Another Day

A, slight, humid breeze. Damp skin. Persistent flies. A, home-made, turkey sandwich. A park bench. One earbud. Blank stares into the grassy void. I instinctively turn my head, sharply, to the left. "Someone else? I'm usually the only one here", I thought to myself.

From the blurry silhouette in the distance, I can tell that they're walking directly towards me. I contemplate getting up to leave, I don't want to be bothered on my, routine, lunch break alone. Ultimately, I decide to stay put. I'll just ignore them.

"..this is exactly what I didn't want to happen.", I thought as the person sits beside me. "I knew I should have put my bag on the empty spot of the bench". Before looking at this mystery person, who interrupted my thirty minutes of peace, I could smell them. I raise my eyes to meet theirs, it's a homeless woman. Now, I feel bad for judging them about their stench a couple of seconds ago.

"Good afternoon", she says to me. "Hello", I say as I hand my bad of chips over to her. "I'm not here to ask you for you food", she says as she chuckles. I apologize for the notion, but she doesn't seem offended. She asks how my day is, I usually give a generic "It's good", but something compelled my to speak my mind for once. "It feels like every other day, I don't like my job, I barely make enough to scrape by, I'm bored of this city.. I've never been anywhere else and anywhere else is where I want to be..", I come to a quick halt as I realize who I'm complaining to.

She already knew why I stopped, "No need to be sorry, your problems don't become invalid just because there may be someone doing worse than you. There's so many people in the world who are doing worse than me. So continue". I feel a huge weight lift off of my chest. "I.. have just lived in this place my whole life, nothing that I envisioned for myself has come to past. I turned forty-seven a couple of months ago. I feel like I've failed myself".

"I feel like I can relate. It's actually how I ended up in the position that I'm in now". She looks at me with more focus, "I grew up in a small town and ran away from it as fast as I could, I came her to chase a dream. No plan. No money. I thought me wanting it was enough to make it my reality." "If I had any advise, it's that it's alright to slow down. Work towards your goal, but don't rush".

I appreciated her sharing her story, but it's hard to get on board with "slowing down" at my age. "What if I told you that it'd be possible for you to go anywhere that you want?", she said. I looked at her confused. "I can grant powers. They came with a couple of rules, but I can do it". I got so caught up in the topic that I forgot that she may still be a little wacky. "Well, she's given me some good conversation, why not. I'll just play along".

"I can give you the ability to teleport anywhere you want. But these are the rules - You can only use it ten times. You have to wait at least twenty-four hours after each use, to use it again. After your tenth use of the power, you will lose all of your memories of having the power and any memories of where you've been."

I nod while keeping intense eye contact. This is ridiculous, but she's a nice woman and the least I can do is entertain her delusions. "Once we shake on it, the powers are yours", she says. "Do I really want to shake her hand? OK, fine..", as I reach out for a firm shake. Well, I still feel normal. I thank her for her time an generosity, but I should really get back to work.

I finally make it home from, another, average day. For some reason, the lady from lunch is still on my mind, I hope her situation gets better soon. I lay around on my couch, for awhile, thinking about how cool it would be if I actually did have that power she was telling me about. What would I do? Where would I go? "Man, I would love to go see the Northern Lights", I said aloud.

I feel a sharp numbness in my entire body, almost too quick for me to register the sensation. I suddenly feel chilly, it feels like there's a breeze? "I don't have my fan on. Weird". I open my eyes to an empty lake, I'm standing on a small pier. I notice a colorful reflection on the water below. I look up to see.. the Northern Lights? I was almost too discombobulated to appreciate it's beauty. "What's going on? Am I dreaming?". This dreamworld has begun to feel nightmarish in the midst of my anxiety. "I want to go home!", I said out of panic.

Another sharp numbness takes over my being. I open my eyes to the sight of my living room. I sit, quietly, trembling, trying to process what just took place. "Am I high? No, I'm certain that I am not. Could it be? Was I really granted the ability to teleport?". Soon, the feeling of confusion and dread turned into feelings of clarity and glee. "I can go anywhere I want?", I exclaimed in excitement. "But.. if what the lady said is true, I would only have eight more uses since I just used it twice. Well, some trips are better than none at all!"

I stayed up all night devising a plan on what I would do with this ability. I have enough paid time off from work to take an entire week off. I'll spend one day in a different continent, not counting North America where I already live, to complete my bucket list of stepping foot on each one at least once. I have just enough lodging money saved up for six nights. I have to use the ability to get back home, as well. That leaves me with nine total uses and one to spare. If everything the lady said was true, if I use it the tenth and final time, my memories will be erased. No way, I'm going to remember this for life, so I plan to never use the last one.

Egypt, to gaze at the pyramids. Norway, to properly see the Northern Lights this time. China, to walk the Great Wall, or at least a day's worth of walking. Brazil, to view Iguazu Falls. New Zealand, to experience the Waitomo Caves. Antarctica, well, because it's the last continent. These were the places that I decided on visiting.

Over the course of the next few days, I've experienced things that I thought I'd only see through photos or videos. I was able to witness some of the greatest wonders of the world. The most beautiful nature, the most impressive architecture. I had a taste of some of the best cuisines, taken in a vast array of cultures, met some amazing people. It was everything I dreamed of. The only bad part, is how quickly it's all come and gone. At this point of my journey, I only have one destination left. Antarctica. I have no idea what to expect, other than the cold. Regardless, I'm happy to enter the seventh continent on this planet that I call home.

I arrive bundled up, however the weather is much more harsh than I anticipated. Oh well, I'm going to make the most of my last travel day. I can get home any moment that I want if things get too rough. I wonder through the icy landscape without any destination. I do a lot of reflecting. What will I do when I get back home? Back to my usual routine? The sharp contrast between my week-long adventure and my typical life is jarring. When I get back, I need to shake things up. Even if it's nothing like traveling, I should still make the most of my day-to-day life. Find things that bring me joy.

A blizzard begins to pick up making it, extremely, hard to see. I can make out figure, in the distance, amongst the sea of white ice. As I approach closer, I believe that it's a person. They don't seem to be moving, are they in trouble? I hurry over to see that it's an unconscious man, still alive but the weather conditions have, clearly, gotten the better of him. His eyes begin to flutter as I elevate him in my arms to attempt to give some warmth.

He thanks me for helping him. "I don't think we'll be able to make it out of this", he says as if he's accepted death. I feel terrible, knowing that I have the option to leave as I please. "How did you end up out here?", I ask him. He responds, "I came here on a trip, with my family. They're back on a boat.. I'm not even sure how many miles away at this point. They insisted that I stay with them given the current weather.. but I was determined to make the most out of this trip. Who knows if I'll ever be able to visit this place again." A long pause. "Now look where it's gotten me. I should have just waited. Now, because of my impatience, I'm going to die out here. I can't tell my wife, my kids that I love them. I can't apologize for leaving them for selfish reasons", he begins to sob. "I'm sorry.. how did you end up out here, my friend?", he asks me.

"I guess I could say that I'm also an impatient fool", I say. I ponder to myself, "Am I a terrible human if I leave him here? I could take him back to his family if I teleport him with me. However, that means I would need to use my last ability to get home. That means, no memories of my travels. Would I even have the new-found-ambition to live a more fulfilling life at home? Things would just go back to the way that they were."

I knew in my heart, what the right thing to do was. I sat for awhile, taking in the last of this experience. Maybe when I get back home, I'll run into the lady again, and this time I'll actually listen when she says to slow down.

"Hey friend, I can help you get back to your family".