And so the weather turns again. we have sun and while it is still too warm for this time of year, the temps have dropped by over ten degrees. Do you ever suspect that this is the year where your small little bookshelf sized greenhouse will be where most of the items your “garden” grows will end up living instead of being planted out in the actual garden? Just me? oh well. I can still look at the seed catalogs and dream of consistent weather. for now it is on to the writing prompt. Are you ready? Fabulous, let’s go.
I’m not entirely sure where I am going with this. I usually catch a glimmer of where a story is heading by the time i reach the end of the timed writing but with this there are a couple of options but none of them really grabbed me. O did get an idea for a section of writing that i have been stuck on for a while though, so that is something. it has absolutely nothing to do with this, just something that shook loose as I was working.
Friday, January 6th: The path was steep.
The path was steep. He gipped his hiking sticks with determination, pleased that he remembered to bring them. This was the one hiking trail in the park that he had not yet mastered and he was more than ready to tackle it.
He strode forward, pleased that the sun was shining and the weather fine. He was even more pleased to find that there were few people on this particular path. Most of them climbed the short trail and veered off into the waterfall. There they oohed and ahead as the water fell, catching the light and casting rainbows all around. He had to agree it was a delightful sight. But the trail continued upward. It didn’t have the same photographic delights of the waterfall, but he was told that the top of the trail boasted a view that could not be beaten.
He was determined to see it for himself. ‘After all several of the other trails had spectacular views. It would be nice to see the one that beats them all.’
He continued past those taking pictures or having their pictures taken with the falls as backdrop. He felt a twinge of regret that Lucy was not here with him. She would have loved to stop by the waterfall and have pictures of the rainbow filled air and the cascading water.
‘I’ll take a picture on my way back,’ he thought. He hoped that by then there would be fewer people and he would be able to take a quick picture before heading out. He reached the trail head and stepped onto it leaving the clearing behind. The trail soon turned and he lost sight of them. He could hear them though as they chatted to themselves and others.
“No, this one shows my double chin.”
“You clipped my head out of this one.”
“You don’t show the falls at all, Harold, just the rocks.”
“Perfect, go ahead and post it so they’ll know we are having a good time.”
He shook his head and dug the tips of his poles in a little deeper as the trail grew slightly more steep. The sounds of the voices faded but he could still hear the sound of the falls. It was a constant white noise to his left. At least until he rose above it, the trail leading higher into the mountain and away from the water fall.
The noise fell away dramatically when the falls were behind him. At first he thought it was just the lack of water fall, but then he realized it was the lack of everything. There were no real sounds except his own breathing. He could hear his heartbeat loudly. The section of trail he was on was on rocky ground now and he was surrounded by large boulders of massive stones. Even the trail beneath his boots and walking sticks was hard rock.
It was the kind of quiet he rarely heard before and somehow it didn’t seem like the restful quiet of nature. He continued and was relieved when trees began sprouting from the rocky ground. As the wind picked up he relaxed. The whisper of the trees louder than his heartbeat and comforting as it dispelled the strange silence.
Ten til Midnight 