The roads in town are usually busy. People trying to get to their destinations, in no time. I was walking down when I saw Espera sitting at the corner of Verde, the road that leads straight to the mountains. Everyone in Verde knows Espera because he’s been on that road for a long time. He’s been on only that road as I was told by my parents. About 6 feet 1 inch tall, he was a dark-skinned man with loose and ebony hair. Every traveller on Verde meets him while on the journey. Despite his age, he is usually willing to help travellers no matter how young or old.
I had met Espera a few times. On one of those occasions, I was walking through Verde when I met him at the entrance of the valley road. “Looking for something?” he asked. “Well, not really. Just going to the mountains”, I responded. I needed help navigating through the rocky valley to the mountains. Smiling, he said, “You can walk with me”. I had no other option, so I obliged. On our way, we spoke about the mountains, the hope of every traveller. Until that point, I had never realized how much he knew and his beauty. His smile was warm, his eyes blue like a river and his speech, calm. After he took me on that trip, I knew there was more to this man. I waved and left him. That was about a year ago.
Travellers at different times run into each other, greet, and continue the journey. I was walking down the road recently. I unwillingly started this journey down this road. The weather conditions were scary. It had rained at the beginning and the road was messy. There were other roads to go through apart from this one and they were smoother, clearer to the end of the road yet, I loved the sight of the mountains at Verde.
The mountains at Verde are usually beautiful, rewarding and worth the journey. After much consideration, I took the Verde Road. There were beautiful trees at the start of the journey, some were fruiting already. Though it was still cloudy, I was glad I had set out on the journey. No matter how many times you get on that road, no two times are ever the same. The only two constant things are Espera and the beautiful mountains. We usually tried to get there ourselves, we all always needed him to show us the way to the mountains. The journey had started bad; messy, cloudy, and bumpy roads, but I had enjoyed the fruit along the way.
I had eaten so much fruit and was almost constipated. I felt that this was enough to take me to the mountains. I had seen Espera somewhere along the journey, waved at him and moved on. As I approached a tree to pluck one more fruit, I felt a drop of water from the tree. Feeling satisfied that I got the fruit, I continued the journey when I heard a rumble of thunder. Before I knew it, a heavy downpour of rain began. There is no hiding place along Verde. That’s the downside of the road. You must keep moving. I started to get afraid. “After all the clouds showed signs of rain at the beginning”, I told myself.
After attempts to find shelter, I gave up, seeing it was almost impossible because there were no dry leaves. The rainfall was subsiding, and I decided to make one more attempt. I had seen some tree branches, packed them, and tried to create a shed when another round of rain started and scattered the leaves. In frustration and anger, I left it, crying in the middle of the road. Circumstances had told me I needed to turn back. I wiped the water which had become a mix of rain and tears off my face. I turned to go back and sighted Espera standing under the tree in the rain as well. He was beaten by the rain but calm and not shivering from the rain. I cleared my eyes wondering why he was not shaken by the cold. Moving towards him with the hope of finding help, I noticed he had been waiting around just in case I needed help. I wondered why but was too shaken by the cold and needed warmth. As I approached him, he walked briskly towards me and cleaned my eyes. He carried me and promised me he would show me where the mountains were.
I was lucky to have found help just when I needed it!