This time

Another desert safari had me thinking this Eid was going to be as uneventful as the rest. Turned out pretty interesting. 4 cars, 2 norms, 2 n00bs…go figure. It hasn’t even rained as yet. The sand was as soft as it could have ever been. We get there with the usual huff and puff. The constant rock n roll to get the cars out. Landed up having to help every single group we met. Finally find a spot to set up camp when I decide to drive off in dad’s 4 wheeler. Sure, fine, shouldn’t be a problem right, except for the fact that I don’t have a license, we’re in the middle of no where and the last time I did this I took of the front bumper. This time was a lot less amusing. Just drove around for a while and then got called back to work. Total bummer, you think? Not really. Work in the desert involves barbequing delicious pork ribs, steaks, chicken, baby quail, fish and so much more. Food at its best. While watching the sun go down like I’ve never seen before, a bonfire is lit, guitar jam sessions start and we dance till we can’t stand any longer. To take a break from it all, I lie down and watch the stars. Thoughts that I’ve never even dreamt of thinking slowly creep in to my normally overworked mind. Realization strikes but it didn’t captivate me just because I knew it was going to happen. I know that things tend to fall into place when in this state. I get up and see that almost everyone’s asleep and it’s just me and one of the n00bs. I was about to call it a night myself when he brings over a bottle of Jim Beam and a six pack of coke and asks me to share it with him. I somehow hadn’t had any booze all night and wasn’t sleepy at all so decided to keep him company. 1 bottle, 2 people, 3 hours. We stayed up talking and it was the most interesting conversation I’d ever had. Stories, embarrassing moments, lows, highs…we spilt it all. The thing is that talking to a stranger is like a silent pact. Apart from it being easier and knowing that I’ll never see him again, we both realized that whatever we said to each other stayed between us and most important, we couldn’t judge each other. We watched the moon set, the darkness in between and the sun rise together. Ate breakfast, said goodbye and went our separate ways. I’ll never see him again but I’ll always remember the stranger in the night.