The Drive (part 3)

The air smelled different here. She noticed people seemed less in a hurry, they did not seem to be pushed from one event to next, ever fearful of missing out on something. The place to be was exactly where you found yourself, and if you got into a longer conversation with the checkout clerk, good, this is what life was for. Even the way the people breathed here seemed to be fuller, more expansive and natural, actually using the whole of their diaphragm. Again, maybe the way the air smelled down here helped. A great river emptied the whole of its being nearby, maybe this too impacted the collective psychology. She felt as if she had arrived home. Her first night she had eaten at a Vietnamese restaurant with seating on a second floor roof. A small piano trio could be heard from a neighboring bar. She ate her food slowly, aware for the first time how much tension she had been carrying in her shoulders and neck. She drank two small pots of oolong tea, the smokiness of the tea blending and accentuating the incredible smells of the southern night. Earlier she had smelled her first magnolia blossom, and it made her realize how under-utilized her own sense of smell had become over the past months. And now suddenly everything had a fragrance, a profile rich and subtle and complex. She wanted to ride in carriage, but was worried the horses might not be given the best life so far removed from the country. But more than ride she wanted to put her face into the shimmering black mane of the horse she had passed earlier and breath deeply for five minutes. How much more caring and nurturing this would be for all parties involved. Now that she was here, she wanted to talk to as many people as she could, she had almost forgotten the sound of her own name being spoken, she had spent so much time in seclusion and introspection. But now this mood was shifting, just driving across the long stretch of bridge-ways had transformed something in her. Here she immediately felt different, she was certain this was a place she could create herself in new ways, she could build parts of her being which sought the support and inclusion of many others. Maybe she had always feared this all along, this sort of coming together as a true family and tribe. But here, even on this first night, the fear seemed to belong to some other life, one she had long ago outgrown.