The Unexpected Journey Part Two

Chapter 10

From there they moved on to Bhaktapur where they visited the facility run by the Nepal Red Cross with funding from the DFID. They met with the staff who facilitated assistance to an abundance of households in the immediate aftermath of the quake. Harry could see the change on his wife's face, the way she could relate to what they were saying, to the feelings they were having. And he knew she was having them too.

But the most amazing part of the day, the part that would stick with them both for many more days to come, was when they toured the temporary camps for displaced families. Maddie instantly liked the young man who served as their tour guide, finding Purushottam Suwal kind and thoughtful and strikingly funny as he took them from camp to camp, telling them his story as he did.

As they went through the camp, just as they had gone through the day, they met men, women and children who were kind and humble in their words and their actions. They were greeted with such sincerity and welcome that both of them were moved to silence more than once. And, as Maddie and Harry walked with the same humility and grace they always had, the locals grew to love them, to embrace them. With soft smiles and the cultural greeting, they went from home to home. They stopped to meet people, stepped inside to spend time with families and they never said no to requests for photos or for a few minutes of conversation.

At the end of their second day, their very long second day, Maddie, heavy with the emotion of it all, from the heat of it all, was more than happy to be shedding her clothes, to be stepping into the hot steam of the shower. And she was more than ready to crawl into bed and catch the sleep she was going to need to prepare her mind for another long day tomorrow. No sooner had she stepped into the shower and shut the door behind her, her half-naked husband stepped into the bathroom.

"You know," He pulled his t-shirt over his head and tossed it to the ground. "There's a global water crisis."

"Is that right?" Maddie chuckled, looking at him through the fogged up glass.

"It's true," he continued to undress. "I'm spending part of the day tomorrow talking about the impact of..."

"Captain?"

"Yes?" Her tone shifted his smile.

"You know you can just join me in the shower," she swiped her hand over the foggy glass, smiling at him on the other side. "Impending water crises aside."

"Yeah?" He wagged his eyebrows at her, stepping out of the remainder of his clothes. "You don't even want to hear my line about conservation?"

"Maybe another time," she rinsed her hair and moved aside as he opened the door and stepped in. "Though your pick up lines are improving. And I think your father would be very proud of how you incorporated in environmental concerns."

"He would," Harry laughed, stepping into the wide shower stream with her, one hand rubbing up over his face into his hair, as the other reached for her. "How are you doing? After today?"

"I'm okay," she nodded, handing him the soap. "It's still in my head, in my thoughts. You?"

"Same," he sighed, closing his eyes and tipping back his head. "And I am continually impressed by the things that people can do when they come together."

"Better together than we are apart," Maddie's voice was soft and far off as she smiled. Leaning to place a kiss to his wet, soapy chest. "Seems like the spirit of Ubuntu lives in the hills of Nepal as well."

Harry looked down at her through half open eyes, rinsing his soap from him hair with the hand that wasn't clinging to her. "Yes," his voice heavy with memories, with emotion. "It does."

"Hey Harry..."

"Come to bed with me?" He asked before she could finish her sentence, her thought. "I'm sorry. You were saying...."