Time To Check Out

It was time to check out.

The trip had been a blast.  There was sun, and water, and too much food.  Of course there were moments of displeasure.  The rain came and went.  The skin turned red and hot, and I slathered sunscreen on almost every hour.  But all in all, I had few complaints.

Of course I wanted to stay longer.  Who wouldn't? There was so much to stay for.  If I was having fun now, who is to say that it wouldn't continue?  I had my family, beautiful scenery, all my electronics, and the ocean.

There was that prickly situation, however, of the contract.  I had only signed on for a certain amount of time.  And there was the money issue.  I had run through all I had been allotted.  My funds were low.  There was only so much my wallet could take.  I had searched every corner, shaken out it's contents including the lint.

Maybe I could stay anyway; lock the door to my room and refuse to leave.  They would come knocking, but I wouldn't answer.  I could cling to the bed, my lifeline.  My clothes would turn dirty and tattered.  My abdomen would became frail and gaunt because I surely would run through whatever tidbits were stuffed away in the little cooler in the corner.

Weak and debilitated, I probably wouldn't be able to enjoy my family the way I had before.  They would come to my bedside every day and hold vigil.  Their eyes drawn and their lives on hold, they would wait for me.

My body would start to itch from the irritation of the bed sheets causing endless discomfort.  The joints would stiffen and the spine would curve unnaturally.  And the beloved sun would be hidden behind the closed shades of my room.  The ocean would be a far off dream, a mirage hidden behind jaundiced eyes.

And I would suffer in this place that I once called paradise.  Suffer as my soul rebelled against such unnatural settings.  My mind might remain clear enough to change and give up this battle, but the muscles of my face may become too weak to verbalize my surrender.    

Nope.  That's not for me.

It had been such a wild, amazing trip.

But it was time to check out.