Jay Walking (Pastime Pursuits)

by Tracy Krimmer

  I kept moving up the hill, despite the burning in my chest. As long as my legs kept moving, I'd be okay. If I took even a moment to catch my breath, I was unsure if I could start back up again. Stiffness filled my thighs, and the slope deepened. Shit, I had my work cut out for me. I turned around to determine how far I'd gone. A mere twenty feet, probably. The view, however, already captured me, a natural garden of wildflowers stretched out from the foot of the hill, deep purples and bright yellows popping out from the greenery. God, I loved nature. Well, not all of nature. The bugs I could do without. Those damn mosquitoes still managed to bite me through the yoga pants.

  I took a deep breath, sucking in the balmy fragrance surrounding me, the air tickling my nose. Once I reached the top, a spectacular view of the lake surrounded me, a body of water outlined by full trees and gorgeous lake side homes - homes I never would be able to afford. Living on a lake was a dream, but my tiny duplex on the other side of town gave me much more appreciation for what awaited me atop the hill.

  Even being tied back, my hair still fell to the middle of my back, now stuffed between my shirt and backpack, so I yanked the ponytail to the side before continuing my journey. I needed water, but refused to stop now. I pushed myself further and further, my quads cursing me every time my shoe hit the ground. After this, I didn't think I'd be able to sit, or even stand for that matter.

  After almost fifteen minutes, I arrived at the top. That may not seem long, but for me, it's long. I love hiking, biking, running, all that stuff, but I'm not the best at it. Let's just say, I would never win a triathlon, or place in the top one hundred. Hell, even top one thousand. When I reached the peak of the hill, a stretch of flat land greeted me. I held in the urge to run to the middle and twirl around like I was in The Sound of Music. I probably would have, if there not been two other people in plain sight.

  They situated themselves near the edge, overlooking the lake, next to a tree. A gentleman and a woman stared at something on the ground, backpacks beside them, the man holding some sort of an electronic contraption. The man, bald and dressed in a polo shirt and jeans, pointed to the screen while the redhead peered over him. She wrote something down on a tiny piece of paper, placed it in a tiny baggie, and reached down and scooped a box off the ground. She held the camouflage box up, while the man grabbed a camera out of his bag and snapped a picture. I turned away as I made eye contact with the woman. Spectacular. She caught me staring.

  I forced my legs to take me to the opposite side of the hill the couple stood on to admire the view, careful not to go all the way to the edge. I pictured the headline already: Sort of attractive woman falls from cliff after legs give out upon paralyzing fear of heights. Still, I did it. I hiked up this huge hill and stood how many feet above the water. I removed my backpack from my shoulders and set it down, taking out my iPad. The picture wouldn't be perfect since I refused to go all the way to the edge, but with the zoom, I figured I could get a half-way decent panoramic. I held the iPad in mid-air, certain I looked like a weirdo. I'd seen others use their iPads to take photos and they looked stupid. I couldn't find my digital this morning, though, and didn't think my phone could do it justice. I clicked to the panoramic option, and began to scan the area, only having to stop when a hair flew into my eye. I tried again, but couldn't keep my hand steady. Ugh! Screw it. Instead, I snapped five square photos. Someone could piece it together for me later.

  Despite the lack of energy from climbing the hill, I never lacked motivation to eat. I nibbled a granola bar on the way to hiking, but I needed food. I wished there was some sort of an escalator to take me back down, but I had to suck it up and do my best not to tumble to the ground as I went downslope. When I went to shove the iPad back into my backpack, I noticed the couple walking toward me. Chit chat didn't fit my mood, unless they were able to present me with a five-course meal complete with a glass of wine, which I doubted. I swung the straps back on my shoulders, but as I turned to start down the hill, the woman picked up her pace, and shouted, "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

  Why did people always start conversations with the weather? I'm outside. I know it's nice out. Or "looks like it's going to rain." I've seen rain clouds before, thank you. But, I didn't know these people, and being the only ones up there, I didn't think testing my sarcasm out on them was the best idea. You never knew how people would react these days.

