We did a project based on a theme of Trails, whether in the woods or otherwise. These are some of them.
A Trail in the Woods
By Bob Nothnagel
The powder blue Lexus ES 350 slowed to a crawl on Guelph Line just north of the 401.
“OMG, there it is.” O squealed. “Number 9475, just like the app says.” She sat in the passenger seat, smartphone in one hand, a Starbucks Grande, vanilla latte with soy in the other. Her dirty blonde hair was tied up in a loose bun. She wore a light gray Saint Laurent hoodie with matching sweatband. Givenchy Stretch Knit Leggings covered her lower limbs.
Zack glanced at her, smiling. “Let’s do this.” He turned the car into the skinny lane leading to the path they were walking today. According to the app, there was a small parking lot at the trailhead. “Hashtag adventure!” he exclaimed.
“Stop!” O yelled. “Look, isn’t that gravel or something? I heard about that stuff on Facebook.” She looked at Zack. “Does our warranty cover driving on that? Let me check.” She placed her latte down and began searching her phone.
“We’ll be fine. Remember, we vowed to be adventurous.” He eased the car forward, cringing at the occasional ping of a flying pebble. Trees bracketed the single lane with bushes encroaching. A branch lightly grazed the car. O screamed. After fifty feet the lane opened up into a small parking lot. Zack let out his breath. “See, no problem.” He looked at her and nodded, running his hand through his Bumble and Bumble gelled hair.
“Wait.” She pointed. “There’s a Yaris parked here. Hashtag embarrassing. What do we do?”
“It’ll be okay. I’ll park as far away as I can so no one thinks we’re together.” He steered the car into the farthest parking spot from the Yaris, frequently glancing back at the car. Zack grabbed his latte as they both got out of the car. He wore an RW&Co slim fit knit blazer over a Jack’s Mannequin t-shirt. Duer No Sweat jogger pants covered his legs and Vessi Waterproofs were on his feet.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” O said as they walked to the trailhead sign. “An actual trail in the woods. Hashtag Zach and O, hashtag wild. Selfie time. Move in.” They shuffled into the frame, her arm fully extended, cell phone at the ready. After seven clicks they turned to start down the trail. O stopped in her tracks. “What. Is. That?”
Zack bent over, eyeing the ground. “I’m pretty sure it’s dirt.” He stood up, looking at O. “The trail is made of dirt. They want us to walk on this?” He brought his hands up to his face, covered his eyes, slowly drawing them down to his chin. “That’s it. I’m texting that app.” His thumbs flew about his phone. “They can’t do this to us. Where is the contact number? Oh, I’m sooo tweeting about this.”
“Me too. Wait! What about my Louis Vuittons? I’ll get them dirty. Hashtag downer.”
“There.” He stared at his phone. “Oh good, I’ve got 67 likes. I feel, like, a little better now. Do you think we could try this?”
“Look here. I’ve got 103 likes on Twitter and 17 already on Facebook. Te-Te says, ‘You go Girl.’ Zack, let’s do this. Hashtag BeBrave.”
The two started down the path, lattes in one hand, smartphones in the other. The path varied in width. Tall spruce trees, branches missing for some ten metres up, mingled with maple and an occasional birch. Smaller bushes filled in the brush underneath, guiding them down the hard-packed trail.
“Look, Zack. I’m videoing this so we can watch it through the phones. Uploading it to VidMov. All our friends will be envious…”
Zack screamed, jumping about, clawing at his face. “O. M. G. Look, O! I have cobwebs on my face.”
“Cobwebs?” She started thumbing her phone. “What are cobwebs?”
“Cobwebs! They’re from ticks. You can get Lyme disease from touching the cobwebs. It’s a horrible disease. I could get really sick and not be able to party. I might even lose my job.” He stood there shaking, his hands out in front of him. “I need a safe place — right, now!”
O looked around. “They don’t provide any. Oh wait, I have that app.” She thumbed her phone and soon soft whale music and trickling water flowed out its speaker. “There, how’s that? Oh no, Zack!” She grabbed his arms. “No. If you get sick and can’t work, we may lose the Lexus. We won’t be able to make the payments.”
“What? Hey, what about me?” He cocked his head, eyeing her. Then his mouth fell open. “Oooh, no, not the Lexus.”
“Don’t worry, I’m looking up cures right now. We have that first aid kit from Mountain Equipment Co-op, right.” O thumbed through her phone. Her face scrunched up as she read for several minutes. “Wait. You can’t get Lyme disease from cobwebs. And ticks don’t even make cobwebs. They hang in grasses. Here, I’ll Pushbullet you this Wiki article.”
Zack read for several minutes. A sheepish grin came over his face. “I guess I panicked over nothing. This is so like that movie, Arctic, survival and all that. Shall we continue?”
“Yeah, totally.” They began walking again. O laughed. “I wonder what some of the young kids nowadays would have done. They’re so sheltered.”
The path opened up a little as they continued their walk. They came to an open field with power lines stretching as far as they could see. It was humid but not uncomfortably so. A squirrel bounded by, ignoring them. At the other end of the clearing, pine trees dominated the forest, a thick bed of needles carpeting the open areas. It darkened as they entered, the forest canopy blocking out the sun.
“Whoa, look at this. It’s like a whole different path.”
To read the rest of the story get our book at Amazon: The Stories We Tell.