Carry On Tuesday # 12

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Welcome to Carry On Tuesday
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Your prompt for Tuesday August 4th
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Our prompt this week is the opening sentence from The Open Door by Elizabeth Maguire
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The story is in the journey,
not the destination
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Use all or part of it at the start or somewhere within your poem or prose.

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Kersen's Journey

He finally was used to the smell. A yellow smoke poured out of the living mountain and clouded his view of the stone. Only for a moment. He bent over and heaved the long rock into his basket.

The wind blew the smoke long enough for him to see Doni just down the hill. Kersen took a long drag off his cigarette and lifted his pick. It felt small and light, but in his hands, it did the job of chipping away just the right size of rock. Maybe it was the tool. Maybe it was the man.

After an hour of more of the same, Kersen lifted the pole on his back. Both baskets were full. Doni looked like he was finishing up so he put the pole down. No reason to carry it a second longer than he had to. Three hours journey up the slippery stones to the nearest kitchen. Then a couple of rests on the way. A quick meal and back down to the yellow vents.

Then one more trip to the kitchen and to cash. Double what the factory workers make.

One day he would be free of the mountain and pursue his dream, if his wife was true to him. And frugal. A typewriter, a table and chair, paper and stories of the men on the mountain.

It is said that the story is in the journey, not in the destination. Kersen's journey begins up and down the living mountain, one painful step at a time.

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I am new to Carry On Tuesday. Welcome to my little blog. Please leave a message and a link to your story, because I would love to come visit.

And for the record, this is a fictional man and worker but the job and the moutain are real in Indonesia.