Yes to Adventure

In the movie, The Mummy, an English officer has lost his way in the desert. More metaphorically than literally. Since his heroic days in the war, he has found his solace in sherry and in rambling rembrances of what happened long before. He longs for adventure, the wind in his face and death at his heels, but when offered it, hesitates. Easier to talk than act. He says yes. His last moments on earth are spent piloting a small plane which spirals to the sand in a sand storm. When the hero of the story, played by Brendan Fraser, finds the pilot in the wreck, he is dead but his face is blissful. All my adult life, I've thought, "This is my last large piece of work, the last ride in my recovery from many things." I wonder now if I'm wrong. Before he says, yes to adventure, the old English officer sits on his air strip with a servant holding an umbrella over his head--bored. Maybe I would be too if my life settled down.