STOLL/Falling Uphill ©2005
6
smkstoll@yahoo.com
"Why?"
"I can't see the world and not go nowhere, can I?" I giggle, warming to my joke and making my own
head spin.
"Just looking?"
"Yes, just to look."
Presumably he gives my driver directions in Thai to nowhere and soon we are speeding down the
wrong side of the road again. The driver turns to me and asks, "You want go Manhattan?"
"Is it on the way to nowhere?"
"Yes. Just looking."
I agree and in moments we pull into the Manhattan House of Silk and I am being coaxed into trying
on silk shirts. They are very tempting and only cost as much as one beer at Cupid's Massage Parlor. But,
it is a lot of money in Thailand and I don't know anything about silk. I decline his further offers of
visiting more massage parlors and jewelry stores and the tour comes to an abrupt end back where we
started. We arrive sixteen minutes ahead of schedule. I'm disappointed. Obviously, we've gone nowhere
but I don't feel as if I've actually been to nowhere.
Then I realize I've lost my sunglasses. "This figures. To get nowhere, you drive in a big circle, end
where you started with less than you had. Dammit, I've been doing this for two years. I knew I was going
nowhere all along.... Okay. Okay. Relax. Think. Where are your sunglasses?" I tell the driver to turn
around. "My sunglasses. I left them in Manhattan."
"What?"
"Manhattan. Hurry."
The driver turns the tuk-tuk into a maze of one-way roads and embeds us in a traffic jam. "Damn!
Now I've somewhere to go and I'm going nowhere fast. Is he doing this on purpose to raise the meter?" I
grumble and stomp my foot while the driver revs his engine enveloping us in a cloud of smoke. I can
hardly breathe and my eyes are watering. I keep rocking the tuk-tuk by leaning out one side and then the
other to analyze the traffic. The driver, probably fearing I will swamp the boat, tells me to get out and
