band as they put together a new show that Luke met Marc. Love or lust? Definitely attraction at first site. Marc was a good influence on Luke. But to go as far as having babies???
Marc was a lawyer. Hence their bridge of understanding. Or was it? Luke had studied law but preferred instead to follow his teenage tendency of playing in bands instead. Both had clicked immediately and had been together now, despite distances and travels, for quite some time.
Alice played with her hair as Dorothy babbled on about not wanting to leave Laos yet having to meet deadlines of her own.
“Dotty, ” Alice interrupted, “you just have to get out of Laos and South East Asia for a while. You always end up lost, or in trouble and miss deadlines. It’s about time to leave now. ”
Dorothy was on the brink of tears. Alice knew that silence well. She too loved South East Asia and always suffered when she had to leave the wildness behind.
“But Saffy, are you coming?”
Alice sighed. She had a flight to catch in 8 hours. In the opposite direction.
“Dotty, I can’t. Not now. And I really don’t think Luke is ready for having babies at this point in time. Can’t you talk him out of it? And what on earth are the two of you doing in Laos? I still don’t understand”
“We actually met up in Hanoi, ” Dorothy now explained more calmly. “Hanoi is always pleasant but you know how it goes….Laos was calling out to me!” Alice could hear a big grin. “So Luke decided to come along and have coffee and croissants with me at my fave cafe.” Alice could now feel the beaming on Dorothy’s face as she managed to persuade Luke to nip into Laos. Well…perhaps it wasn’t quite a “nip into Laos” because knowing Dorothy, there would certainly be missed busses and flights along the way.
Dawn was spreading across the sky now. Alice wished she could be back in Laos, with Dorothy and Luke and all the agonies of whether to have babies or not. Yet she could not. Alice was tied down to assignments and flights and wanted to keep her position as lead travel writer at the magazine. Then there were all the images she needed to work on and select for publication. Laos was not on the cards right now.
“Dotty, seriously, talk Luke out of this. You simply must. And then get a flight and go home. I bet you have deadline to meet and you won’t do them in Laos, ” Alice said. Well..Someone had to take charge, no matter how irrelevant her advice would be. Both Dorothy and Luke were headstrong and stuck to their passions. Just like her, she mused.
“Saffy, shut up! Tell me, have you met up with him? And…?” Now Dorothy was attempting the grill.
“No. And if I had I wouldn’t tell you either, ” laughed Alice.
Dorothy’s voice on the line began to fade out. Kisses and hugs and recommendations were exchanged. Only the kisses and hugs would be shared. Recommendations were always an afterthought.
Alice looked out towards the horizon. That horizon she knew so well. Elusive, inconclusive, always inclusive. She shuffled towards the kitchen, rinsed the coffee cup absent-mindlessly and set about packing again.
There was a flight to catch.
Image: taken from: 28Ethereal Images of Light Rays that Glow
Fragments In-Transit 