Word Count 555

The days will all be the same—wake up, pack up, slip out the door before sunrise, walk, and walk some more. Stop to eat. Keep walking. Stop to rest. Keep walking. Find a place for the night. Take a shower, wash your socks and underwear, eat, sleep.

The days will all be different—literally EVERYTHING will be new. 

The choices will be simple. Left, right or straight? The consequences will be immediate. Assume I will get lost.

The most basic task will make me a child: I don’t even know where the grocery store is, business hours remain a mystery, toothpaste and sunscreen are packaged identically and labelled deceptively, and I may need help counting out the change. 

Normally, when a someone I don’t know shouts at me from across the street, I am scared. It’s a whole different deal when people—random strangers, old ladies, teenagers, the lot—wish me a buen camino or rush up to tell me that I’ve missed a turn.