Never Again

Never Again

    We set off across longleaf pine barrens into a realm of sandstone and sky. I toted a knapsack with provender from fields of grain and submerged lakes. Our footsteps took us on the backbone of the forest. There a rib rose sprouting green on the lost horizon.
    We followed a contour map on our shoe taps across the rocky ridge. Winter embraced the land. The winds would blow cold this night. We had listened to the whispering wind which beckoned out hearts to this wilderness.
    We paced the path deeper into heart of the forest. Martha’s feet needed rest. My stomach cried for food mercy. We sat like hibernating bears. We were perched atop a sandstone bluff with miles of green hills to cross before night.
    We descended like tired doves into the stream valley. My hunger opened like a beggar’s hand. Our rations were meager. We leaped across a creek like deer looking for forage. Even at trail’s end we would have to walk a steep road to the car. Shadows began to lie across the land. We came to a fork. I wasn’t sure which was the path to perdition and which to heaven. We hawk circled around a sandstone mesa. Martha wept. I knew our lives dangled in my navigation. The night would be unfriendly to our warm bodies. We hadn’t learned the art of making fire as our ancestors had.
    My body trembled like a leaf in an arctic breeze. Survival calmed my tempest tossed heart. In the dimming light my compass took us to the road. We were three more miles to close the gap to the car. Martha’s legs were tired as a sparrow’s wings after crossing a big ocean. I told her wait at a cave just off the road. My bird was scared but she had flown as far as her feathers would take her. I sprinted like a runner in a race with the time clock running out.
    I grew faint from an empty breadbasket. The sun was below the horizon now. I ran three miles, taking brief breaks. Finally At last I was near the finish line. I turned the key which opened the door to my beloved’s future. My heart beat like a mad bass drum as we agreed never to tempt fate again. Unlike our nomad ancestors, we could not even create a flame to stave off the numbing night chill.