Notes from the Road 6

Chapter 6


"We're on a quest." Bran had said when bad tequila and good grass had loosened his tongue.

"A quest?" Replied Madison rising up on an elbow to see him better across the flames.

We'd driven slightly off the road up to an outcrop which was wide enough for the truck, the three of us and a warming fire. There was no traffic of cars on the road or clouds in the sky giving us an unrivalled view of the heavenly bodies picked out like pin pricks in the thick blackout sheet of night.

We lay out on roll mats marking a rough triangle around the blaze of dead wood I had used as a cooking fire and which now gave us warmth and light in the darkness. Bran was lying on his back looking up at the stars as if he were speaking to it and not us.

"Yeah like, the Knights of old, travelling the land doing good deeds." He continued wetting his lips like they were thick with treacle.

"They were always questing for something," She said "The Green knight or the Holy Grail..."

"Pah! They quested for the sake of questing! The Grail never really existed. It was just an excuse for them to get out there and..." he waved his hand around ineffectually "..do stuff. The quest is the important thing not the prize at the end of it."

"I think I see what you mean." I said. "If they just sat at home doing nothing letting their armour rust they wouldn't have the opportunity to be chivalrous and brave. They'd just worry about the tax increase on mead and how many miles to the bale of hay they got out of their horse."

"Exactly! Unless you put yourself in a position where you have to choose to do the right thing how do you really know what you would do in that situation. What you're really like. Deep down."

He took a very deep hit off the reefer and continued.

"So they made up stuff to quest for, reasons to be on the road, doing good."

Madison accepted the smouldering paper package from him and put it to her lips. "So what's your made up quest? What mythical item are you searching for? Gabriel's wings? Custer's Cutlass?"

Bran rolled over and looked at me. I shifted as the ground beneath me became suddenly uncomfortable.

"What?" She said.

"What we're looking for isn't an object." I said.

"A Person then."

"Not a person." replied Bran letting his head loll back against his bedroll.

"Then what?"

"Meaning." I said quietly.

"Meaning to what?"

"Everything and nothing. The reason for all." Said Bran almost on the verge of sleep.

There was a pause longer than the grand canyon. The quiet sound of the fire was fully accompanied by the wildlife symphony orchestra highlighting the gap in conversation.

Madison rolled onto her back "Bit of a wanky explanation for a road trip if you ask me."

Our shared laughter roared into the night, binding us together as companions, true friends.