Chapter 3: First Contact Episode 2

With such a large amount of choices, you let the force guide you.

Nat:  Hey Neo.  You know that you really should go with me to this bar.  I heard it’s a cool place with a great view of the mountains.  There’s a braai there, music and a wide open area to dance.  It will be fun.

Nat makes eye contact with you and continues.

Nat:   It will be a good chance for us to relax, plus you should be able to find someone to hang out with when you get there. 

She says with a wink and a smile.

Nat:  You’ll have a lot of fun.  Plus, we need to stick together as a group for safety.  We’ll watch each other’s back.

Nat turns and slowly starts walking away.  She turns and urges you on.  

Nat:  Let’s go.

As she leads the way she continues to talk.

Nat:  You know, Neo, You really should try and stay with a group while you’re here in Botswana.  Me, I like to do a lot of things and since we are going to be such close friends while we are here, you will get to do a lot of stuff.  I really like things here.  Do you know that I am very active in the church back home.  I counsel children about being safe and still having fun, but there are a lot of nice looking people here.  It’s like being in a candy store with soo many to choose from.  I want to taste every piece of candy that can.

You continue to listen as you walk down a sandy path heading towards some small building in the distance.  The trail is covered with broken glass and aluminum cans. Every step you take requires you to step on this rubbish.  The shards make you concerned that your hippie sandals may not be enough to protect your feet, but as you register your concern, you see a small child without any shoes go running past.  

The Force:  Your feet will be fine.

You turn your gaze towards the sky as Nat chatters away in the background.  It is such a wide open and beautiful sky.  The clouds seem like a different type of cloud than the ones you looked at in The States.  Certainly they are not, but the romance of being in Botswana, so far from home, sets in. 

The Force:  The gift of life is a treasure until itself.  There are an infinite number of entities that will never get the gift or have had it taken away from them, through no fault of their own.  You are lucky in this existence alone, but to be so additionally lucky as to be able to travel the world, to see and do things others dream of…you are truly lucky in your luck.

You smile as you walk down your glass and rubbish path, the sun slowly drops in the sky.   You walk on for 30 minutes winding through village, past people dancing and staring as you pass.  The sounds of animals and the droppings that they leave in the street and on the paths are like landmines.  Cows, sheep donkeys, goats, and chickens all cross your path.  They wander freely everywhere. 

After some time, you turn onto a dirt road leading to The View Bar.  You arrive at the gate to the bar and enter behind Nat who is very excited to be there.  She heads directly for the Bar and orders a beer.

The Force:  This is not a terrible idea.  You do have some time to kill.  Just go with the flow.

You step up to the bar and order a drink.  Reaching into your backpack you pull out your bag of Pula, hand the bartender 12 pula for your drink and join Nat outside.  Sitting down at a picnic table, you look around and notice that the bar is almost empty. 

The sun is low in the sky.

Nat:  It should get busier in a couple hours.  We’ll just have some drinks until the braai starts and the other people arrive.

You look around and relax as you drink your drink and listen to Nat talk about Band-Aids, bugs and how she loves cheese.  You feel hungry.