Chapter 2

Later that night John sat on his deck overlooking Himitangi Beach. He glanced over at his wine rack and looked at his small collection of New Zealand reds, and thought about how nice it would be to add a glass of wine to his lovely view of the sunset. Would it just be a glass though? 

It was a question he was still in the process of answering.

He decided instead to make himself a glass of Kava tea, a concoction one of his coworkers from Fiji had turned him on to. It had relaxing qualities and provided a kind of pleasant buzz without the repercussions that alcohol had. The sun peaked down under the last remaining clouds against the backdrop of the pink and purple sky.

It wasn’t all bad.

One of the things John had done to occupy his time was reread some of the meaningful books he had read over the course of his life. It was like a nightly visit from an old friend. Tonight he read from Cannery Row. He had always related to the character of Doc, a lonely doctor who, in his most vulnerable moments drifted back to his lost love. At the end of the book John found himself thinking about Doc’s final reading of an old poem. It went-

‘Even now

I know that I have savored the hot taste of life

Lifting green cups and gold at the great feast.

Just for a small and forgotten time

I have had full in my eyes from off my girl

The whitest pouring of eternal light’

The whitest pouring of eternal light. It was pretty poetic shit really.

 

But so was the New Zealand sunset.