Go Bag

My go bag containing everything I need for when I'm staying away from home. It's a large blue zipped holdall, it weighs a ton, but it's a burden I am always happy to bear.

I live in that go bag while I'm travelling. Everything stays in that go bag, because you never know when I might have to pull the ripcord and leave in a few minutes - or even a few seconds.

So I found myself in very familiar surroundings. I was squatting in the Remote Town Landlord's place again. It is this sort of a bungalow, a sprawling building in its own grounds, surrounded by neighbours' houses in a residential part of Remote Town. I woke up, looked out of the window at a neighbour's house, and I realised that I was naked. It was a bright, sunny morning, but it was early, so nobody was awake next door yet.

And then I heard a powered gate opening, and I realised that the landlord was coming back. All my clothes were laid out, and I put them on sharpish and got out before his car could come around the corner. I knew the alarm code and where he hid his house key; it had been ages since I'd been here, but he'd not changed his pattern at all.

One thing had changed. He was on his own now. No sign of the wife and kid from the last time I'd squatted in his place.

I have no idea when I will be coming back here, or whether I'll be expecting to see the landlord glaring at me, or the locks changed, or even the police. My dreams here are weird, sometimes.