MOVING IN STEREO

Daylight Part 2

Sofi finished the tent and had laid out the sleeping pad and bags before I could finish building a fire. She came out and got our cooking gear ready. In fact, she got nearly everything prepared while I tried to light a fire. I had started hundreds of campfires before, but this one was making an ass out of me for whatever reason. I lit and blew the embers, re-lit, and blew some more. It would flare up and burn out.

"Can't we just cook with that stuff you brought?" She finally asked very diplomatically.

"Sterno, sure, but I want to get the fire started. It will be cold tonight, and that'll be nice."

I looked back at her. She had our boots by the front of the tent under the cover and had rolled out her yoga mat, which she was sitting on in Cobblers pose with our small folding stoves set up and ready. She had our cook kits separated and opened and had the freeze-dried meals stacked neatly.

"Okay, Sof," I said, coming over and filling two pots with water and lighting the Sterno cans in the stoves.

"Stop me when the water boils. I'm going to go get some smaller sticks and stuff to get this thing going."

I went back to trying to light the fire and lost complete track of time. I wasn't even out of sight of the tent. I returned with a bundle of small sticks and jammed them under the wood I had stacked in the pit. Sofi had pulled her hair up and clipped it on top of her head. She was diligently watching the camp stoves.

The next thing I remember was her hand on my shoulder.

"Honey, if anyone ever accuses you of arson, I will stand up in court for you and tell them, 'Bull Shit.' Dinner's almost ready unless there was something else you wanted to fix."

I was dumbfounded. I looked past her slender frame to the stoves. I could make out in the darkness where the food was steaming. I smelled it for the first time and realized how hungry I was.

I looked up at her in dismay.

"I read the instructions. It was easy, smells good."

She held her hand out for me to join her, so I did. Then I was struck with a quick idea. I took the remaining Sterno from one of the stoves, quickly tossed it into the dark fire pit, and returned to eat.

Sofi had hung the three solar lights we packed onto the front of the tent. They gave off a nice glow that was easy to see. As we ate, laughed, and talked just like we always did, the fire slowly lit itself from the Sterno dump's ditch effort.

By the time we finished, the fire was going well. I cleaned the dishes and stacked them in the storage flap of the tent. Sofi had spread everything out inside, even blew up the two small pillows we brought. She had opened both sleeping bags and spread them out on top of the thermal bag liners. I pulled one of the bags out, cleared a space between the fire and the tent, and spread it out. She and I lay there looking at the millions of stars, stars you never see in the city. 

The fall breeze whipped the flames but also spread the warmth over us. We were both exhausted. I was so proud of her. As she lay there by my side talking, I just wanted to stop her, hold her face, and tell her how in love with her I was and how I could no longer imagine life without her. But I just turned my head a little and watched the silhouette of her face in the firelight as she spoke. Soon I drifted off; soon, we both did.

Staying up late is hard to do in the woods because the instant you are away from the man-made world, your body reverts to the primeval clock setting. The human is best suited for daylight hours in the natural world, and our internal clock knows this. You fall asleep soon after dark in the woods, and you rise with the sunshine and the birds.