it myself.
He drives Reiner to his place. As they go up the stairs, the landlady, who is no longer on speaking terms with him, watches through her half-opened door. His flat is almost bare and empty, his few possessions packed into boxes, he will be leaving here at the end of the month. They go out to sit on the balcony, looking down on green trees, the Cape Flats spreading away to the mountains. For the first time he falls silent.
So, Reiner says.
Yes.
I am here.
It’s strange.
They look at each other, both smiling. Till now the fact of Reiner’s arrival was unreal, he didn’t quite believe it would happen, but now they are both in the same place again. They sit out on the balcony, talking. At first they are nervous and awkward with each other, the words don’t come easily and are charged with tension when they do. But after only a short while conversation starts to flow, they relax a little, they discover to their relief that they get on well, that they share a certain humour related to an alienation from things. This helps them to like each other again, even if the liking is based on nothing solid as yet, only a vague sense of affinity. It is almost enough.
There is only one bed in his flat, which they have to share. But that night, when the time comes to sleep, Reiner says he doesn’t need a mattress.
What do you mean.
He watches while Reiner goes out onto the balcony and starts unpacking his bag. People need too many things, he explains, taking out a sleeping bag and a thin mat. People want to make themselves comfortable. It is not necessary. He unrolls the mat on the balcony and spreads his sleeping bag on top of it. This is all that is necessary. I prefer it. He takes off his shoes and gets into the sleeping bag and zips it up. He lies there, looking at his companion through the dark.
It’s impossible to see any expression on his face. Perfect, he says.
Now that Reiner is here he takes the atlas down and they both pore over it anxiously. They are looking for a country full of open space, with few cities. In the time they’ve spent talking about the trip they have agreed on the sort of conditions ideal for them. Neither of them is looking for lots of people or busy roads or built-up areas. So there is Botswana. There is Namibia. There is Zimbabwe.
And what is this place here.
Lesotho.
What do you know about this place.
He doesn’t know much, he’s never been there, nor have any of his friends. He knows it’s full of mountains and very poor and surrounded entirely by South Africa, but apart from this the country is a mystery to him. They both sit looking at it.
Maybe we should go there.
Maybe we should.
These might not be the words they use, but the decision is as light and unconsidered as this, one moment they don’t know where they are going, the next they are off to Lesotho.
They make their way to a government office in town the next day and are given a map, on which all the roads and settlements and altitudes are clearly marked. To me this map looks ideal, but Reiner studies it dubiously.
What’s the matter.
Don’t you think we should get bigger maps. With more detail. Four or five of them for the whole country.
But what for.
Then we can plan every part of the walk.
But we can plan with this.
But not enough.
They look at each other, this is the first time they’re out of step. But the man behind the desk says that he doesn’t have more detailed maps anyway, this is the best he can do. It’s fine, I say, we’ll take it. But later in the day Reiner says, we must look when we get up to Lesotho.
Look for what.
For maps with more detail.
These contradictions are confusing, here is a man who finds a proper bed unnecessary but for whom a perfectly good map is insufficient. The next day Reiner takes himself off to the local library to read up on Lesotho. This is a relief, at least we will know something about where we’re going, but when he gets back it turns out he hasn’t found out about the history of the country at all. Instead he’s researched the climate, the terrain and topography, everything coded into numbers.
Numbers are some form of security for Reiner. When he is