Last Nite

Maggie wakes up in the middle of our sleep because it's too cold, so I give her my sleeping bag and she rolls over into the dark. Me, im left wrapping myself up in Harith's jacket the way i used to back in the basement of 4th Div. There isnt any need to sleep just because it's night though, because I'd already slept heaps on trains and buses in the day. So I crawl out of the tent and walk across to the rainbow tree to joint the pow-wow. Chai is handed out, names are exchanged and we sit around the fire singing to songs on the guitar and reciting Calvin and Hobbes favourites. The party thins as people start making for the fire circle so I go back to the tent. Again, ah, there is the sound of the violin and the flute drifting from the camper behind our tent, and still there is no reason to go to sleep, so I climb out yet again and join the little recital on the bongos. There's homemade brews and cider flowing freely and so do I partake, if not as freely as the sweet dew itself.

The camp stirs and I emerge from the coccoon finally after much sleeping in. Maggie has gone to get some brekkie and my hair is standing up just the way I like it, I think. There arent any mirrors around at all but I'm feeling good enough about it as it is. The pottery corner is quite aptly around the corner and I stumble across in my ratty jeans to see whats there. Quentin from last night at the rainbow tree is there and he teaches me how to, uh, pot while I educate him a little in the plot of Ghost. We go for a dip once im done with my egg cup and his potato sculpture. The campsite is dissected by a meandering river forming heavenly billabongs. Quentin and I strip down right outside our tent on the small private beach we have and lay our clothes in neat squares on the fallen trunk. The water chills and refreshes but the striking thing is the aroma of the ti tree oil from the leaves floating on the water. There isnt any need to shower for the rest of the day so Maggie and I plot our escapades.

Juggling workshop draws us to it, and for the first time in all this years, after so many years of plotting, im finally learning to juggle. Quentin is there and he's pretty good at it. Over in the corner is the French dude with the coriolanian nose, Eric, who's also pretty good at it. Thats done and dinner is at the Marketplace with Maggie. We decide to bring some cakes back to the rainbow tent to offer it to the kind souls at the rainbow tree, where once again, the party starts for the night.