[…] I roll down my window all the way and hang my arm out. The wind tries to push my hand back, but I flatten my palm and hold it strong against the flow for a moment, then dip my hand horizontally, then cup it as if I were swimming. I weave my hand up and down, a reverse sidestroke through the air. There is a strange freedom to this gesture, a childishness, I know, but it feels good to be silly. There is so little silliness at this period of one’s life, but it’s the time when you need it the most.
I cup my flowing hand and keep swimming in the wind and to my surprise, water soon appears along the side of the road—a long swimming hole, with a fringe of bulrushes, and a giant blue whale smack in the middle. Bright as the sky, mouth open and smiling, squealing children diving off his concrete back into the water. I sweep my arm forward and am suddenly swimming with the whales.
Sometimes when you least expect it, your life becomes a National Geographic special. […]
Zadoorian’s words bring back distant memories of family car trips: my hand was a fish swimming outside the window, and each journey had two destinations, the official one, decided by my parents, and the one I imagined and already experienced in the car. I used to read until I was forced to stop by a sense of nausea, then I let my imagination run loose to continue the story. I’ve become a giant in Lilliput, I’ve explored the depths of the ocean in a submarine, I’ve flown over the whole desert on a magic carpet, I’ve held on tight to the ears of a luckdragon, my house has been carried away by a cyclone… Don’t you believe me? I’m sure we have met during one of those trips!
10 suggested readings
THE LEISURE SEEKER
Michael Zadoorian, William Morrow 2009
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
Jonathan Swift, Pan Mcmillan 2004
TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
Jules Verne, Pan Mcmillan 2017
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
Floris Books 2009
THE NEVERENDING STORY
Michael Ende, Penguin Books 2014
THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ
L. Frank Baum, Penguin Putnam 2009
AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS
Jules Verne, Pan Mcmillan 2017
THE AENEID
Virgil, Everyman 1992
THE FAULT LINE
Paolo Rumiz, Rizzoli Ex Libris 2015
TOKYO TRANSIT
Fabrizio Patriarca, 66Th and 2nd 2016