11:46 p.m. - 2015-07-28
the cowboy
It was nighttime. There was a fire in the distance and I walked towards it. There's a figure sitting near the fire, feeding it with sticks. We were in the desert. Just the two of us. Me and that figure. But i didn't go near him. He was a cowboy and there seemed to be an invisible shield around him, a feeling of loneliness and his own space, so i didn't want to intrude on his thoughts. Even though i was shivering from the cold.
I was scared but now, seeing him, i feel safer and I laid down on the sand, facing him, and i began to drift slowly off to sleep.
He didn't seemed to know i was just outside the circle of light and warmth thrown by his fire. Or maybe he didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable by acknowledging me.
But i think he knew i was around. Watching him. Seeing him feed the fire occasionally. Seeing him thinking about stuff. I don't know what stuff. He was totally silent under his hat and his eyes didn't say anything. He was just looking at the dancing fire. As if it was a woman dancing for him, or maybe his children playing and running, or maybe he was just thinking about the past.
Why were we in the desert? My plane had crashed two days ago and I was/am trying to find the way out of here. I saw a trail of foot prints in the sand this afternoon and i decided to follow it and it brought me here. To this guy. some cowboy sitting by his fire at night. He didn't have a horse with him. And there wasn't any gun either. As far as I could tell.
So i was safe. But i really wanted to go home. I could tell he wanted to go home too. But I think the sad thing was, perhaps, he didn't have a home. That's why he's sitting out here.
I decide not to think about it too far, too much again, or else i would never be able to pull myself out of my misery. So i decided to close my eyes and just sleep.
He was still there, when finally, sleep took me in.
The next morning, when I woke up, he was gone. And there were no more footprints. None that showed where he might have gone to. But of course i didn't know that, because i was still back in the night, sleeping my sleep. Dreaming about nothing.
And so. that man was a cowboy.
