A Walk Down The Block

Friday, April 13th, 2018

The clouds were high in the sky, like they are wont to be, and it seemed like they droplets might issue forth at any time; indeed, a few of the more intrepid fellows ventured out from time to time, but to no avail, their brethren would not be persuaded to join them. Apparently morale was low. Jex and I ambled along down the street in a part of town away from our usual haunts, and by chance we ended up down a street with a cul-de-sac at the end. It'd've been slightly boring, not to mention lame, to turn around and go back the way we 'd come, so Jex and I decided to walk across this grassy patch and into the parking lot on the other side. We soon realized, however, that our way was barred by a rivulet turned stream by the recent rains. It was sufficiently wide that I doubted whether I could make it across or not, especially since there was precious little good footing on either side, being mostly mud and washed-over grass. I looked about me. On the other side of the stream sat a concrete block wall a little taller than myself that stretched for a good while down the way, but, and this is the good part, I spotted a crossing just a dozen or so meters from me. I harkened to the spot. It was an old, dilapidated, decrepit, slightly decomposed, short little tree that hung its last weight-bearing limb halfway across the stream in a last-ditch effort to be of some use to somebody, and maybe perhaps bring a little more joy into the world. Despite this tree being far from its platonic form, it succeeded in doing just that; I smiled.

Turning, I looked at Jex, then back at the limb. Finally, I spoke into the cellular phone which I'd been talking on this whole time, "Oh, dad, I'm gonna have to put you on hold, I've gotta jump a creek real quick." I didn't hang up but put my phone back in its accustomed spot on my belt. Stepping up on the limb was the matter of a moment, and Jex, just as delighted to be doing something fun as I was, hopped up too. She wagged her tail and smiled, but didn't quite understand what we were up to. And she was more or less standing in the middle of the limb that I needed top get across. Ergo, I called to her to move, and she did, and I took point position while she watched our six. I centimetered my way out along the limb. It was a little wider than it would normally be, thanks to all the grasses and twigs that had gotten caught there before the water level had subsided, but the extra material didn't make the limb any sturdier. It shook and bounced a bit as I reached the furthest point of it, or at least, as far as I could go with at least a certain degree of surety that it could hold me. I looked to the other side of the stream to consider which clump of soggy grass would be my landing point, and finally decided on the one I thought was a little bigger than the others.

Looking back at Jex, I saw her look at me as if to ask, "Are we really going to do this?" I replied by turning around and jumping to the clump. Water immediately started to seep into my shoes as I depressed the mud with my weight, so I jumped up, grabbed the top of the concrete wall, and clambered up out of the mire. I then turned around to look at Jex. She had advanced to the same part of the limb I had been on moments before, and was scanning the other bank just as I had. Then she looked up at me to see if I really wanted her to come to the other side with me. I called her to come. Without further thought, she made the jump, gracefully landing upon a good clump of grass. She then looked up at me and had a slight worried look in her eyes as she wondered how in the world she was supposed to climb the wall. I started walking along the edge of the wall toward the point at which the wall terminated and you could simply go up an incline and reach the top. For a few seconds Jex was worried that she couldn't reach me and scampered along to try and at least stay close, but then she realized what we were doing and ran ahead to make the loop and rejoin me. I then put her leash back on and we carried on our merry way. By the time it was all said and done, it was about a three kilometer walk, and the sun had been below the horizon for a good chunk of time by the time we got back. It was a good walk.