The Ride is Life

Emmet woke up on a chilly Saturday morning before everyone else in the house. He had been waiting in anticipation, much like a child with a new toy in its box, to try out some new riding gear that had been delivered the day before. With giddiness generally not present in his day to day life, he slid the gear over his thermal underwear and went to the garage to get his bike.

As he pushed the bike down the driveway towards the road, Emmet marveled at his breath that hung in the air after each exhale. It reminded him of his youth when he would wake up very early to go sledding after a nocturnal snowfall. A pulse of nostalgia pulsed through his body. More places he shall never be in again to add to a melancholy mental list he makes in moments of solitude.

He caught a glimpse of his neighbor, Kurt, pushing his bike towards the road. This could be fun, he thought, riding his bike with a friend like when he was a kid.

He shout out to Kurt, “Hey, buddy! How many you putting in today?”

“Ahh, a short one. Kid’s got gymnastics this morning and it’s my turn to take her. About 15-20” Kurt answered.

“I am stoked to try out this new bib, that’s perfect. Mind if I ride along?” Emmet asked.

“Don’t mind at all! The more the merrier. Besides, we’ve been talking about doing this for years”

The first two miles passed in chilly silence as the two men warmed up. Emmet was in front. Kurt sped up to ride next to him.

“Great to be on the road, isn’t it?” Kurt asked.

“The best” Emmet answered earnestly.

“It does get me thinking about things” Kurt interjected.

“Sure does” Emmet answered, coincidentally having been jarred from deep thought himself.

“Emmet, you ever think about ending it?” Kurt asked.

“What do you mean?” Kurt asked, knowing full well what his neighbor meant.

“You know, look, I loved that Anthony Bourdain guy. That hit hard. He had life by the balls. He was doing what he loved, saw the world, was extremely talented and was loved by millions, yet…” Kurt trailed off.

“That took me by surprise too. But, I think if that’s in you, it’s in you. Doesn’t matter what your circumstances are. It’s like a bad wiring or something.”

“Yeah, a bad wiring” Kurt repeated, more so to himself with the words echoing in his head.

“To answer your question though, no. It’s never crossed my mind. You wanna tell me something, Kurt?”

“Well, to tell you the truth, I think I have a touch of that bad wiring. Sometimes thoughts get stuck in my head, like on a loop. ‘It’s all gonna end anyway, like, nothing we do means anything. Nothing lasts. We are absolutely alone’” Kurt said, looking straight forward.

“There may be some truth to those things, but, I just say to that, enjoy the ride. Just like now, us on these bikes. We are literally going nowhere but I am loving the shit out of it” Emmet answered, “such as life” he added with a chuckle.

They rode in silence for a little while, Kurt digesting this delicious analogy from Emmet.

“So going home is death! The ride is life!” Kurt blurted out so suddenly it startled Emmet.

Emmet decided to play along, “Then we are Hindus because to them, death is birth, so going home will result in a whole new life”

“Jesus Emmet, I didn’t know you were this deep. That’s profound, brother.”

Emmet surprised himself, as well.

“Thank you for the ear, Emmet. I needed this; you have no idea how much. And please, let’s keep this chit-chat between us. Not even the missus. This kind of talk gets people looking at you weird or with pity or something” Kurt said.

“You got it” Emmet said. He meant it.

They rode on. For the remaining miles, Kurt pondered the new life he could have upon arriving to his home. It gave him hope.

They arrived to their street and before getting within eyeshot of their houses Kurt broke hard and Emmet followed suit. Kurt got off his bike and urged Emmet to do so as well. “Man, again, you don’t know how much I needed this. Let’s hug it out. Please?”

The two embraced. Kurt was careful to not let Emmet see the hot tears that rolled down his cheeks. “Seriously, anytime man” Emmet responded. He meant it.

They both jumped back on their bikes and rode to their respective driveways. They hoped off, gave one more good-bye wave and pushed their bikes to their garages. It was still very early and both families were still fast asleep in the warm embrace of their homes.

Kurt immediately went to the chin up bar he had installed on the wall. He looked up at the crude noose, haphazardly made of belts that he had put up before the ride. With more tears, he undid the noose and immediately threw the belts in the trash, handling them as if they were covered in disgusting slime.

He took off his riding gear and put his pajamas back on and slid into bed. His whispered to his wife, “I love you”

She, still half asleep, asked, “How was your little bike ride, hun?”

