One Mile Away

If you knew that hope and despair were paths to the same destination, which would you choose?  

-- Robert Brault

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With every step, this little old man dragged himself ahead. 

His figure is small and stooping; his face is wan and vexing; his hands are thin and shaking. Yet despite all, there is determination in his expression. He kept looking at the road ahead and imaging those far beyond the hill top. With each time it came disappointment, there is still no sight of any living being, much less any man and village. But there is still no despair, hope can still be detected in his subtle smile and gripping hands.

Long has he broken his crutch and thrown it away and now his shoes are failing him. He can feel the increasing pain from his feet, they are burning with each walking attempt. There is this spot in his right foot, it hurt so bad that he has to cripple now. But that didn't help at all. The more he wanted to avoid, the more he felt the pain as soon as he stepped on that spot again.

The pain from his feet and the thought of avoiding it has occupied him so much that he was no longer thinking of the journey itself. He still kept looking ahead once a while, but that is more out of habit. In his eyes, there is no despair, nor hope. They are blank empty like stones, there is no more brightness and liveness. They are now serve only one purpose, that is to scan and avoid rugged spot on the road. 

He was told it is only one mile away. and now he began to double that.

He recalled the smile of the woman who he inquired. "Why did she smile like that? She must have decided to bully me before I asked her for direction. And God knows, she must be laughing at me right now and talking it to her friends loudly."

But then he was not so sure about that idea. "Did she really say one mile or ten miles?" He knew he has heard of something about one mile, but what if that was for joking? He now remembered that he has talked to that woman for quite a while and she was laughing at his jokes badly. "It must be like that. She told me it is ten miles, then we joked about it being one mile. It must be like that! What a handsome woman!"

Unconsciously, he has passed the hill top and was now moving down the other side. 

"Oh, here it is!!" All of sudden he spotted the small village right at the bottom of the hill. 

Having completed forgotten the pain, he rushed down the road like a little boy.  

"So it is one mile after all!" He laughed at himself and that liveness came back to his eyes with each step he rushed...