He had crossed deserts and climbed mountains. He had traveled through space and faced time. But his wounds did not heal and remained open. For a long time he had dragged himself along like a wounded animal, cowardly hoping that death would come for him. However, it remained deaf to his pleas. That year, when he had almost reached the point of no return, he found a magazine on a trash can. Gabriel felt a little like that magazine. He picked it up and flipped through it as he walked. There was a long article about the Woodstock festival. Some young people were planning to join a community. A woman their age, back from a trip to India, had settled in the forest. Other people had chosen to join her. That was fifty years ago. But for Gabriel, time had no hold on his dreams. He had found a goal.
The end of his journey was difficult. There was no road, no plan. It was just necessary to walk and bivouac in the forest. Gabriel had nothing but his instinct and a vague intuition as a compass. One evening he thought he had found what he was looking for in the end. A village in the forest, the community perhaps, a refuge probably, a welcome without doubt. But as he approached, he saw nothing but dismantled cottages, old caravans that had been opened and half swallowed by nature, which was still taking over.
He fell to his knees and began to cry nervously. He was at the end of time and of himself, in a lost valley populated by silent trees, sentinels of a barking world.
It was then that he saw an eagle on a rock. The eagle turned to Gabriel and looked at him with such intensity that it was difficult for him to hold his gaze. Neither the wind, nor the cold, nor the rain, nor the weather had any effect on him. He remained dignified, even in adversity. All that had passed in the instant of a glance. Gabriel had touched his pure conscience, just at that moment, and felt grateful to that eagle. If he had not crossed this animal he would certainly have turned back, he would have passed by himself, again and again. But it had given him strength and confidence. A simple look had restored his self-esteem and made him grow.
It was then that he heard behind him, not far away, a song that went up towards the summits. He walked towards the place and gradually a smell of burnt cardboard appeared. He walked around a hut and saw a woman busy extracting honey from a beehive. She was projecting clouds of fumes while operating a smoker. He looked around. There was no one there but them.
He approached and was startled when the woman said, holding out the bellows:
- You're just in time, take this and send up some smoke!
He put down his backpack and did it while avoiding being stung. The smoke bothered him but he felt strangely good. Nothing extraordinary in the end, he just felt totally present, in his gestures. He even felt something new, a kind of harmony between him, the bees, this woman he did not know. And then, gradually, with all the surrounding nature. Finally, a feeling of fullness, that he didn't need anything else, nor to be anyone else but himself.
- It's okay, we've had enough.
He followed her to the place where she lived, a cavity in the mountain that had been built. She took off the suit and the veil that protected her face. Gabriel noticed that part of her body was paralyzed. Some fingers of his right hand remained tended. She suspended her combination and said:
- Let's taste this honey
Gabriel waited until he was inside, once he was settled by the window. The teapot was smoking happily. He introduced himself and asked:
- You're Dakota, aren't you?
- Yes, I am.
- And where is everyone else?
- They all left, a long time ago. A lot of people came to spend a summer, to do drugs or whatever. Some, a minority, were looking. They thought I could give them what they were looking for or teach them how to get it
- And what happened?
- The first ones ended up adopting the conformist life they were denouncing at the beginning. The latter were disappointed because I told them there was nothing to discover, no secrets
- I understand. It's all there, inside. It's so obvious now but so fleeting too
- It's the force of habit. The mind always comes back to obscure everything. A thought is born and then dies and then another one comes along, and so on. It's a constant flow
- Yet peace is there, in the background. It is always there
- It has always been there, hasn't it?
Gabriel looked out the window. He didn't want to go any further. The rest of the journey began now, right where he was.
- Can I stay here?
- You're free, Gabriel.
Dakota laughed
- Besides, you have a choice of location. You should be able to build yourself a shelter from whatever you find.
For Gabriel everything was aligned, his being, his place and the present.
