Chapter 54

Weeks passed as Pierre painted in the studio. He needed to make some money and take a break after spending time on the road sleeping at odd hours, drinking too much, exploring all day, then eating sumptuous meals at the luxury hotels his friends wanted to stay at. He never thought he’d miss his humble boarding as much as he did. He also had some processing to do about his experiences, and where better to do that than where there was little distraction? Here, he had his memories to guide him as well, not the distractions of the wider world.

Traveling in new and unfamiliar places had made him more aware of his almost insignificant position in the universe. Starting out as a young man from a small town, he had first moved to a bigger city, saw even more of his country with friends, visited England, then traveled across Northern Africa to discover modern and ancient cultures so different from his own. How could that not influence him?