My bliss

When I downsized my needs to twenty kilos two months ago, I didn't yet realise the mosquito net was to become best choice of them all.
I was more likely sullen about the whole idea of bringing it. One mosquito net could be exchanged for two books when I took a look at my suitcase. I think I decided to bring it along because it had been unreasonable expensive. Too much wasted money if I left it behind. And I'd already packed what looked like a library because I get nervous about books when I travel.
I didn't hang it up the first night in Antigua. Seemed as too much trouble, I needed a ladder to reach the ceiling. Four o'clock in the morning it was not a question of ladder or no ladder, I would climb the walls. By then I'd learnt what it is like to feed a handful of starving mosquitoes. My mosquitoes don't bite once or twice, they go crazy, they go into a frenzy.
To lie inside a mosquito net is the closest I get to bygone days in my mother's belly. It's a bliss. I'd forgotten what it is like to be so protected. I'll bring it with me all over the world and I'll hang it up no matter what. It's not only about mosquitoes of course. Tigers can't reach me either.