Ekrem thought about many things on the road. About his life. About his dear cat, his unlucky grandpa and poor dad. He was able to name everything but his own life. This was quite disheartening.

With all these thoughts in his mind, he stepped on a plain stretching along a narrow line of long pine trees, having passed through a mountain pass cutting two hills like a knife. His had slipped on the rocky terrain and sprained his right ankle. He had to keep on as he was hungry and needed to find a place to eat something. His eyes glided over the vast, rolling terrain.

He found what he was looking for at the farthermost point of the plain where pine trees rose like high rise buildings. There was a red, two-story house there. Maybe it was not a two-story house. He shrugged his shoulder. That he could buy some food from that house was what really mattered, not the color of it.

Trying not to put much weight on his sprained ankle, he began to walk down the slopping land. It was going to be an easy march. No big obstacle was standing before him that might force him to go round.

Feeling the heat on the back of his neck, he attempted to dream of a glass of iced lemonade. Then he suddenly realized that this was now the easiest thing for him to do. When he actually desired something, all the cells in him obeyed unconditionally. Yearning for something had no logical boundaries.

He arrived at the house he had thought to be red and two-story and found out that it was both red and two-story. Its architecture was well-thought with green tiles absorbing the sunbeams. The balcony and big stairs climbing to the house were all barred with thick marble blocks. The fence surrounding the small front yard was painted white.

Ekrem stood in front of the big door opening to the garden and pushed the round plastic on the ring. He had to wait for three minute to get an answer. When a gray-haired man came out of the house, he was about to gave up and continue. The man, middle-sized with a strong frame, looked around fifty. Slit-eyed, he seemed to have remained under the harsh sun light for a long span of time. No defect could be detected on his angular face.

The gray-haired man came closer and peered over the fence.

“Hi,” Ekrem said. “I am here to buy some food.”

“You are on the way for long, are you not?” said the man opposite him. “I could notice this.”

“For two days. I eat only a bit. I was just hoping to buy something.”

“Well, follow me.”

The man let Ekrem in. Striding on the hexagonal stones through the yard, Ekrem climbed up the stairs to the veranda. The gray-haired man pointed out a plastic table standing a little further for Ekrem to sit. Then he disappeared in the door of the house. When he returned, he had a large glass and a pitcher in his hand.

“Rest a little,” said he. “Drink this water and perk yourself up.”

“Thank you.”

The man remained silent while Ekrem was drinking three glasses of water successively. Then he said, “You must have a very serious reason now that you passed so long a way with no friend by your side.”

“I have reasons,“ said Ekrem. “I am leaving here.”

“I have been hearing this word too often recently. But do you know that it is of no importance if you are not aware of where you are heading for. Everyone goes somewhere. I too have traveled extensively. When I finally stopped and looked back I saw I hadn’t gone anywhere actually but move about between the same boundaries.”

“I am going to a definite place,” Ekrem said. “I meant this when I told you I am leaving here.”

“No one is happy,” said the Landlord. “But only young people like you are doing something about that. As to people like me… We are so addicted to this life and even the idea of going somewhere makes us tired.”

“I have pondered about many things. I had been thinking all through my life. I already knew I was unhappy, yet I couldn’t recognize this. One day I saw my cat going, leaving all other things behind. Then something broke in me.”

“Even a cat can be a strong stimulator,” said the Landlord. “It is the matter of looking at the right thing from the right perspective.”

“I left everything behind. That was hard.”

“Alas! Those routines…”

“I later found out I could take anything that I want with me,” Ekrem said. “This is only to be on the road and yet not to feel lonely. I can take anything with me. Thus I can have more not losing one single precious thing.”

“Do you think you can manage this?” asked the Landlord.

“Unfortunately, I am not perfect,” said Ekrem. “I sense a feeling of dread in me. I am not a weak person, yet I have my fears.”

The gray-haired man rested his eyes upon Ekrem’s. “Young people are a lot better at owning up,” said he, smiling. “We commit hundreds of foolishnesses but deny all.”

“I know. I know all the foolish rules.”

“You should be attentive,” said the gray-haired Landlord. “We were badly misused by sticking with the so called rules and the sacred.”

“I think the sacred are invented to dull people’s soul,” Ekrem said. “They may ask you to die for your country. But it is not the country you are dying for. No one dies for a country. No one dies for a land. Land is not sacred, but only man himself.” Ekrem bowed his head. “I had just come for a little food. I don’t want to make a lengthy oration as I don’t know how to. I am sorry.”

Gray-haired man waived his hand. “Never mind, son. I am glad to know you. You are different.”

Ekrem didn’t speak. He looked at the road he left behind.