The old man sat at the base of the tower when Kofi arrived.
There was no vehicle or bag I site. Just a wooden stool, a tin cup, and the nonchalant posture of an old man who had nowhere better to be at all. He was old in the way we would sing as kids, “ ancient of days” to anyone we felt was too old. His face was filled with maps of deep lines, his hands enormous and scarred, his white kaftan so bright against the brown plateau something Koffi felt was odd for an old man.
Kofi, by contrast, looked exactly like a young technician that he was. Dressed in his dirty jeans and reeking of three days' unwashed odour. In his hands was his equipment worth more than his monthly salary; he had the look of a man who hadn't slept properly since the static started.
"You're on government property," Kofi said.
The man looked up slowly. "And you are very loud for someone standing in silence."
Kofi glanced around. Standing in silence?
"I'm not making any noise," Koffi said.
"Not with your mouth." The man sipped from his cup. "Sit down."
"I can not. I have work to do."
"The tower will be fine. Trust me, just sit ."
"How do you know the tower will be fine?"
"Because the tower has never had a problem." He nodded at the ground beside him. "Stop being a baby and just sit."
Kofi sat although he didn't fully understand why he was listening to a stranger.
The plateau held a silence so complete it had texture, like it was listening to them. The winds ad chirpring insects added a calm background noise. No cars could be heard coming up from the valley roads below.
"This place," Kofi said quietly. "Is it always this still?" he asked.
The old man nodded and poured from his flask. "People used to come here before the tower and the road. They all in the bid to remember themselves."
"Remembered themselves?"
"You know that moment when life gets too fast." He looked at Kofi. "Like it is hitting you now. When last sit without doing anything? Not even on the tower."
Kofi opened his mouth. Closed it. “How could you tell that…”
“Life is hitting you?” The old man laughed. “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately. Or don’t you have one?”
Koffi looked away.
“So when last?” The old man laughed again.
Yet Koffi had no reply.
"That long," the man said.
The silence returned. This time, Kofi didn't fight it.
"You know, I missed my brother's wedding," Koffi said. He hadn't planned to say it. “Hurts me till today.”
"I know that feeling."
"I keep missing things. I promised myself that after each posting or the next contract." He picked a small stone. "But."
The old man repeated the word like he was tasting it. "And how is that going?"
Kofi laughed, “You already know.”
The sun was hiding now. The hills went fully dark. The tower's red warning light could be seen clearly now. Sitting there in the dirt beside a stranger koffi found something he had been searching for for years.
Stillness. Actual stillness.
Not the kind that comes with tiredness, but that chosen quietness of someone who had, at last, decided to take a break.
"Will you be here tomorrow?" he asked, standing finally.
The old man considered this with great seriousness. "Even if I am not, this place will be. Sit and take a break."
Kofi picked up his equipment and walked up to the tower. He ran his diagnostics and filed his report. His discussion with the old man is still on his mind.
That night, he called his brother. Just to talk and maybe apologize after years of missing his wedding.
That night, he took a leave from work. He needed time to live a little from his usual routine of work and home to work lifestyle again. He also knew it was time to visit family and friends and make amends for his absence.
[generated using](openai.com)