With a hug and a farewell, Mr Wurfel — my agent, left me at the boarding gate. Dragging two suitcases and a traveling bag strapped on my side, I boarded the Greyhound bus. As I wasn’t in much hurry to leave, and thinking it may be the last time I’d be setting foot on that countryside, I didn’t travel by plane but opted instead for the bus ride with the intention of having my eyes feast on the splendid sights. It’s a pity though that I only saw the silhouette of the mountains upon passing through the Canadian Rockies because the first half of the journey to Vancouver, British Columbia from Edmonton, Alberta was at night.
With the darkness outside the window, I found warmth and light inside the bus, emanating from the sweet Canadian lady in her fifties who was seated right beside me. She came from Saskatchewan. We swapped stories. I learned about her son managing an English school in China along with his Chinese partner. We talked about her mom, brother, and husband whom she was visiting in Kamloops (her final stop, Kamloops, according to her is an American-Indian word meaning “where two rivers meet, friendship blossoms”. Ironically, it was in Kamloops where we parted ways, like two rivers flowing in opposite directions after meeting in a junction. There are characters passing briefly into our lives but I had the feeling that Ms Candy and I will be parts of each other’s lives in this lifetime. To this day, we exchange e-mails. She worries a lot when I can’t return her mails within a couple of weeks. Her notes always signed “love and laughter… from the crazy crow”. She got the nickname from her dad who said she laughs like a crow. I told her I never heard a crow laugh, I wonder how it sounds like. To which, she giggled. My, this warm lady’s spirits is uplifting, her cheerfulness contagious!
It’s always a joy finding people we can easily connect with, however brief the meeting, and sometimes without even meeting them in person at all. Take for instance Mr Reid, the 71-year old Afro-Latin American historian I’ve met through the internet. Our common interest in writing brought us together. His kind, encouraging, wise and warm words are a heartlift. It’s not everyday that I get to meet great minds. Imagine the high I get from it. ;-D
It was daybreak when I left my new-found friend at the bus station and traveled the rest of my journey but her presence stayed with me all throughout. I know we’ll meet again some day. I finally got hold of my cousins on a phone call upon the Kamloops stop-over, when I was halfway through. It was even my tita Remy in Hong Kong whom they first had to hear from about my coming to town. They weren’t informed beforehand since I planned the trip just as quick as I’d decide to take a bite of a Hershey’s chocolate bar right under my nose. The nerve of me, huh? No, I was following my gut. The only thing I knew was that Vancouver’s just one bus ride away, albeit a seventeen-hour bus ride. The driver’s sure to drop me off at the only Greyhound bus station in that city, I could wait there and feel safe, munching on creamy Kisses and Twix choco bars all day, I’ll relish and and cherish every single moment of it since I’ll be on the right side of the country. As it turned out, it was I who was being waited on, my beloved cousin and his wife cut short of their working hours just to pick me up! How blessed could one be, losing one job but gaining so much, much more – all in the span of forty hours.
I left the hamlet of Fallis, all right. I found a new home in Edgewater Lane. Fate led my feet here. Do you know what soothes my soul which I get to lay my eyes on everyday? Beyond the backyard is a river! Not frozen like Fallis’ lake but crystal-clear you could see tiny fishes. Right across the river is the forest. This corner is poetry. I feel at home and peace in this place. It has the feel of the country, minus the isolation. Fast and easy internet access, mobile phone reception’s never a problem. Got a favorite spot by the river, under a big old tree. I’d sit on rocks, feet in the water, hands busy turning over stones, searching little creatures underwater.
I’ll stay put. The stop-over’s going to take some time.
*published in eFootprints Magazine (August 2007 issue)
**the stop-over by the river took just several months… up the top of the hill I went next… 
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With a hug and a farewell, Mr Wurfel — my agent, left me at the boarding gate. Dragging two suitcases and a traveling bag strapped on my side, I boarded the Greyhound bus. As I wasn’t in much hurry to leave, and thinking it may be the last time I’d be setting foot on that countryside, I didn’t travel by plane but opted instead for the bus ride with the intention of having my eyes feast on the splendid sights. It’s a pity though that I only saw the silhouette of the mountains upon passing through the Canadian Rockies because the first half of the journey to Vancouver, British Columbia from Edmonton, Alberta was at night. 
