Going Walkabout
by Alden Davis
September 2, 2024
I had a dream – and I’m going to tell you about it. But first, walkabout. Walkabout was originally a term used by Australian Aborigines. As their youth approached maturity each one went alone on a journey into the outback on foot. The object was to be in touch with nature, live as their ancestors did and come back with a firm understanding of who they were now and who they wished to become
In the western world we have adapted walkabout to mean taking a journey alone to commune with the natural world, to isolate ourselves from distractions and to get in touch with who we really are. What do we like about ourselves and what do we want to change? Of course, modern walkabout is seldom on foot.
I had a dream. I was sitting on a handmade wooden chair at a big rustic wooden table, drinking coffee from a large, old cup. I was in a spacious old-fashioned kitchen with a wood burning stove in the middle and a big enamel sink on the right. I was wearing jeans and a plaid flannel shirt.
Suddenly the screen door on my left opened and Charlotte burst through, eyes blazing, waving a sheet of lined notebook paper.
“Bill’s gone walkabout!” she cried. “He’s taken the cat with him and left you and me to run the business!”
She handed me the sheet of lined paper and stood by the table with her hands on her hips, clearly fuming. She was wearing a plaid flannel shirt and overalls.
Sure enough, Bill’s note said he had gone walkabout, had Missy with him and would be back when he was through. My first thought was for his safety. Did he know it wasn’t safe these days to just pull your car off the side of the road to camp or take a nap? Too many bad people out there. I wasn’t worried about running the business. I knew Charlotte and I could do it.
Charlotte sat down at the table and I took a tall blue enamel coffee pot off the wood burning stove and poured her a cup of coffee. She took a cake out of the cupboard and cut us each a slice. I knew she had made the cake and it was delicious. As the dream ended, she and I sat at the table, drinking coffee and eating cake. We began to laugh as we talked about the adventures Bill would have and the stories he would tell when he returned.
