pte
hawl tenderly wrapped around the shoulders of the mountain peaks that surrou
ed off to sleep almost immediately. My daughter Ria, was the stubborn one, who went to sleep unwillingly. I tucked t
, said a small
of the Himalayas. The orderly, serene life of the Buddhist nuns and their unconditional acceptance had be
ugh we were thousands of miles apart, he remained in my thoughts all the time. Every second moment, I thought about him. Of cour
d me countless times; I even longed for his harshness, his cruelty, I thought, my eyes welling up at the very thought of the m
e had no idea t
careless fashion of his, the little flat in the suburbs, the expensive trinkets and baubles that I had cherished, taking t
turn as I stared, lulled into a peacefulness, where the d
void facing the truth. Gun-running and drugs, I had discovered while listening to the snippets of conversations over the phone as he lay with me after we had shared a passionate night of lovemaking. He would lie with an arm thrown carelessly around my shoulders st
almost twenty years older than me! At the young age of eighte
il I found out that he regarded me as just another plaything, a wo
d come looking for me. But as the days had become months and now it was almost two years I had gradually come to realise th
spend some time in peace, away from the dem
rayer, chanting, I sat quietly on the still-warm stone st
e, came to my mind's eye, I squeezed my eyes shut and felt the heat rise in my body. As tho
s flew
I should stop
evening, asking myself what he must be doing, wondering who was spend
a year and
thills of the majestic mountains. My job was simple, helping with the correspondence. It was an unpretentious life,
o love passionately. Where
on. I was secure now in the serene h
o turn around in some surprise. Rarely was I required to at
way, her pretty pink face glo
r I recognized her as one of the young
he young girl" someone
et
lave to be held in town next week. All the arrangements had been made; I had personal
angements for the monks who were visiting next week, their stay in th
mould it into a messy bun at the base of my neck, I set off down
rors outside the hall as I made my way along with the
alf-hidden in the simple maroon robes that covered me, long black hair swinging in a braid as I walked. Although I had turned ninet
now a good friend of mine, never se
writing and teaching here among the serene mountains, he had made his interest in me plain. He wanted to be more than just a friend but I was wary of admitting anot
ched for the harsh, dominating