Headley in the Rear-view Mirror

Direction and wind without destination

Some of the excitement had worn off after four years of living in the town of Headley. Sanderson had never stayed in one place for long throughout his life. The excitement of moving to a new place is what he sought. Usually, he would stay in a new home through the four seasons of a year then he was itching to move to a new town.

He had now been through sixteen seasons in the same place and he craved the excitement of change. For Sanderson homeostasis eventually led to depression. Every time he had stayed in one place for more than a year his life went into a downward spiral. In his entire life the longest he had ever stayed in one place was three years.

And now he was finishing his fourth year in Headley.

There was nothing to keep him there. He had no family there and in four years he had not made any close friends. He did not own a home or business there. He had been working at his current job for two years and was bored out of his mind with it. While everything was new and exciting that first year, everything was now old and boring and irritating. Sanderson could not think of a single reason to stay any longer.

Perhaps the reason he had not yet left Headley is because he did not know where to go next. In the past he had always had a destination in mind — or at least a direction. But now he seemed like a sailboat in the middle of the ocean with no wind.

It was imperative that Sanderson move soon. If he did not then the men in white coats would surely come for him. So he made the decision to move even though he had no idea where to go. He felt that he simply must take action.

The first thing he did was to give his two-week notice at his job. Then he held a yard sale. Back when he first arrived in Headley everything he owned fit into the trunk of his car. Sanderson realized that over the course of four years he had accumulated a lot of stuff. He had to get rid of most of it in order to once again fit all his possessions into his car. Then he had his car serviced to make sure it was in optimum condition for travel.

Finally when he was done with the job and had collected his final paycheck and all of his stuff was packed into his car he was ready to go even though he still had no idea where to go. Just before leaving his apartment he decided to perform a little ritual ceremony.

He put a blindfold over his eyes as he stood in the middle of his now empty living room. He turned around and around then turned around in the opposite direction several times and then back in the other direction. He kept turning and turning until he could no longer tell where the four directions were. He kept turning and turning until he was sure he had lost all sense of direction. He kept turning until he suddenly got the impulse to stop. By this point he was dizzy.

Taking a deep breath he then took off the blindfold.

With the blindfold off he quickly realized that he was facing towards the west/northwest. That settled it. That would be the direction in which he would go.

Putting the blindfold in his pocket, Sanderson left the apartment and got into his car. He drove to the highway that led out of town in a west/northwesterly direction. He had no destination but now he had a direction. He would just keep driving in that direction until he had an impulse to stop.

The excitement was building even before he made it to the Headley town limit sign. His body was tingling as he began his journey. He took one last look in the rear-view mirror to see the town of Headley disappear from view.

Then, as he looked forward, he was completely overtaken with joy as he sailed into the unknown.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction.

Speaking of hitting the road…