Woodland

Away from any sign of civilization, they walk among trees stepping lightly on blankets of decay. The perfume of plant rot floats in the pink mist of morning. There’s no trail, only broken limbs, fledgling bushes and the cast-off leaves of seasons layered one upon another. Dani is quiet. Everything is quiet and softened with dew. Eddie tries not to think about the many places on his body that sting and itch. His mind buzzes with thoughts of mosquitoes, ticks, and chiggers. The air around him is alive with sword-wielding deer flies ready to slice his skin open for a quick meal.

Dani: Horse flies.

Eddie: What?

Dani: Not deer flies, this is a horse fly.

Eddie: They bite.

Dani: It’s only one. You’re just going to have to kill it.

Eddie: How?

Dani: Swat it down and step on it.

Eddie: It’s too fast. I wish there was a lake I could jump in.

Dani: And get a brain-eating amoeba? No thanks.

Now Eddie swats wildly trying to knock the fly out of the air. He looks possessed, but in a humorous way. Dani is quiet again. She doesn’t laugh at him as you might expect. If you were to look at her closely, you might see a vulnerable crease faintly in the folds of her forehead between two softening eyes. Amidst swats, Eddie catches a glimpse and says:

Eddie: Hey…

Dani: The only one that bothers me is the kissing bug.

Eddie: You mean love bug.

Dani: No. Kissing bug, it waits until you’re asleep so it can crawl on your face and drink your blood undisturbed. Like a little insect vampire.

Eddie: That’s not real.

Dani: It is. It’s also called a conenose.

Eddie: Thanks, now I have another bug to worry about.

Dani: All that time when you were sitting in your chair looking at those pictures, watching those videos of people doing things, going places, all that time when you were pretend traveling with Rick Steves or doing the loop on your own trawler or riding the globe on your bike alongside Ewan and Charley; what were you thinking? Thinking that an adventure comes as easy as a comfy chair in a climate-controlled room? Safe as a walk across the playground? An adventure online or in mind or done by another is not real. There’s no adventure without adversity. And you can’t edit out the boring and the bad. You take it all. The wind, the cold, the unbearable heat, the bugs, the dangerous people, and most definitely, the unknown.

Eddie: I think I can express a little concern about bugs and still enjoy the adventure. Both things can be true.

Dani: What the fuck.

Eddie: What?

Dani: You’re actually stupid, aren’t you.

Eddie: No.

Dani: People who never listen to anything that might make them think beyond what they already comfortably know, are stupid people. That’s you, you’re one of them.

Eddie: I was talking about bugs.

Dani: Next time we reach civilization; you need to leave.

After a long and uncomfortable pause, Eddie recovers from the injury inflicted by her words.

Eddie: What’s in the bag?

Dani doesn’t answer. They continue walking through the forest with no civilization in sight.