Long overdue

I awake at some point in the night to the eerie sound of howling wind whistling thru the window frame and door jam opposite my bed. I lay in my boxer shorts on top the tobacco colored (supposed to be white) sheet and listen to the insistent sound. With my eyes closed I can imagine, in my half asleep and imaginative state, that I’m somewhere in the arctic, on the tundra. I lie inside my tiny wooden shack as an angry blizzard attacks its exterior, yet I remain cozily warm due to my trusty woodstove that cranks out the heat. I mean really cranks it out. Damn that thing is warm, maybe I should crack a window.
I open my eyes again and the obvious greets me: I am not in the arctic, and could not be farther from it in any sense. My trusty woodstove that is causing me to sweat is none other than the balmy 90 degree nighttime temperatures. At least there are no mosquito nets I reassure myself. I roll off the bed and proceed to the window to allow some breeze, and consequently blowing sand, in to stir up the stagnant air. Dropping down onto the hard mattress again I curse whichever housekeeper it was who removed the air conditioning remote from my room. I had done well to keep a hold of it this long, as the disappearance of these useful little buggers has been a recurring phenomenon as of late. Seems they must be fetching quite a price on the Hassi Messaoud black market these days.
The breeze cools it down a bit and my eyes begin their roll back as I drift off again trying to picture myself in that Canadian Arctic cabin with nothing but Douglas Firs, caribou and fluffy white snow outside. Oh, and maybe an elf too. One who is wearing a little red hat and grants me wishes as often as I like. Yet even with this generous offer I make him sleep outside, because just like wild animals, elves do not belong inside. He takes it well though, though sometimes he cries, or makes dreadful sobbing noises like the one he is making right now. Damn elves, I wish he would just stop….
I open my eyes again and find myself being serenaded not by an elf but by a donkey who sounds to be just outside my window. A quick examination reveals this to be the case. Recently a female French pilot has tasked herself into making the AirExpress Algeria base camp a veritable zoo. A dog. A small bird. A kitten. And as of yesterday, a donkey.
“Aww, but he was just wandering around lost outside you zee, I zink he willz be much happiar en ear!” was the explanation offered that afternoon when we all stopped our dirt lot cricket game, (yes, I said cricket, and I was playing it.) and stared open jawed as she led the new found pet towards the only patch of weeds we have in the camp.
And now this new found friendly ass is standing outside my window singing the blues in a way only a donkey could. It is slightly less than wonderful.
For all of you who missed it, Elizabeth and I’s wedding this summer was fantastic. My mouth still contorts into a smile whenever I think of that evening. On August 19th, at around 7:00 PM, with a beautiful setting sun, my Grandfather, who was the Minister, told me “You may now kiss the bride”. It was an incredible night that I will never forget. We had friends and family in from all around the 50 states and the globe. A perfect celebration to make the weekend affair end on a higher note than two nights before when Elizabeth had not taken lightly the fact I thought it a great idea to sleep in the bushes outside in the mist after drinking too much at my bachelor’s party. My affinity for sleeping in bushes when drunk seems to continue to this day.
After the wedding, Elizabeth, or Betsey as most everyone else knows her, and I headed to Nassau for a honeymoon. It was initially scheduled for Mexico, but the first hurricane of the season did it’s best to cancel that one for us, so we rescheduled for the Bahamas at the last minute. Either way it was a lovely vacation filled with nothing but the two of us, swim up bars, lots of sun, good food and drinks. Oh, and a great bed. For napping that is.
And now I sit, without my new, beautiful wife, in Algeria again. Yet the donkey serenaded evenings are counting down, and I have only 11 days remaining until I leave Algeria for the final time. I have taken a job in China, more specifically Beijing, and Elizabeth and I are moving there around November 1st. We are both excited for the opportunity to live together in a house that is not one of our mothers’ (no offense to either of you) and to just be together again on another adventure. It will be great, I’m sure of it.