With more tears and a smile he answered, “Life changing”

The Anticipated Arrival of Tomorrow

 

“We really need some rain” Bruce, a mighty, decades old oak tree said to his friend and neighbor, Piney, an equally impressive evergreen. They were situated in such a way that they overlooked the hill in front of them but couldn’t see one another.

“Yeah, besides the thirst, I’m worried the fires may start to kick up” Piney answered.

“It’s only a matter of time my friend” Bruce said.

Later that night Bruce was proven correct. First, the faint smell of smoke turned into a thick cloud and then the heat could slowly be felt. Before long, visible light from the flames was flickering dangerously close to them.

“This could be it, Bruce, after decades by your side overlooking this infinite beauty. Now we may be going back to where we came” Piney said.

“It was all worth it, my friend” was his stoic response.

The heat encroached little by little, drying out already arid bark. Just as Bruce and Piney gave up hope of seeing tomorrow, both felt what they thought was a miracle. Drops of water started to clean the blown ash from their leaves.

The drops turned into a cascade. The sounds of sizzling from suffocating fire was all around them.

“This is turning out to be quite the ripper” Bruce shouted over the howling gale winds and sheets of falling water.

“Yeah! And in little time will arrive the first tomorrow I am truly looking forward to in a while” Piney gleefully responded.

The both stood in silence, swaying in the wind, letting it take them in the direction of its desires. Deep in the Earth, their roots were quenched.

Bruce started nodding off when an extremely bright flash brought momentary day to the mountain. Bruce thought it was a dream until the air ripping boom reverberated throughout the valley.

“That one hit a little close, didn’t it Piney?” Bruce asked, now completely awake from his slumber.

There was no answer.

“Piney?”

There was still no answer.

The next morning an early hawk perched itself on one of Bruce’s high boughs. Bruce asked “Please, hawk, lend me your eyes, what has become of my friend Piney?”

The hawk turned and saw an evergreen tree split down the middle from a lightning strike. The task of bearing such news was too much for the hawk. He simply said “Sorry Bruce” and flew away. That was enough for Bruce to understand.

Unwanted Wants Pt. I

“All I want for Christmas is a nice present” complained Suzy. “I don´t even want the ´thing´” she said, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers. “I really just want someone in my life that cares about me enough to give me one”

“Be careful what you wish for” Amanda said, “Bill will give me anything I want but I hate every second of my life I spend with him”

“Of course! In fifteen years of marriage he´s given you herpes and gonorrhea” Suzy said.

Amanda sighed “If it weren´t for the kids…” she lost her train of thought but snapped back quickly, “Hey, how´s that roommate search coming?”

“I have two interviews tomorrow” Suzy answered.

“Great! Both are girls, I presume?” Amanda prodded.

Suzy hesitated.

“No!” Amanda said, “Don´t do this to yourself, again. You know if the guy is halfway good looking, you´ll pick him. Then, you´ll be fucking him in a few weeks after moving in and your life will be a certain disaster in a few months”

“Therapy is helping! And besides, very few people answered the ad. I´ve filtered it down to these two; a guy and a girl. I want to see which I click with more” Suzy defended herself.

“We both know how this plays out” Amanda said, “I just don´t wanna say ‘I told you so’ again”

“Look, I´ll give more consideration to the girl if it makes you feel any better” Suzy said.

“Because I know you, it doesn´t make me feel any better” Amanda said.

Suzy laughed nervously.

* * * * * *

The next day, Suzy was escorting a very handsome man to the lobby of her apartment building. “I had one other interview today, but she couldn´t come” she lied.

“Oh yeah?” Justin said.

“I don´t think I´ll need to reschedule, you are perfect. I think you´ll fit right in” she said.

“That´s great! But maybe out of curiosity you should see them, though” he answered.

“That won´t be necessary” Suzy said, looking into Justin´s eyes, imagining going to the beach with him.

“That´s great then! When can I move my stuff in?”

“Whenever you want, I´ll just need the security deposited we discussed…” Suzy said before Justin cut her off.

“Can I just bring a few things over tonight and get you that deposit next week?” Justin asked.

“That sounds great!” Suzy answered, but in her gut she felt a familiar twang that meant the opposite was true. “I´ll be home all day. Come when you want”

“Ok”, Justin said as he leaned in for a hug.

