I can picture it now; if I had stayed I would have been an historic account of past events. I would have been 7 minutes away from a story I wanted to write. We’ll be 25 this year, can you believe it? We were just turning 21 the other day. We never got to open that bottle of wine. Imagine if we did now as two completely different people. What would we even talk about? Is there still a soundtrack to every word? I would be stuck at Sunset Beach long after everyone had cleaned the sand off their feet. I would drive to the castle on the mountain and rethink the year 2019. I would run into past vices at the mall. Not the Cock ‘n Bull. Somehow lives would have been entangled because no stone was left unturned. Sushi, the cinema, Nando's, Camps Bay, Clifton, Sea Point not ruined, explored to the brim. Every road there leads down a barrel shooting me straight back into the past. Last spring, I avoided all those places. I broke my promise that I would be there through it all, but you would tell me that it’s not that deep. Common sense would agree with you. Common sense tells me that I haven’t left anything or anyone behind. You’re not you anymore and I’m not who you remember. You don’t drink wine now. Sunset Beach is an unkept secret. I hear it’s a trendy spot; all picnicked out with blankets and people, and more laughs than it’s ever experienced before. The castle on the mountain barely remembers us with all that construction noise. Nando's tastes different. I’ve gotten used to it in this part of the world. You drive now. I don’t drive at all. I walk everywhere. You know I was never much of a runner, only when it came to people. I met someone and for a moment I thought he could be more. I doubt you would have gotten on. He was me before you. Anyways, I’m off to the carousel. I still have enough currency for that ride. I hope you’re far off from the carnival. Instead, maybe this year you’ll get to dress up as your favourite childhood character. 2020 was something, wasn’t it? Covid-19 took so much and yet it gave plenty too. You always did resemble Aladdin; playful, with a voice of a singer and a thief — only when it came to stealing hearts.
The answer to the title is no.
