That Secret Place

No matter who we are, no matter where we live, no matter what we have, no matter what we do, no matter how we see ourselves, I think, at some point, we all have a desire to escape.

Leave it all behind. Make a clear break. To walk away. Get away from it all. Start afresh, in some other place. Be new. Be different Be somebody else.

Escape.

We all have that desire. One day, I will run away from it all. It gives me joy, the thought, a thrill, deep inside, even just fleetingly.

Some place new. Something new. Everything new. Some place where nobody knows me, where everything is reset and the promise of so many things is restored. You know, like when you were a kid and everything was wonderful and exciting, a discovery every day.

I think men want a cave and solitude. I think women want comfort and somebody to share it with.

I don't want a cave though, I want happiness and companionship. I want peace. I want sanctuary. I want simplicity here on earth.

“Escape, you say?”

“Yes.”

“Escape from?”

“All of this,” he says. “Everything.”

“Everything?”

“Yep, I dream of it.”

“Oh,” he says. Followed by a sigh.

“Just get in my car and drive. Get on the highway and leave the city. Just let the road take you where it takes you. End up who knows where? Haven’t you ever dreamed of that?”

“Yes.”

“No destination, just the wide open road.”

“Yes.”

“Nobody to answer to, nowhere to be.”

“Sure, but we can’t all do that?”

“Why not?”

“Society would cease to function.”

“So, what, let is stop. We’re only making billionaires wealthier, at this point.”

“But what about Julie and the kids?”

“Yes, from them too.”

“Really?”

“Oh, especially them. Let all responsibility go. That would be the aim.”

“But, you’d miss them…”

“Yeah, sure, sure I would, but that wouldn’t be a reason not to.

“Have you ever had an affair?”

“No.”

“Why don’t you have an affair.”

“I want to escape the complications of life, an affair…”

“Too complicated?”

“Oh, yes, who can do that?”

“Who can do that? Half the married men in the world.”

“Yeah, I have never really understood how?”

“Really?”

“Yes. I know what Julie does each day, as she does me. How would I ever get away with it? How would I fit it in?”

“Good organisational skills?”

“No, seriously? I think people who have a affairs, their partners must just not care, and the shit only hits the fan when other people catch wind of it. I don’t see how else they do it?”

“Get yourself a man cave?”

“Oh, if you are going to do it, I think you need to do it properly?”

“Make a clean break?”

“Clear out without an explanation is exciting. Brave. Creating a safe space in which to escape, is shutting down. That is weak.”

“So, disappear?”

“Break out, go forth into the world.”

“Run away?”

“Call it whatever you want.”

“Whatever you want?”

“An investment in your mental health. Discovering the rest of your life? Breathing out.”