Suzy inhaled the sweat yet masculine aroma from the chest area of Justin´s cotton t-shirt. “Hmmmmmm” she thought to herself.

(To be continued…)

Continue to Unwanted Wants Pt. II

 

Day Trippin

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a normal day for Sphynx, a black tabby house cat; a day that consisted of laying around and occasionally licking herself. During one vigorous paw licking session, a movement caught her eye. “That´s strange” she thought. All the people had left for the day. She had the house to herself. Again,a blur streaked across the floor. Oh damn, she thought. Another mouse. The people are going to expect her to do something about this. Oh how she hated being bothered by such things as mice.

She noticed that the mouse was coming and going under a poorly installed piece of baseboard at one particular spot. She decided to wait out the mouse there. At least she could get her quota of relaxing in as she waited. She waited and waited. She even fell asleep while on sentry. She was in a deep slumber when she was gently awoken with taps on her nose.

She slowly opened her eyes and was shocked to find it was the mouse, tap, tap, tapping.

“I´m sorry to bother you ma’am but I cannot seem to find a water source in this house” the mouse said.

“You´ve got to be kidding me” Sphynx thought. “What?” was the only thing that Sphynx was able to mutter.

“Well, I´ve found food in the western part of the house but I have yet to find water” the mouse said.

“Surely you are not asking this because you plan on staying long term. As the cat of the house I cannot allow that!” Sphynx said.

“You see, winter is setting in and the food at the last house I was staying at got tainted. I would eat it and hallucinate something crazy. The same food killed the rest of my family but I would eat it and see things and hear things. Beautiful things, sometimes awful things. It was no way to live!”

“Well I´m sorry but you cannot stay here. Either you leave peacefully or I´ll have to take care of you” Sphynx said, making air quotes during the last part.

“Can´t you just let me wait out the winter? I promise I´ll leave” the mouse pleaded.

Sphynx thought it over. He felt bad for the mouse. He had lost his family and all and furthermore, he dreaded the idea of actually having to do something.

“I´ll make a deal, you can stay but if the people see you, you either have to leave or I´ll be forced to take care of you” Sphynx said with more air quotes around, take care of you.

“Deal”.

The winter passed and the mouse proved to be great company. He was very intelligent and well spoken. He could tell a story like none other. But what Sphynx wanted to hear most was about the mouse´s psychedelic trips. The mouse relayed stories of how time and space melted and the lessons of love and connection he experienced. Sphynx grew more and more curious about the trips and how they could help him with his existential questions.

Spring came and one morning the mouse came to Sphynx. “A deal is a deal my friend. Spring is here. I guess I´ll be moving on.”

“Listen, I like you here. If you can continue to stay out of the eye of the people, for me, you can stay” Sphynx said.

“Really?”

“Yeah, but could you do me a favor? I want to be taken to the center of the universe as well! Can you go back to the other house and bring me back some of that food?” Sphynx asked.

“Sure I could, but it could be dangerous. Everybody else who ate it died!” the mouse said, truly concerned for his friend.

“That´s the risk I am willing to take to become enlightened” Sphynx said.

The day came. The mouse procured a decent amount of the magical food. It was a green, hard little rectangle the size of a matchbox and it smelled a little like peanut butter.

“How much did you eat?” Sphynx asked the mouse.

“Oh, just a little. We only nibbled on it” the mouse answered.

“I am bigger than you so I should take at least double. Actually I am many times your size, I´ll start with three times as much as you ate” Sphynx said.

“I don´t think that´s a good idea!” the mouse said.

“It´s ok. Take some with me. I don´t want to trip alone. You can guide me considering you have done this before” Sphynx said.

“Ok” said the mouse as they consumed their allotted dose of the magic food.

The mouse started to see the geometric patterns that he had grown accustomed to. Everything turned into right angles. He started to giggle. He had even forgot about his friend Sphynx. He was riding high on his journey when his thoughts went to his friend. He looked over. Sphynx was lying on his side. Must have passed out, he thought. Good for him.

When the mouse came to he went over to his friend who was in the same position as during the peak of his trip. He gently rapped his nose. Nothing. A little foam had formed at the corners of Sphinx’s mouth. The mouse grew desperate. Oh no! What had he done. He had killed his best friend in the whole world.

All of a sudden the mouse heard a shriek. “EEK, A MOUSE!” and his world went black.

With mascara tears dripping down her face and a broom in her hand, Sally could not believe that a mouse had killed her cat.