  "Yes, it is." I agreed with her, offering the only obvious answer. "Great day for a hike." The man still held the electronic device in his hand. "What were you two doing, if you don't mind me asking?"

  The man appeared younger now that he stood closer to me. If I guessed, probably early forties. He wasn't bald as much as he shaved his head. His stocky build from a distance now came off as strong and muscular. The woman seemed to be close to his age, as well, and quite attractive. Her red lipstick matched her hair. I couldn't get a good peek at her because she wore an over-sized hoodie, but she definitely was tiny. "Geocaching," he answered as if I knew what that meant.

  My face must've given away my ignorance to the subject as the woman jumped in. "It's kind of like a treasure hunt," she explained, and immediately I thought maybe they were pirates. "We use our GPS device to find containers hidden in parks, cemeteries, playgrounds, wherever people put them, really." I at least knew what a GPS was, but I always used my phone.

  "I'm Colin." He extended his hand out to me. "This is my wife, Debra. We've been doing this since it started over fourteen years ago."

  I was a pimply faced teenager then. No wonder I had no idea what it was. "So you search for things, and then what? Do you get a prize or anything?" Unless a prize was involved, I didn't see the point.

  "No prizes. It's just fun. It's exhilarating. We've spent days searching for one cache, and sometimes we never find them."

  "Cache?" Did she mean catch? Or cash? If it's cash, count me in. I didn't want to sound like an idiot, but I thought we equally sounded like idiots at this point.

  Redhead, rather Debra, laughed. "Sorry, I forget we're talking to a muggle." Now I was in a Harry Potter book? "A cache is the treasure we find. They range in size, and sometimes contain fun little items. After we find it, we take a picture with it, like you saw us do before, write down our team name and date in the log, put it back and mark on the geocache website we found it. We can spend hours doing this. It's quite addicting, actually."

  "Sounds ... interesting." I put my hands on my hips, ready to start my trek back if I'd ever be freed of this torturous conversation. I suppose I did start it.

  Debra's eyes lit up and her smile widened. "Oh, it is. We explore so many places we never would have before. We don't meet a lot of people when we're out, but when we do, we share some fun stories."

  Colin put his arm around Debra. "Like the time I was almost sprayed by a skunk, or when you fell into poison ivy."

  I didn't think poison ivy sounded like fun, but whatever gets them going, I guess. Right now I only cared about getting down the hill, getting home, and filling my belly. "Well, thanks for the information. I need to get going." Please don't offer to walk down with me.

  Colin squeezed Debra closer into his body. "Any time. We're going to hang up here for a bit before heading to our next cache. Great meeting you." He held his finger up. "Oh, here." He reached into his bag and took out a sheet of paper. He peeled off a label and handed it to me. "Here's our team name. Look us up if you join."

  Because that was happening. I took the sticker from him, not sure where to even put it. Oh God, their name read BigRed4Eva. Lamest. Team name. Ever. Anxious to get rid of them, I thanked Colin for the contact information and lied about how glad I was to meet them before departing the area.

  I stuck the sticker on my shirt like a name tag. My legs wanted to propel me down the hill, clearly exhausted from the trek up, and pissed off at me for the extended rest time. I found myself increasing my pace the further down I went, the mud slick beneath my feet. The squishiness caught up with me near the end of the hill as my le
gs gave out and my ass hit the ground, splattering mud on my arms, seeping through my yoga pants, and coating the end of my hair. Great. Gathering any strength left in my legs, I forced myself to an upright position, somehow able to avoid sticking my hand on the ground to hoist me up. My nature hike truly put me one with the Earth, and right now, food had to forgo everything to wash Mother Nature off me.

  To read more, visit Tracy Krimmer's website for purchase info.

  http://www.tracykrimmer.com/books/.