I Hate To Peak Too Early

*** continued from previous post ***


Carl shook his head and went back to his coffee. "So what are you gonna do today?"

Hmmm . . . good question. If the looks coming from your Mother were any indication, I may be defending myself. With a switchblade and club.

"I don't know," I said, turning to your mom. Probably just hang around the Lodge catching up on some reading. We were going to go out and explore the area on the bike, but I've had all the riding in the rain I care to do for a bit."

Carl kind of chuckled at this, but I couldn't tell if it was sympathetic commiseration or a thinly veiled insult. "Well, whatever you do," he said, pushing himself away from the table, "have a good one, eh?"

”We will. Enjoy the trail."

And with that he and his troupe were out the door, off to do all things hikey.

Finally we were alone at the table. I patted your mom on the leg. "See? We made it! That wasn't so bad now was it?"

Mom just stared at me.

Ah good. I was right. What a fine, fine morning this was turning into. I wondered, should I lobotomize myself now, or save it for the afternoon? I hate to peak too early.

"Okay, point taken." I shrugged. "But it got better towards the end. Right? Well, a little better anyway. What say we just move on? Put it behind us. Now, shall we go make ourselves a sandwich for later?"

"Yes, but let's wait for the crowd to clear. Let's just sit here, take in the scenery, and sip our tea and coffee."

Which was your Mother's polite way of saying, 'I would like you to shut the hell up for a little bit.'

So that's exactly what we did. We sat watching the wildlife in the meadow, the mist swirl and rush over the mountain peaks, and a steady stream of bundled hikers spread across the valley like a hatch of new spiders on a warm spring day.


*** the journey continues ***