The Traveler’s Imagination – A Short Story!

Hasan Yahya, Ph.D

If you did not travel actually, and you are a  wise traveler like me who travels only in imagination. You are lucky to travel safely, without facing airplane hijacking, or boat pirating in your voyage!  You travel in you dreams, awake or sleeping. In both cases you enjoy traveling, seeing people you know, and people you never saw before, strange people, with ugly heads or huge shapes. If you face danger, like someone is running behind you to kill you, you immediately find  your way to escape. You simply, just  open your eyes.

My friend Jimmy, was one of these wise travelers. He used to travel every day and night. In the street, or in the classroom. Swimming, or eating. Jogging or play poling, He was a wise traveler all the time. His ugly face made him a wise traveler.

One day, his travel was real, he took the greyhound to California,  in the way, he knew a girl, she was in his age, she’s leaving her parents to find her way away from sisters, brothers, and away from Mom, and Dad.

He was leaving his town, people began to call him names, Mr. imagination. Dummy traveler, honey dreamer. And the last name made him decide to leave the town forever, Mr. fantasy! He hated to hear that name!

1. They both discovered that wanted freedom, and to begin a new life. She found that he was funny, and sincere in his talks. He found her a good listener to his jokes. In short, they found each other.

The trip was too long, and they have to stay the night at the hotel. To save some money, she suggested to have one room and divide the rate in between. He accepted the idea. At the room, there was a program show on TV. She was watching. Channel 55 broadcasting a film about James dean. The good looking guy of the 1960’s, at the end of the film, he dies in his way to meet his girl friend.  She waited for him forever, after she new the news. The girl was crying, he noticed, and gave her a handkerchief. Waited for her to come back to reality. 

He began to tell her about his visit to Tokyo, Japan in his dreams. He read once about the Geisha girls, and ever since, he dreamed as traveling to Tokyo and have a good time with these fairy tales about the Geisha girls.  She smiled, and listened to his story with dreams. Then she began to laugh on his jokes, when he discovered that the geisha girl has a boy-friend, came suddenly while he was trying to make out with the geisha girl. 

-          “poor Jimmy!, wherever you travel, you find yourself in trouble.”

-           “Yes! You are right, but not all times I was running, in fact sometimes I was hiding, for my safety.” They laughed together.

-          “Time to sleep” she said, “he suggested to sleep on the couch. She did not mind, but she said, that he may sleep on the bed beside her. If he can control himself. But he insisted to sleep away from her on the couch. In the morning he found her laying beside him and her arm over his chest.

Hasan Yahya, is an American Arab scholar, a professor of Sociology, a columnist at wfol.tv, Malaysia, and TINA International News Agency, Chicago, USA. www.hasanyahya.com