A New Year’s Rain

I’m sitting on the lower bunk in a cramped room at the Pine Tree. It’s a little chilly in Mzuzu, but utterly quiet here a few kilometers outside the city. The other three bunks are empty and it’s raining outside the window. It’s New Year’s Eve. My family called to say they would call back in a half hour, they were checking out of their hotel in Miami. Zebra is at the lakeshore with his boss and her husband. Bear is in Lilongwe, not particularly in the mood to talk to me. The past two months have been a breathtaking whirlwind of travel, a test of friendships, and an ever creeping sadness. I am exhausted. Movement, sounds, sights, smells and people. I feel like my body is preparing for the return home, changing back to its original state. I don’t know why, I don’t particularly want to.