Mountain Qualia

NaNoWriMo Day 24

"I might go on far travels," Tipi said to Julian when they were outside. "I am not getting rid of you, but you have to agree that there should be people better suited at taking care of you than a homeless and cultless guru who has no clue where he can sleep next. You need people who love you and make sure that you go to school."

"But I want to stay with you," Julian said.

Tipi hugged the boy and said he would want to stay in touch too.

"Look, I know your parents haven't been there for you the way they should. I believe that all parents do their best and have the best intentions for their children, but the reality is that they may display this in the worst kind of ways. Some parents hit their children or worse. They might tell them off for not getting perfect scores in school or not be the best at some sport or they simply don't show any interest at all."

"Mine were all."

"At the moment I don't know if I can be a lot better for you. The difference is that I realize this and want something better for you."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I could go to the police, they might have an international call about a kidnapped boy."

"Bu then they'll just take me back!"

"You have a point there and I don't really know how to explain our story to the police either, they might take it the wrong way and think I kidnapped you."

"I'll tell them it wasn't you."

"I'm not certain they will believe you," Tipi said.

After searching online on his phone, Tipi walked with Julian to child protective services. He had written a note explaining what a special boy Julian was, and that he had lost his parents in an accident.

"Stick to this story," he said to Julian. "And they will take you in and find you a good foster home." He gave him a small locket that he had bought at a cheap bijoux store, In the locket was a piece of paper and on that piece of paper he had written his name and phone number. "It also has a chip," Tipi said. "I can track your position with it. This way we can stay connected, in a way."

Julian was sad, but he had been like that ever since Tipi had met him. This would also hurt but it would go uphill from now. They said their goodbyes and then Julian disappeared inside while Tipi hid back and checked if he or anyone would come out. When he felt confident enough that this was the case, he sought yet another hotel that would take his money. The next day felt very empty. With Julian at a safe place it became viable again to search for a way to lead a regular life again. That would start by finding a place to stay that did not offer a breakfast buffet but that he could call his own. This had been Tipi's quest for the days that followed.

Finding an apartment to rent was not that easy. There were long waiting lists for the affordable apartments and unless you were a terrible emergency case you simply never could get in. The commercially let places were higher end. Sure, Tipi had the money from his sold house but if it would cost more to rent an apartment that to stay in cheap hotels it was properly better to keep on looking for a little while longer. He passed the bookstore again that he had visited with Julian. He wondered where he was now. But first he checked in with the woman inside whether she had heard any word from the publisher. She had not.

Tipi checked his phone for the location of Julian. It startled him to see it was moving on a highway away from Utrecht towards Amsterdam. Slightly alarmed, Tipi headed towards the train station. If they found a new home for Julian in or near Amsterdam, he could also try to find something there. With all his stuff packed from the hotel he could go wherever he pleased. He did not want to stay in the last hotel anyway; it smelled and the breakfast was stale. He could live in austerity. You're not much of a guru if you can't handle a proper amount of lacked luxury. But if you get served something to eat, it should either be with a lot of love or a lot of flavor. This had been with neither. The alarming thing was though, he had not expected Julian to be on the move. For the last few days he had been at an address close to where he had dropped Julian off. They are probably taking him to a better place. In the train, Tipi checked the location again, it was now half an hour later so there was a good chance that they had arrived at their ultimate destination. The pin on the map had stopped alright, but it indicated for sure that it was not the end of their journey. The pin stood firm in a terminal of Schiphol Airport.

Tipi got out of the train at the nearest stop and rushed outside where a line of empty taxis was idling. He hailed the driver who was sitting outisde of his taxi and smoking his cigarette while holding an espresso cup in the other. At the sight of a rushed passenger he sprang into action and helped Tipi get inside.

o the airport,'Tipi said before the taxi driver could ask whereto.

"Late for your flight?" he asked while driving out of the station parking lot with his knees controlling most of the steering with a little help from one hand which was also burdened with holding the cigarette and the empty espresso cup. With the other hand he put a phone on one of the chargers. There were three different phones lying around. When he was done with that he turned on the taximeter and continued the small talk.

"You pack light."

"I'm not going to fly," Tipi said. "I'm supposed to pick someone up."

"You should never be late to pick up your girl, or your mother-in-law. Big troubles brewing, I've been there. So which one of the two is it?"

"Neither. Shoudln't you be wearing seatbelts?"

"What, no." He looked at Tipi. "I'm insulted actually. You don't trust my driving? He shook the steering wheel left and right in a twisted attempt to show he could be trusted behind the wheel of a potential killing machine.

"Just abiding the law," Tipi said.

"I have my own laws," the driver said. "And they've kept me out of accidents for twenty-five years. Can you say the same?"

"No, I'd be happy to be accident free for twenty-five hours."

The rest of the trip was rather awkward and most of it was spent in a slightly aggressive silence. Once they arrived at the airport, Tipi checked for the location of Julian again, but the pin was gone. It showed only a semi-transparent marker where Julian's last position had been.

He could think of only one thing, and that is that they put Julian on a plane home. He had failed once again. He wanted to bang his head against the concrete posts holding up the arrivals hall.

Instead, he entered the hall and found it was almost empty. The raging pandemic had really put a stop on traveling abroad by plane. He checked the large screen that showed the list of arriving and departing flights. There were four arriving flights, but that did not interest Tipi at all. The departing flights list was completely empty. He walked up to the only desk that was manned, and a woman manned it. The otherwise always radiant staff looked at him with a dull face.

"There are no more flights today, sir. New regulations have gone into effect. Haven't you seen the latest press conferences and news bulletins?"

Tipi admitted that he hadn't. For the most part watching the news felt as futile as watching a sports match. There are two teams and one is bound to win. At the end of the season one of the teams wins but what do they actually win? Or more carefully put, what does the spectator win? A few weeks later a new season starts and everything begins anew.

News had a similar but completely different cycle. It was usually more of the same news; there was usually no time for diving deep into the world events with longer timelines.

"No, I haven't," Tipi said to the woman. "But did any flight leave today?"

"The last one just left."

"To Austria?"

"Almost. To New Zealand. There's hardly any virus there, so they were very thorough in deciding who to take with them. You wouldn't have been allowed to enter the flight without a proper health check, anyway."

"New Zealand?"

Tipi took a few steps back and sat on the floor.