Though Sebastian found the sound grating and would reach for the bottle sooner on nights with cricket song, Tyson found it soothing. A reassuring sign that they weren’t completely alone, but weren’t being threatened either.
Though there were a handful of moments in Afghanistan and Pakistan where they could hear crickets, that largely came towards the end of their shared journey, as they crossed over into India.
Maybe Tyson should have seen that as an omen of things to come, that everything was going to chance.
Before they were forced back out of India by increasingly close army patrols, things actually seemed to be better. Though Sebastian was annoyed by the crickets, he was generally happier than he had been in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There were moments of incredible violence, such as his attack during the monsoon that saw them to the monastery, but overall, Sebastian was more inclined to pull Tyson into his lap to make love rather than assault him.
So now, Tyson finds the sound of crickets to be bittersweet. It was an awful time of his life, but… Tyson can’t help but treasure those days in India with Sebastian, grumbling about damn crickets whilst dragging Tyson in against his side.