enree erzweglle
05-02-2005, 08:34 AM
My son and two friends started on an 80+ mile hiking/camping trip that they've been planning for weeks but that had all kinds of wrong all over it.
I hadn't heard from him when I expected to & then last night I had a message saying that he got hurt and that they'd try to hike to the nearest road and wait there for me. The message was from deep on the trail and had poor reception. I only knew the name of that road and I didn't have a crosspoint.
When I got to the road, I wasn't sure whether to go east on it or west. I decided on east given what I knew of the trail and what I thought was their put-in point.
This is a twisty assed little road that's in the sticks and at any point along it, I expected to look up and see that weird-eyed-banjo-playing kid from Deliverance. My kid is a sweetie and would probably try to help that kid. Don't help that kid, I kept thinking.
I called and got through a few times but the reception was so bad that I could only hear bits of his words. I stayed on the line as long as it would let me and kept saying, "Watch for me. Don't move. Don't stay close to the edge of the road." And I kept thinking that with the sporadic reception, he probably heard only the worst part of that: "Stay close to the edge of the road." Which freaked me because the road was thicket right to about 2-3' from the edge. It was lots of sharp turns and what cars were on it were doing 50-70mph despite the 25-40mph posting.
When stuff like this happens and when it involves my kid, no matter how much I practice shutting it down, my mind jerks me around and thoughts that shouldn't be there start to ram me. Too much second-guessing and I'm thinking did I just miss him? Is he 40 miles back? Maybe he's just a mile ahead. I hate driving. That was seriously fucked up roadkill. What sort of injury does he have? I'm going twice the speed limit. I hope no one is squealing like a pig. My mind wouldn't slow.
I was hoping to get to him before it got dark/er so when I got on the road, I told myself that after 25 miles going east if I didn't see him, I'd double back & go west. Which is what I did, thinking that I missed seeing him (that he was too far back on the road for me to see him) or that he was in the opposite direction from where I started. Thinking it was more the former I turned west and then I had an idea...
I got off the road & pulled out TT5B then thought "No, Check Your Head." And then I realized it and said out loud, "Paul's Boutique." I rolled down all four windows, boosted the bass all the way, and blasted out the biggest song I knew: Hello Brooklyn. I got back on the road and drove loud, thinking that he might hear the bass coming with enough time to get to the edge and flag me down before I passed him.
The Hello Brooklyn portion of B-Boy Bouillabaisse runs from 6:30-8:00 and when I'd get to the end of it, I'd just skip back to the beginning. 6:30-8:00 ∞. I was driving a big car that has extra speakers and a lot of bass. I knew it sounded like a drive-by was brewing--and that was my intention but I probably caused those farmers and boonies people to lock & load. I remember thinking that with my luck, one of them would shoot one of us before I could make the pick up.
About 20 Hello Brooklyns later, I climbed a hill and ahead on the left, I saw him limping to the edge of the road, cell phone glowing & hands overhead waving me down. Big stupid smile on his face.
First thing he said to me? "I heard you coming long before I saw you."
A big, bassy thanks, Beasties. You have no idea. I could have cried. I still might.
(Second thing he said to me? "Got anything to eat?" :D)
I hadn't heard from him when I expected to & then last night I had a message saying that he got hurt and that they'd try to hike to the nearest road and wait there for me. The message was from deep on the trail and had poor reception. I only knew the name of that road and I didn't have a crosspoint.
When I got to the road, I wasn't sure whether to go east on it or west. I decided on east given what I knew of the trail and what I thought was their put-in point.
This is a twisty assed little road that's in the sticks and at any point along it, I expected to look up and see that weird-eyed-banjo-playing kid from Deliverance. My kid is a sweetie and would probably try to help that kid. Don't help that kid, I kept thinking.
I called and got through a few times but the reception was so bad that I could only hear bits of his words. I stayed on the line as long as it would let me and kept saying, "Watch for me. Don't move. Don't stay close to the edge of the road." And I kept thinking that with the sporadic reception, he probably heard only the worst part of that: "Stay close to the edge of the road." Which freaked me because the road was thicket right to about 2-3' from the edge. It was lots of sharp turns and what cars were on it were doing 50-70mph despite the 25-40mph posting.
When stuff like this happens and when it involves my kid, no matter how much I practice shutting it down, my mind jerks me around and thoughts that shouldn't be there start to ram me. Too much second-guessing and I'm thinking did I just miss him? Is he 40 miles back? Maybe he's just a mile ahead. I hate driving. That was seriously fucked up roadkill. What sort of injury does he have? I'm going twice the speed limit. I hope no one is squealing like a pig. My mind wouldn't slow.
I was hoping to get to him before it got dark/er so when I got on the road, I told myself that after 25 miles going east if I didn't see him, I'd double back & go west. Which is what I did, thinking that I missed seeing him (that he was too far back on the road for me to see him) or that he was in the opposite direction from where I started. Thinking it was more the former I turned west and then I had an idea...
I got off the road & pulled out TT5B then thought "No, Check Your Head." And then I realized it and said out loud, "Paul's Boutique." I rolled down all four windows, boosted the bass all the way, and blasted out the biggest song I knew: Hello Brooklyn. I got back on the road and drove loud, thinking that he might hear the bass coming with enough time to get to the edge and flag me down before I passed him.
The Hello Brooklyn portion of B-Boy Bouillabaisse runs from 6:30-8:00 and when I'd get to the end of it, I'd just skip back to the beginning. 6:30-8:00 ∞. I was driving a big car that has extra speakers and a lot of bass. I knew it sounded like a drive-by was brewing--and that was my intention but I probably caused those farmers and boonies people to lock & load. I remember thinking that with my luck, one of them would shoot one of us before I could make the pick up.
About 20 Hello Brooklyns later, I climbed a hill and ahead on the left, I saw him limping to the edge of the road, cell phone glowing & hands overhead waving me down. Big stupid smile on his face.
First thing he said to me? "I heard you coming long before I saw you."
A big, bassy thanks, Beasties. You have no idea. I could have cried. I still might.
(Second thing he said to me? "Got anything to eat?" :D)