Uganda in the Morning

After 28 hours of door-to-door travel, I woke after only four hours of sleep. No matter the time zone, my body seems to recognize that 4:00 AM hour. By 6:00 AM I gave in to the idea that sleep would return if only I lay still enough. I’m sitting in a dark living room (a 12x14 tile and stucco room sparsely decorated) where I wish I would have found the light switch the night before. The glow of my computer screen attracts mosquitoes from near and far and I’m sure that every little sensation on my skin must be a vengeful attack on behalf of all the little mosquito cousins I slaughtered while at Cedar Point.

Over the humming of the refrigerator, I can hear the sounds of animals but fail to identify any of them. My best guess at the sound of this low soulful cry that I hear in the distance is of some kind of Native chant, perhaps a morning ritual. The rumbles of Laura’s snores sound quietly in the background. The sounds of traffic begin to pick up as the morning comes into its fullness. Where are the sounds of geese honking as they fly overhead, the see-saw sound of whatever bird it is that makes that cry, or the scratch scratch sounds of the zoo that lives under my deck all coming to turn in for the morning?

It’s 6:30 now and the chanting has stopped, the birds and traffic sounds have taken over, and the light of day is dawning. Today promises to be a beautiful new day and I look forward to actually seeing Uganda in something other than darkness.