Full moon (Five minutes freewrite)

For almost thirty years, all the money that Terry could spare were set aside for his mission, the only thing that he had ever wanted - finding the woman that was meant for him. He traveled the world hoping the prophecy would come true. Each time to a different country or a different city, but the air never shimmered.
His obsession began soon after Luna left him. His first love, his only love, so far. His mother was sure that the crazy girl had put a curse on him. Of course he never believed that, but one night, as his friends dragged him to the fair to cheer him up, he went into the fortune-teller's booth, just for the heck of it. The old gypsy with a black feather in her gray hair knew at once what was it his heart was aching for. Love! The mousy little girl seated beside the woman translated the verbal torrent the few bills placed in the fortune teller's greedy hand unleashed. 'Go far and wide. To the full moon. When the air shimmers above the water, then you will find love'. It was something in the woman's dark eyes that made him believe. Looking into her piercing eyes, he got the feeling the woman had such a deep understanding of the world, like she knew all the secrets of the human soul.

His quest started of as a joke, with his friends urging him to go and get laid. The first time he went to Paris, as the city of love seemed the most logical destination. He wandered along the Seine under the full moon waiting for a sign, but the only woman who took an interest in him was an old beggar with a small dog in a basket. Rome was equally disappointing and he got a terrible cold in London after spending all night freezing on the Tower Bridge.
He took to less obvious destinations going to Africa and then to China, although he' always believed the girl of his dreams would have long blonde hair, like Luna. In Kuala Lumpur, he almost thought he'd found the right place, only the shimmering lights turned out to be a gang of teenagers playing with some lasers. In Mexico he got so depressed of this futile quest that he spent a whole week holed up in a brothel, until he ran out of money. They threw him out, something they would have done anyway as the girls were freaked up by the crazy American who cried with his head buried into the pillow or begged them to marry him.
Every time he saw himself in the mirror he only felt disgust - here he was, pushing fifty, with a roll of fat around his waist and a receding hairline - even if he could find her would she want him now?
He found her as he was making his way to his brother's house, out in the suburbs. Not the woman of his dreams, but the old gypsy - still selling her lies at an obscure and practically deserted fun fair. Her eyes were the same, but her hair was completely white. And she had learned English in the meantime. Terry vented all his anger, told her about his endless fruitless travels, his loneliness and his utter sense of loss.
The old woman listened patiently, with a look of growing disbelief on her face.
'Why would I tell you to look for something in the moonlight? Darkness is for those who hide, those who seek for something must do so in broad daylight. It was all a misunderstanding, the girl told you wrong, but you... you should have known!'

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