Chapter 6

   He was staying at a little place called the Whakataki Hotel, which had a cozy bar and restaurant attached to the main building. He checked in and looked at himself in the mirror. Who was this person looking back? How did he get here? Did people still want to connect with him or was he simply too old and damaged?

 He knew he shouldn’t answer these questions at the bar, but for the moment he couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. As beautiful as New Zealand was, it was very isolated compared to his life in Chicago, and he had a hard time simply being in nature without alcohol sometimes.

It was odd, he knew, but he had always paired the two 
together. He had an idea where it came from as well. His father had also loved nature (and alcohol), and any trip to the mountains, fishing, boating, even driving, was always accompanied by a 6 pack. John had inherited this tradition.


Wandering down to the hotel bar, he ordered himself a beer and took the measure of the place. Like many of the country bars in New Zealand, it had a large fireplace cut from stone, and it was a very cozy way to enjoy a drink. He looked around and saw there was some kind of conference going on, and he saw a group of attractive young people sitting and enjoying a drink as part of the event. He locked eyes with an attractive Indian woman and felt that strange bolt of electricity when you somehow instinctively know that someone new was going to come into your life. 


It had been a little while.