Chasing Fire

Denali Highway - 22

"Everyone thinks they know what is best for me.  They all want me to go home."  Noralee was swatting away mosquitos from her face, arms and legs.  It was difficult to make a point or hold a concurrent thought pattern with the maniacal, invisible bloodsuckers swarming around her.  She couldn't believe they had mosquitos in Alaska, believing the climate would be too cold for them. She was wrong and they were making a meal out of her, just as they did back home in Alabama.  Obviously, she was a delicacy to them because the mosquitos didn't seem to bother Bear at all.  "Why are you not getting eaten alive?"  She was over swatting, smacking and slapping the hungry invaders. 

Bear ran over a hill and  into the field.  He was gone for a few minutes leaving her alone on the side of the Highway.  The view was spectacular in the early morning with the ice capped mountains in the distance and a rosy faced sky giving way to the bright blue of the approaching day.  There was something almost holy about the experience of standing in this place and places in Alaska like it.  Pure and wild.  Majestic and unparalleled in beauty to anywhere she had ever been.  Places like these made her feel very tiny in the wide scope of the world.  She was a speck of dust compared to the Titan sized mountains in the distance.  No wonder native people thought mountains were gods.  Bear returned with some leaves and rubbed them all over her and magically the mosquitos feasting on her ended. 

"What is that?"  She was amazed it made the mosquitos go away. 

"I don't know what it is called, only know what it looks like.  Mosquitos are very vigilant and oppressive.  They have been known to suffocate animals like caribou and moose in large swarms."  Noralee's eyes became big and she couldn't believe something so small could be deadly. 

Bear was checking the motorcycle.  The police and park rangers left an hour ago, after their stories and identities checked out.  She was advised to go home but they couldn't make her and she hadn't broken any laws.  There was nothing they could do to stop her from "ruining her life", as her Mother said to the officer. 

"What do you want to do?  Everything makes sense when we are alone but when we meet up with the outside world our situation seems scary.  It is up to you Noralee.  Do you want to go back?  I will be beside myself if you do, but I completely understand why you would." 

Noralee stared at him and looked around at the natural beauty.  It would be smarter for her if she left, but she couldn't imagine leaving now.  Her cellphone began buzzing and chiming like crazy with a weeks worth of notifications.  One of the State Troopers was nice enough to let her charge her phone in his car.  The sound, rabid and persistent, just didn't belong in this place of serentity and nature.  She realized society had lost something precious, a connection to nature that could heal and restore the human spirit.  She had never felt so alive in her life.  She couldn't explain it.  The reasons were based on her feelings more than anything and it seemed impossible to describe the feeling, but it was something she knew was honest and true. 

"I love this place.  I love you."  She was standing there dirty, hungry and tired, but she didn't want to be anywhere else.  She had been staying put and playing nice her whole life and she was tired of it.

Bear got on the motorcycle and started it up as it purred evenly, although a little too loud for her ears, and held out his arm, "Well, get on then.  We have to keep moving." 

The drive South was unbelievable and it was exhilarating on a motorcycle.  She clung to him for dear life at first, but later relaxed and only rested her hands around his middle.  It was something she would never forget.  She didn't know where she was or where she was going and she couldn't care less.  The freedom to be with him was enough.

They stopped at a gas station and got a couple of snacks.  Everything was so expensive the closer they got to the city.  She wasn't sure how long their funds would hold out.  Bear was quiet and pensive.  Noralee thought he was still sad about Duncan and she understood, but she wondered if he was having seconds thoughts about them getting married.  It seemed like he acted completely different once they were around other people.  The small, cozy bubble that they had been in was bursting.  She was feeling strange too.  There were more and more people around and she started to feel closed in, even in a small convenience store with thirty people in it.  It didn't take long to get used to being alone and isolated.  The feeling of being around so many people again was like being crushed in your thoughts and physical state.  Their conversations, glances and presence felt like it was pushing in on them.  She didn't like being around a lot of people anymore.  She wanted to ride back to woods and never leave.  The only way she could describe the feeling was an anxiety like a child feels around strangers when their parents leave.  She wanted to be close to Mother Nature and Father Denali again. 

She pulled Bear close in the store, "I don't like being around all these people again." 

"You too?"  He was smiling once more.  She was missing his smile.   "It is going to get worse by the time we get to a real city and then we are stuck on a ferry with a lot of strangers for days.  I will be losing my mind in three days.  Hopefully, we can get out there as quickly as possible and still get what we need to get done." 

"I have been around people my whole life.  I can't believe I changed so quickly."  She was shaking her head and trying to imagine the scent of fresh rain mixed with the trees and flowers.  This place smelled like gasoline and cleaning products.  It was harsh and pungent." 

They paid for their snacks and ate them in the parking lot watching the people come and go.  Many people stared at them and after a while Noralee got used to it. They left the small store and the miles of road opened up to them like a wanton spool of ribbon rolling on and on, seeming to never end.