We have encountered, perhaps . two other solitary hikers in the half hour or so we have been here in this forest. It is unusually solitary, unusually tranquil and already the sacredness of this forest is beginning to overwhelm me.
"You know", says Carl, "It was really Stella more than anyone or anything else, who helped me get out of that life."
"What did she do?"
"Well, after a few months of seeing the impact my coke addiction was having on me, she strong-armed me into treatment. She had connections and got me into a day-tox centre, where I could attend five days a week for groups, therapy and workshops. It worked marvelously, so that I not only lost the desire for cocaine, but also ran out of interest in selling my body. Stella was both mother and father to me."
"What about your own mother?"
"Mom was too preoccupied sorting through the details and trauma of the divorce, and so she spent all her time with her Christian friends, and then of course she met Ahmed and suddenly she was never there...
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