He asks if he may join the people already ensconced there. He pays more than he had anticipated for the meal and takes it to a designated eating area, where he finds a concrete table and plastic seats with a view of island greenery and grey-blue sea. Linehan looks round to see the strange creature, but then realizes the man is talking about the food.

Vegetarian dog, the owner tells him as he hands Linehan a sausage in a steamed bread bun. He glances at the menu pasted on the wall behind the owner and orders a spicy soup and a hot dog, a blend of East and West.

Linehan is thinking of the gentle nature of Buddhism, and what that might offer him in his quest to change his nature and become good, when he reaches the head of the queue. Most of the tour guides have herded their charges off to the vast restaurant at the adjacent monastery. Today, Linehan has time to contemplate the world, so he chooses the stand with the longest queue in front of it, reasoning that the locals will know the best one and give it their custom. The former all look new, and they all bear a plethora of sponsor logos. The source turns out to be a series of fast-food stands set up amid tacky souvenir stalls. He pushes his way through the crowds of pilgrims and tourists in search of its source. Linehan breathes his relief out into the humid air and breathes in the aroma of Cantonese cooking. Linehan’s Trip For once, Sean is happy that his flight is diverted, because it takes him somewhere he would rather be: Turin instead of Bergamo the smog-free provincial city instead of the fog-shrouded capital. One of Linehan’s hands wipes perspiration from his eyelids the other rests over the micro-drive stitched into the waistband of his trousers. Linehan’s Trip About the author Goodbye, Padania: Chapter 1. Instead, its bronze face gazes serenely over Lantau Island to the sparkling waters that pull Hong Kong’s concentrated pollution into the broad, cleansing sweep of the South China Sea.Īs Linehan continues to stare, the Buddha starts to shimmer in his vision, as though it were a holographic projection gone slightly out of focus. Sean Linehan stares up at the Buddha, but the Buddha does not deign to let Linehan catch his eye. To discover more work by Bryan Murphy, visit: The characters are products of the author’s imagination. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, places or events is purely coincidental.

Linehan's Trip by Bryan Murphy