Fetish

Sometimes it isn’t even about the bling...

Close your eyes. Listen.

The quiet crunch of gravel under your tyres. The faintest breeze – just enough to carry the scent of a storm, maybe coming your way. Reefs of cloud, stacked above dark mountains.

You turn the cranks, moving effortlessly, almost as if you’re not touching the ground. There’s nobody else, just the odd sheep, watching idly as you roll past.

Your head is full of wondrous ideas, impossible projects that – out here, under this sky – seem completely possible. You have so much love in your heart, and you can’t wait to share it.

You crest a rise and the road rolls out again. It looks like it will never end. But that’s okay, because you don’t want it to end.

You dream of distance, of freedom, the curve of the earth. The long, open road.

This is what you see when you close your eyes.

Yes, you’re cooped up in your suburb, but you know the road is waiting. It won’t be long now.

And those mountains aren’t going anywhere.

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN

SUTHERLAND AND MERWEVILLE,

GREAT KAROO