Malachi, Ontario, Canada (1993)
Diesel Bend, Utah, U.S.A. (1992)
Thailand (1991)
Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand (1993)
Bangkok, Phrah Nakhon-Thonburi Province, Thailand (1993)
Winnitoba, Manitoba, Canada (1993)
Rice Lake, Manitoba, Canada (1993)
Yangon, Myanmar (1993)
Battle Rock, Oregon, U.S.A. (1994)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (1994)
Budapest, Hungary (1994)
Zagreb, Croatia (1992)
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992)
Key West, Florida, U.S.A. (1994)
Samuel H. Boardman State Park, Oregon, U.S.A. (1994)
Key West, Florida, U.S.A. (1994)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (1994)
Mendocino, California, U.S.A. (1994)
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992)
Karenni State, Burma (1994)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (1994)
Karenni State, Burma (1994)
The Great Western Desert, Northern Territory, Australia (1994)
Key West, Florida, U.S.A. (1994)
Elma, Manitoba, Canada (1993)
Paris, Departement Paris, Region Parisienne, France (1995)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (1993)
Roma, Italia (1993)Cairo, Egypt (1993)
Berlin, Germany (1992)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (1994)
New York, New York. U.S.A. (1994)
The Nile River, Egypt (1993)
Ho Mong, Shan State, Burma [Myanmar] (1994)
Marakooper Cave, Tasmania, Australia (1994)
Jerusalem, Israel/Jordan (1993)
Antananarivo, Madagascar (1993)
Bangkok, Phrah Nakhon-Thonburi Province, Thailand (1994)
Antananarivo, Madagascar (1993)
Vatican City and State (1993)
Afghanistan (1982)
The Pas, Manitoba. Canada (1994)
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (1994)
Pond Inlet, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, Canada (1990)
Tokyo to Osaka, Japan (1995)
Avignon, Departement Vaucluse, Provence, France (1995)
San Francisco, California, U.S.A. (1995)
Churchill. Manitoba, Canada (1994)
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (1993)
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (1993)
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (1994)
Home (1994)
Delhi, India (1991)
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (1993)
New York. New York, U.S.A. (1991)
Home (1995)
Coral Harbour, Southampton Island, Northwest Territories, Canada (1993)
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (1993)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1990)
Poland (Dreamed)
Eureka, Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada (1988)
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (1994)
Nevada, U.S.A. (1993)
The Slidre River, Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada (1988)
He had used up every place now. Everywhere he went, he'd say I lto himself: There's nothing for me here anymore. No more nowhere nobody.
He had finished.
Once life had been as mysterious as a Sierra lake at dawn. That was when he believed that things would happen to him. Now he understood that nothing would ever happen.
It was time to go back to Canada.
Travelling, especially early in the morning, is equivalent to dying, swimming through a night of sleep-choked houses, carrying one's baggage the last few steps to the place where it must be surrendered, entering the irrevocable security zone, then waiting in monotonous chambers to be taken away. This was how he now voyaged through his days. Of course he knew that living, too, is a likeness of dying. Living means leaving, going on trying not to hear the screams.
Almost silently the train departed its tinsel of darkness, metal, concrete and glistening glass. It left another train behind. Then it struck the sky, which had been bright, cloudless and noisy with seagulls since five hours past midnight. The atlas opened as he entered that morning of birds. For a moment he vaguely remembered those summers that adolescents have, when they think they are about to irrevocably change. Montréal continued under its plague of sleep. Apartments, hotels and warehouses were but monuments.
He sat beside a French-named family of Indians: the plumply phlegmatic young mother, disinclined toward rippling her own peace, her four- or five-year-old daughter, who was the most "native"-looking of them with her cedar complexion and long black hair, then the old grandmother complete in spectacles and purple. The grandmother was reading a book about how to live in Paradise forever, her crumpleskinned arm flat across the type, her glasses crouched on the tip of her nose, her lower lip puffed out. He decided that he wanted to live in Paradise, too. He tried to have faith that the train was taking him there. Maybe it was. No more nowhere nobody.
They crossed the river of small green islands.
In an hour they were already in Cornwall, riding the green ocean whose spray was leaves and needles foaming gently against the sky. Another train passed so rapidly that it became a sky of reddish flickers in the lefthand windows.
When the train broke down and another train had to push, the Canadian ladies merely said: Ooh, this is exciting, eh? — Only one person complained, a man who was going to be late in London.
They crossed a shining river, greeted the shiny roofs of metal sheds, and then said to each other: You meet the most interesting people on trains.
