the intentions were good. to embark on a bike ride to a relative’s house. get some exercise, not waste gasoline, and spend time with someone who rarely gets visitors.
the boy looked up the address and planned the route for the ride. this should have signaled bad things to come because this was my hometown. why was he in charge of directions? i already knew how to get around; i just didn’t know that specific address. (street names were never my forte.)
it already seemed like forever that we had been out on this endeavor when the rain came down suddenly and with force. we were in an unfamiliar wooded area that began flooding quickly. some cyclocross maneuvers had to be busted out—throwing our bikes over puddles-turned-ponds, jumping through downed branches, failing to see how deep the water was getting as the skies transitioned to a purply blackness never witnessed before.
turning my head at one point, i noticed we were not alone in the midst of mother nature’s madness. a few marines-in-training were soldiering along, if you will, off to our right. their commander yelling out drills in the height of the storm seemed ridiculous to this bystander. but what do i know? i’m not a marine, nor do i wish to be. though admittedly, being caught in the monsoon-like conditions a long way from home was equally ridiculous.
our next obstacle was an all-metal stairwell. there was no way around it. it was decent shelter from the rain, but certainly not the intense lighthing. a metal awning encased the stairs themselves, at least protecting us from further drenchings. but then there was the weird cage at the top of the staircase. it resembled a birdcage, with bars on all sides. the top of the cage had a circular opening, revealing the storm’s increasing anger. i was halfway up the stairs already, with bike in tow, when i looked up to see thunderheads dancing, swirling, emitting bolts of electricity.
surely, i assessed the scene as dangerous being sandwiched in an entirely metal tube, but not before i reached into my bag to fish out my camera. the imagery above was too good not to capture in digital form for later publication on the internets. if naz was shouting profanities at my stupidity at this moment, i was unaware. i needed that photograph, though i never gave thought to my camera’s reliability. the shutter was clicking, and the flash was going off. hopefully my memory card wasn’t too deluged with water that it would transfer files ok later at home. if we got home.
after naz and i finally ascended to the platform beneath the birdcage, everything was electrified. streams of current could be seen bouncing between three coffee cans. i kicked them off the side, felt a wave of heat beneath my feet, then noticed my bike no longer had a seat. fortunately, naz had picked it up somewhere along the way and offered to put it back on for me.
me: “so, how much further?”
naz: “her house is over by wal-mart.”
me: “BY WAL-MART? do you know how much further that is? you have no idea where we are!!”
i don’t remember ever making it to my relative’s house. the next thing i can remember is seeing my sister sitting on the couch with her ex-boyfriend at my parents’ house. he was rambling on about his time in north korea.
sissy: “how was your ride?”
me: “did you know that her house was over by wal-mart and we got stuck in some woods during the storm?”
sissy: “awww, man. you would have had to travel down that one road for at least two miles with no bike lanes.”
me: “yeah, tell me about it.” i looked over at naz, completely fatigued and exasperated with the day’s events.
just then, my eyes half-opened to see shaun’s face in mine, patiently waiting for me to get out of bed.
27 April 2008
as i said to the boy this evening regarding folks thoroughly ensconced in the internets and where my place is accordingly:
“i feel like you are actually in the veins of the internet. y’know, like you’re white blood cells or something, co-mingling with plasma. me? i’m like the needle trying to poke in.”
13 March 2008
