Some love Paris, some London, some New York. Some love Los Angeles, Sydney, or Moscow. For some it is Tokyo, Hong Kong, or Beijing. Around here, none of that will do. Around here, when you want to go out and be alone, it is not a state of mind you attain while in a crowded park, or in a dark room in an apartment with muffled sounds coming through the walls. Alone is a state of being. Quiet rings in your ears till it hurts. This lonely dirt road is the only sign of civilization apart from yourself and whatever you took in with you. Your cell phone is not guaranteed to get a signal anymore. If you want help, you better have told somebody when you planned to come back so they know when to call it for you.
The road back home is not one you plan on taking on foot. You don’t bring a .38 because that is for city folks. Out here you need water, a blanket, some food, skills. Shortcuts are seldom as simple as they look. The direct route is never as simple as it looks. You checked the oil, the water, and the weather before you left home on a couple hours drive. The gun may have to kill a predator such as a wildcat, or a meal, such as a rabbit, or one of these.
Did you see that? It is another sign of civilization! It’s a meal! It’s company you keep unless you brought a volleyball with you!
If you live in a city, it is easy to forget how lonely our planet still is. American Express is not accepted here! In these parts you carry credit if you can survive a breakdown because when there is nothing but scrub and sun, if you don’t carry that, then maybe you could find a use for that .38 after all.
Kelsey J Bacon