When a poor man turned forty-four, he decided to sell everything and go on a big adventure. All he wants is peace and a sunny place!
But, no matter how beautiful a man's plans may be, a woman will always have the power to turn them upside down.
The...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
If my calculation is correct, today should be December 25th, which means... Christmas. Hmm, the forty-fourth Christmas of my life.
I solemnly promise it won't be the last.
To keep track of time more easily, I decided to make a mark on the trunk of the big tree, the veteran of the island. One mark, one day. Another day, another mark.
I climbed that trunk twice and looked around; all I could see was water, nothing else around, all along the horizon. No boat, no shadow, not even a glimpse of a shark fin.
I have plenty of free time, so I try to occupy my mind with something, anything. This morning, I collected the most interesting seashells from the sand and admired them from all angles. They are beautiful.
While admiring them, the most valuable idea of the past two weeks came to me: I drew a chessboard on the sand and arranged the shells by colors and sizes.
Eight white shells and eight black shells are the pawns. Then I patiently searched for some special shells: rooks, bishops, queens, and kings. The knights gave me the most trouble. No shell seemed suitable enough, so I carved some makeshift knights out of pieces of dry wood. I carved them with my Mastercard.
Island life has its advantages and disadvantages.
Disadvantage: It doesn't rain. If it doesn't rain soon, we'll run out of water, and that'll be bad.
Advantage: This beach is peaceful. Apart from Eva, no other woman is flaunting her stuff around here, no man is flexing his muscles, no child is screaming. No one is building sandcastles, no Frenchman is coming to show me his... That's what I call normalcy.
Disadvantage: I have no food. Except for a strand of green algae, which I swallowed today along with the water from the palm of my hand.
Advantage: So what if I have no food? I read somewhere that a little fasting makes you healthier and brings you closer to God. I feel there's some truth in that. My liver feels better. I don't feel it swollen like a basketball anymore. With the right mindset, I could probably live peacefully for about 40 days with just a tiny piece of algae a day.
Disadvantage: Oh, my life, I'm out of cigarettes! That's a disaster. It's not good... I don't know how long I'll live without cigarettes. Why are you doing this to me, Lord?!
But I'm a man, and men think. Ten minutes later, the conclusion is as clear as day: you don't need cigarettes to smoke. No. All you need is to use your brain.
I tear various types of leaves into pieces. I'll let them dry. Once they're dry, I'll crush them, mix them with the remaining salty tobacco, and then smoke them.
How will I smoke them?
Simple: I'll use one of the pages of my passport. What was so hard about that?
