Moving Mountains (Patrick Kane)

The Sun and Moon .7

Valerie

Silence. Most people think it is scary, uncomfortable. Bad. But in the silence is the one time in my life that I can see and hear clearly. No distractions, no obstacles. It's emptiness waiting to be filled and no direction to go besides wherever you decide to go.

I spend most of my days in silence. Comforted by it. It allows the truth to flow, I can create thoughts that are unaffected or influenced. It's just me.

And as I let my mind wander, it goes to the same place it's gone to the past few times. And that was Patrick. The only person in my life that makes me smile, that makes me laugh. He was someone I originally though was just like everyone else. A robot walking through life thinking that they have control when they don't. But it turns out he isn't like that at all. He saw opportunity and took it. That is more than most can say.

I sip my coffee as I watch the sun rise over the city. Being just outside the tall buildings and away from the big names has some of the prettiest sunrises over the skyline. Sometimes I felt like I lived in a whole different world than Patrick and the people he calls friends. Living in high rises, looking down all the time. It's easy to draw the line between everyone from way up there.

But at the end of the day our similarities are more than our differences. The sun rises and falls on us all. And despite living two completely different lives, Patrick and I have found enough reasons to find each other time and time again. Like push and pull, salt and sea, where there is one it is usually tied in with the other.

"That was a beautiful sunrise" he says as I look to my laptop. We were both up and he insisted he watched the sunrise with me over Skype. The one condition was he shut that trap of his that never seemed to keep closed.

"It was. Thanks for watching with me" I nod.

"Of course. What's your plans for the day" he wonders.

"It's my first day off in a week. I wasn't planning on doing much of anything" I admit.

"Why don't we get out of town for a little? Find a open road and I can teach you the basics to driving" he tries.

"It is a beautiful day to die" I joke as he laughs.

"Hey look at that. You are funny" he teases. "But I'm being serious. I think we can get your license before the summer ends" he says.

"I think you're over estimating me" I defend.

"I think you're underestimating yourself. It's just a few feet, not parallel parking. Not yet at least" he jokes.

"Patrick" I whine.

"How about... I'll take you out for a nice big burger when we're done" he bribes.

"That's not fair" I pout.

"And... ice cream" he smirks.

Damn him.

He picks me up and we head to a small town about 30 minutes outside of the city. I honestly haven't been out this far in years. I take the bus or train but I stay inside the city. Life outside of Chicago was kind of a blur, I knew there was more but I didn't want to hear about it. I wanted to see for myself.

And I think Patrick was going to show me.

"Okay so you want to tap the breaks. It doesn't take much to come to a stop. It's like... stopping on ice" he tries to explain.

"Sweet.

What's that like" I ask him as he starts to laugh.

"Right. Well it doesn't really feel like skating anymore. It feels like I'm walking out there, running with long, powerful strides. My skates are a extension of me. Moving out there is like first nature. It's become a part of me that I don't even have to think about anymore. It's more natural than the waters that fall from Niagara" he says with a big smile.