The Walk

Short Story - The Walk

I was walking along on a clear Spring day. The air was cool to offset the heat generated by the sunshine as it continued to try to overpower me and exhaust my efforts so that I might stop and take my rest beneath a tree near a brook and forget this moment. My gratitude for the coolness in the air; it provided just enough to keep me awake and focused on greater things.

Greater things... like, I have no idea why I'm here. The normal things a girl like me would be asking herself on a beautiful Spring day while taking a leisurely walk and being filled with gratitude.

As I was walking, a young man approached me and smiled. I smiled in return but did not hesitate - I have a purpose. He turned around and walked up beside me.

"Excuse me." he said. "I don't mean to be rude or out of place, but there is something about you, I think I have seen you before somewhere. Something... I can't explain it, something has drawn me to you and I am compelled to ask you, where are you going?"

"Where?" I replied. "Does there have to be a where? It had not occurred to me that there should be a where."

"I am sorry to have been so presumptuous. Let me begin again with a proper introduction, my name is Scott Sheridan. I live near here and work in the confectionary around the corner stocking shelves and handling customer orders. Perhaps I've seen you there."

What a nice name I thought to myself. There is something in that name...

"And to answer your question, yes." he said. "One does not walk to go nowhere. There must be a somewhere that is your destination and once there, you will take care of whatever you intended to take of there and then come back this way to return to your job or  your home."

"Ah. You believe there is a somewhere which also implies there is a nowhere. How about anywhere? or everywhere?" I answered. Where..., I thought to myself, and yet, I have no destination, no point of arrival, no appointment to keep.

"So, you are walking just for the sake of walking, like for exercise or for meditation." he inquired.

"I do not walk for the pleasure of walking, for exercise, or for meditation. I have no preconceived purpose for the walking but just to put one foot in front of the other - walking." I suddenly appeared  as confused as he seemed to be.

Again I thought to myself, there is a familiarity; a purpose.

"This is puzzling me." he said. "I noticed your cadence and the look of complete bliss upon your face. I was sure you were going somewhere nice and you were eager to get there. And, then I smiled and you smiled back. I thought to myself, here is a nice woman who seems to be going somewhere that will bring her joy and here I am, a man who has no purpose and nowhere to go. I am without joy."

"I decided to turn around and talk with you." he continued. "I wanted to know where you were heading and why you seem so happy to be on your way there. It is a curiosity, that is all."

"Walk with me." I offered. "There is no destination, but there must be a reason for our meeting. Though there is nothing that I am drawn toward and nowhere that I am going that will be joyful or bring me happiness once I get there, it seems as if you and I are connected by something."

"I think I will walk with you for a little while. This is perplexing me. It feels like a riddle and I must find the answer. It's as if you know something that I must know." He said.

The young man was determined to find the answer to this mystery and I decided he should come along and find out if there is indeed something to discover.

"Again, I mean you no disrespect, but you never told me your name." he stumbled with the question within the statement as if coming out and asking me straight-away would somehow offend me.