We are staying at one of Lizzie’s friend’s houses in Turkey, a person who identifies as they/them. And once we are settled in, I think to wander around. The others want to hang so I go off by myself, climb the rocks round back of the house. And at first it is quite straight forward, a path clearly laid out through a pink translucent landscape, going up into the hills.
Read more
I pass through an opening into a ravine, where carved into the rocks is a graphic of two pairs of hiking boots. The carving shows them neatly lined up, one pair above the other, and they will make a good marker for when I return.
I keep on climbing until I hit a village and a church, and then I continue on confidently, strike out across gentle slopes with rose colored rock faces.
Then the road forks and at first I take the lower road, steep sides, waist high walls, grey shale, narrow path. I can always double back before I get lost. But as the sun falls and the light turns yellow across the high plain, I notice that the villages are shutting up for the night, and I think to turn back.
And as I turn around I realize that I have become disoriented and am now unsure of whether I need to head east or west.
In the next village I step into the first church I encounter and I am trying to ask directions but the people there only speak Spanish and cannot help me. For a moment I will step out and look up at the sun. But by this time I know that I will be late and my parents will be concerned for me… It is what it is and maybe it is better that way. They can always call someone to fetch me.
I looking at the drooping sun, I think it was always to my left when I started out, so yes, now I can keep it to my right. Yes, the sun sets in the west, so I just need to head east.
Once more I enter the church with its stone white washed walls and in a portico there is the same man and also a map, pinned to the wall that shows the whole island. I try the man once more and ask him to name some villages, pointing at each of them on the map to give him a clue. If I point at the right place I might recognize the town I started from, but again he does not understand me, and I turn away, knowing that there is no way I will make it back for dinner.
Main photo by Pavel Danilyuk via Pexels. Church photo via Wallpaper Flare.
