4

        
          But time was ticking by and one had to wonder. Sure, there was still and hour till boarding, but that was cutting it pretyt close. And then the airline people arrived and puttered about the counter by the side of the glass doors, about to open them. Was this a practical joke? Only minutes till the doors opened and they could go to their boarding gate and no sing of this guy. Was one of her gal pals really right wondering if she could trust him to show? Had it all not been a bit too casual, and he had never called....

           It suddenly hit her  that she might be doing this pilgrimage solo and she had no guide book nor had planned anything. This was the first time someone else had worked out the details for a trip, if you could call the Camino a trip. She could tell he had worked hard to plan out the daily section, the distance between the town they stayed in and the town they planned to reach the next day, which albergue to spend the night in, the three days in Santiago with a day trip to Finisterre. All contingent, depending on how far they could walk. She had already warned him  that being a midget, every step of his would take two of hers. He asked her if she had any particular albergue she wanted to stay in.Whatever you choose is good. After all, what did she know or care about the albergues except that they were different kinds of hostels? The sojourn was the main thing at the moment.. 
           When Chloe and her ex used to travel,  she had been the one with the knack for reading maps and  studying the guide book. Now, she'd only read up on the Camino on line, mainly about it's history, a couple of blogs he had sent, some youtube videos, and had seen the movie The Way. But she had not studied any guide book or any maps. A guide book you carefully picked out to be the right one was your bible. There was no time to buy a guide book now and when she landed in Santiago, she'd have to find out how to catch a bus to Sarria winging it.Then find a place for the night without a map. Nor had she brushed up on her Spanish, assuming her guide spoke Spanish, as she was more user friendly with French and Greek. This was to be her first trip to Spain.

            She'd done her fair share of traveling alone as well, and was not really into it anymore but it was becoming fast clear she might jsut have to get into it. .Something must have happened.She knew this person from the inside, his mind, if you didn't count for the projection.and transference.But still, she had not intended to do the Camino solo, though many people did and just made friends along the way. She wanted to share it with friends she already had.. She had wanted to do it with her girl friends for years but their time or pocket books had not been in sync.. The plane ticket had been dear and she had sold her great grandmother's diamond ring on Ebay for half of what it was worth  to get it.
         .  After watching him interacting with others as well as her on the film site for the last 18 months, and in the last 11 months having emailed and private messaged daily, several times a day, and exchanged little gifts in snail mail, she  had a sense of the ambiguity of his character for which she still gave him the benefit of the doubt for...It had bowled her over him telling her just last month  that he was a singe father of a six year old boy.This news had made her rejoice as she praised the pictures he sent her of his beautiful blue eyed son, but it had also put her a little off guard, while she asked no personal questions.
          It was probably better he'd never called, anyway, because she was no phone chatter herself with her friends. It would seem that would quickly get old. But by typing, never mind the music and film videos they shared, one could engage in funny battle of the wits that could be drawn out day to day and keep the momentum  going. .

          She recognized him the minute she caught sight of him, though he looked nothing like she had imagined.