tastes and sounds

It's amazing how sensory-driven emotions can be.

I'm in Mwanza, and stopped along the side of the street to eat a mango. A delicious, juicy mango. They are a dime a dozen here these days, well actually a dime for 2 or 3 but come December, I hear you can pay a farmer 1-2 bucks and go clear out an entire tree. So I'm eating this mango, really really enjoying it, and thinking to myself, "how on earth will I ever be able to leave this place?"

Then, from far away, I heard the wail of a fire engine. I stood still and listened as the siren intensified in volume, then diminished again (by the way I love the doppler effect). My first thought was, holy shit, I didn't know there were fire trucks here! But then I started thinking about my apartments on 55th andUniversity, or 53rd and Woodlawn, and the firestation, liquor store, and latenight chinese takeout restaurants that were all right across the street. I was back home for a good 20 seconds, and I loved it (other onlookers, equally startled to see the fire-engine, were probably even more perplexed by the fact I listened to it with a huge smile on my face).

As quickly as my sense of taste decided I could never leave, my sense of hearing swiftly bitch-slapped that notion right back into the waaaay back of my head.