by James Hall

Created on: February 13, 2009

You all alone here son?'

II guess. I came out here just by myself, you see..'

My, you look barely past your teenage years lad, what's a young thing like you doing in a place like this?'

I kind of, well, it just felt right, to come here. To get away from where I was, you know?'

I'm not so sure I do son! I mean, this here is a town without your gadgets and gizmos and what have you. There's no real internet around these parts as far as we know, it's sure a place to walk and explore, but don't expect to find any of those lively clubs you have back home. Heh, oh no we don't have too much of that over here. Give us a rusty guitar and pick out a simple melody, we'll roam the forests till sunrise and that's us done!'

(Draped in darkness the alps sneak past the carriage window glistening over tree tops and sprawling valleys. Breathing deep, I watch from my adjacent seat as the eyes of this weary stranger turn to gaze into the passing imagery, resting deeply in a kind of slumber, as though it's all he's ever known.)

If I took you to visit where I'm from, I reckon you'd find it hard over there sir, you know? It's not like out here. You can be close to death and still crave the comfort of a P.C's warmth, or work out one more way to spend one more day reaching some distant goal society seeps into you.'

I don't much like the sound of that young man!' Oh dear, no no, just the peace of this chugging train can keep me happy. Look, look, you see the lights rising over that mountain way? That there is our destination. Watch the way the river bends in time with this here train, isn't it something?'

(It's more than something. It's the kind of moment you keep with you and want to replay over and over when it's passed, knowing it will never feel quite the same as when it took place.)

So. What will you be doing with yourself around here then? To keep you busy and what not?'

Um. That's not that easy to answer. I, kind of have to just wait and see when I hit the station where things lead, really..I didn't plan anything on this one..'

(I'll remove everything I thought I knew about myself and push forward to dip my toes in that one move I know to be completely me, without caring what could happen next and more importantly what might just not. I'll live for every moment away from the places and positions that drag me down deeper, learning from the beauty in surroundings and questions not yet asked. I'll give out everything I could ever be and not step back towards anything I wished' to become. I'll

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