Kayak

 (Continuing)

Right here and now. Your life lovingly gazes back at you in circumstances here in the present.

Do You breathe? I love you for that. I am present as you read this, writing the words, loving you.

[These from the Spiral Notebook, poppy notes]

He needed to pick up his prescription of a low dose of prednisone his doctor had prescribed to knock out a sinus infection that had been pestering him for months now. It was the first time ever he would use any steroids and Anthony had warned him already with a smile. Get ready to feel – animal, my friend – pure primitive human, ready for survivor in the forest, your gonna feel like a wild chimpanzee, you wait and see.

He stopped at the bank, got gas and then grabbed a double bacon cheeseburger at Wendy's feeling strange about the girl working there, handing him his change. She had curly red hair and she also had a red bulbous nose that she kept scratching with her bare hands and then she turned around and reached out to give him the sack of cheeseburger, french fries and large root beer. 

No mask. Wet nose. What the, what?

Just on the highway and down the road 20 or so miles it was nothing but unending meows and whimpering and moody questions from Zoe about when we were going to return and it all accumulated there in the Subaru Forrester.

The sleek maroon vehicle had a sunroof, tinted windows and four-wheel-drive, luggage rack and all weather ready tires. It had suede seats and leather throughout the entire of its interior. This rental special included the highest quality sound system on the market, the Kenwood DMX 99 fully loaded with a JL audio C2-650 X evolution series sound system that thumped your belly and rattled the seats. Every day while walking or biking his paper route he would look in the windows of this one in particular. Now he was driving it, smelling it, tasting its leather, loving its gusto straight out of town and on the tail of liberty's angel.

He sang as he drove, From the Land of Sky-Blue Waters….

So with so much to enjoy, he certainly wasn't going to waste his energy trying to counsel Zoe into a better space, no instead he would go to his friend Jerry's and drop Zoe off for the extended trip and she would be fine when he got back. What's more, Jerry already had a Newfoundland, a golden retriever, two cats and a potbellied pig so it was already quite a cozy place for furbearing folks. Zoe also packed appropriately, so she brought some of her favorite books with her and some familiar snacks so he wasn't concerned in the slightest. It will be a retreat.

He allowed himself a fresh pack of Marlboro lights for the first time in a long while, tested out the muscles on the evolution sound system and got a feel for the skin of the asphalt surface of Highway 402. Out on the open roadway as dusk gave way to starlight alone he tested the engine between 90 and 100 and enjoyed the weightless flight over the undulating hills and due north through the farmlands of Soderbergh County Ohio. His first leg of the journey would bring him to Beaumont in about two and half hours.

Bob Seeger played on the Kenwood as he snacked on vanilla Coke and mustard pretzel knots. He sucked the salty mustard dust off his fingers.

Soon he would sit with loons. Soon he would be kayaking upon a glassy lake.

AIN'T IT FUNNY HOW THE NIGHT MOVES?