A Perfect Looking Day...

...and I'll be trapped in the dive shop for most of it. Arrgh. It's sunny and still and cool out there, the perfect day for a walk or a bike ride and most, if not all, of us will be stuck indoors slogging away at our jobs. Our spirits could be out there soaring with the eagles but instead we'll be inside dealing with turkeys. I can safely say that because--I work alone. I'll be the only turkey in the room for most of the day unless a flock of customers invades, making up for last Thursday when I had a grand total of ZERO customers, not even non-buying lookie-loos, none. Zip. Zero. Nada. The only air breathing mammal to darken the door (besides me) was the mail carrier, and she was only there for about a minute, just long enough to walk down to the counter, drop the mail, turn around and walk out. It was a looooong day. Let's hope today's better.

September 8--Phi Phi, Thailand. The narrow isthmus that connected the two halves of the island was where most of the people lived. Leah couldn't figure out why they all chose to cram themselves on that narrow strip of land instead of spreading out. She decided that having elbow room must be an American peculiarity (one of many) not suffered by the Thai people. Just like in every other small town, there was really no privacy. People pretended not to hear a hand hitting a cheek or harsh words exchanged between a husband and a wife. They could avoid knowing what went on jumbled together on that narrow strip of land with the sea on both sides. Leah was counting the remaining months of her Peace Corp commitment and intended to get herself out into the middle of the biggest tract of totally human-less land and sit there in the silence for a month as soon as she got home. Even if it was in the middle of a blizzard. That wouldn't actually be too bad, she would like to be cold and alone right now.

That's an interesting idea, isn't it? To be part of a population crammed so closely together that actual privacy is impossible and have to develop selective hearing to preserve a bit of psychic privacy. An island would be an excellent place to play that out. Write on!
--Barbara