Under Green Skies

Part 1

      Rye, rye everywhere as far as my eyes can see. Crickets jumping and chirping all around me, and I’m there, sitting, just staring at the stars with nothing on my mind but how I’m gonna get home and how bad my asswopping’s gonna be for being late. But at that moment I just didn’t care because for the first time I actually felt like I am a part of something, something bigger than myself. These are not my words they are my pap’s. He used to tell me this story when I was just a boy. In fact he used to tell me all kinds of stories of trips and hikes, how he mostly about got lost in the words and had to camp and survive on his own. Although I knew that he stretched some facts and pulled others out of thin air. I still sat there listening with my eyes wide. I truly admired him for his sense of adventure. I wish I could have had his childhood. I really do! I wish I had seen the Milky Way before I was twelve, I wish I had lived in the country. My life is just different, I’m a city guy born and raised. Even though I live close to my grandma’s, I still feel like I only have a feeble grasp on her way of life and my dad’s childhood!

      One day the buzzer woke me up. Opening my eyes I looked around. With stiff stubbornness I tried to lift my body up. My attempt was deader in the water than a raccoon on a railroad. I didn’t have school so I just laid there wondering, what in seven hells should I do all day. I looked at the table next to me and surprise, surprise – I had finished the book I was reading. Great, no school, no work, no books .All that was left for me was, stare unblinkingly at the laptop for the rest of the day, just like every other day…I was fed up with that. All of a sudden it came to me. Why don’t I go on a hike with the bike! I thought lightly. All of the stories my Pa’ told me, flashed across my mind’s eye, and I had a sudden urge to do as he did…But I still had the problem of rolling out of bed!

      Being the city guy I am, you know, one of those who lacked hiking gear. I called one of my mates, goes by the name of Ben. Good thing he had an old beaten backpack I could use. He gave it to me but not without asking why I needed it. In the instance I told him he cracked up - my gosh - I’d never seen anybody laugh like that before. When finally he settled down he asked me whetherI was crazy. Looking back on it now, yes I was, but in that moment I was well assure that all is gonna go swell. I smiled and nodded. Told him that I’ll see him later, jokingly he replied: If you survive! I understood him I really had picked the most dangerous route, but that was the path my pap’ had taken. What can you do! Adventure runs in the family!

      I head to the mountain, well it wasn’t actually a mountain more like a plateau.In less then an hour the scenery change. From a sprawling suburban area to a vast expanse of trees, trees and you guessed it, more trees! And I loved every second of it. The fresh air the tweeting birds, the burbling of the wellsprings surrounding me. I felt at peace, It was just me and the world.