TWENTY-ONE YEARS LATER
GOA DECEMBER 1995
I’m so engrossed in my soliloquy that I’ve forgotten my companion seated beside me. The noonday sun is fierce overhead and I’m grateful for the shade that I know is at least five degrees cooler.
But it’s lunch time and he must leave. For the first time that morning he looks at me – really looks at me – full in the face.
“You’ve answered your question,” he says.
I have? What question is that? And then I remember.
I stare at him.
His valediction smile is placid as he moves away with gentle, unhurried steps.