The last pair of socks fell into Richard’s suitcase as his door bell rang. Richard answered it expectantly. There stood David in full on outdoor khakis, looking ready to take on just about anything.
“Are you ready? My brother!” David exclaimed.
“Just a minute, I need to check on some things,” stated Richard.
“Well, at least let me throw your suitcase in my truck,” said David.
Richard obliged and went off to close all the windows and make sure all the doors were locked. As a force of habit Richard checked to make sure his debit card was actually in his wallet, and within the span of ten minutes announced to David that he was ready to go.
Richard still could not believe he was actually going on an outdoor adventure with his slightly older brother. Richard had not seen David in several years, due to his brother’s busy career as a lawyer in a firm out on the west coast. David had not even made himself available for family gatherings on holidays. Be that as it may, David’s eagerness to get reacquainted was a step in a positive direction.
Richard hauled his frame up into David’s truck and they were off. They found a classic rock station on the satellite radio and lumbered the vehicle slowly through the city. After passing through the rotary they were on their way down two lane streets. Richard read a sign as they got onto a particularly long one filled with turns and elevation changes.
“Prospect Road, Route #333. What do you suppose they were prospecting, David?”
Trees, rocks, and the occasional small business encompassed them on both sides as they made their way slowly through the twists and turns. The duo also had to battle commuting traffic. The tired work a day people just wanted to get home to their families and yet they were restricted to going 80 kilometers per hour at best.
“Legend has it back when this was strictly a farm and fish community, the route the road follows was the same that the cows would take to find pasture to graze. Then when civilization showed up to form the many communities along this road, those in charge of the paving merely followed the same path as the cows,” replied David.
“Seriously?” Richard gasped, “there must have been thousands upon thousands of cows traveling through here!”
“Well, the construction company would have widened the road out when they were paving.” David quipped.
Richard smacked his forehead. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Richard was book smart, but the great outdoors was David’s domain.
They slowly wound their way through various communities that littered the side of the road After rounding one particular corner they found a local convenience store. David pulled into the lot. “I thought I might get us some chips,” he said.
David left Richard alone in the truck, cracking a window open so he would not die in the heat. Richard glanced across the street and saw what he thought was a hideous, wretched old building, badly in need of repair. It reminded him of a prison. Fortunately for Richard, his curiosity would soon be abated as he saw David returning with a large bag of Salt and Vinegar chips. The flavour of their childhood.
David reentered the truck. “I thought this flavour would be fitting considering where we are heading,” David chirped.
“I agree,” said Richard. “By the way, what is that awful looking building across the street? Is that a prison?”
“No.” David laughed. “It’s a Junior High School.”
“Must be a tough bunch of kids,” replied Richard.
“You’d have to be, to go to school there!” David exclaimed.
David eased the truck into traffic once he got a break long enough and the two continued their journey into the wilderness through more trees and rocks and small communities where people happily lived their suburban lives.
“David?” Richard asked, “Why are you here? Why now? I mean, I’m glad to spend this time with you, but I must admit that this is all extremely out of the blue!” Richard exclaimed. “How is your family? My nephews and nieces, are things alright?”
David twitched nervously. Richard could see that he had accidentally struck a nerve.
“Richard, things are not so well back home. My wife Helena recently got in trouble with the law for reasons that are too painful for me to admit to you right now if that’s alright,” said David.
Richard nodded. Expecting David to continue, he waited patiently
“My wife naturally chose me to defend her in court. I am a lawyer, and at that time I had a long string of successfully won cases. However, I could not win the case of my own wife. She must do a considerable amount of time for the crime she committed. She has since cut off all communication from me. Secondly, our parents have bequeathed me a cabin in Blind Bay which needs some minor repairs. We’ll go there after we spend some time in Peggy’s Cove. Helena’s parents agreed to look after the kids for the weekend while I came out here to see what I could do to fix the place. I thought you might like to tag along. I figured it would be nice for us to reconnect,” said David.
Suddenly, the world opened up to them, no longer obscured by trees, the ocean was to their left. The two were upon the tiny fishing village of Peggy’s Cove.
“I know that was a hard thing for you to talk about, David,” said Richard. “I feel as though we’re closer already. Let’s go have some fun!”
“I hope you brought your camera,” said David. It’s quite nice, and we’ve made it just in time for sunset.”
Richard hauled out his camera once they parked at the visitor’s center.
Richard and David got out of the truck and meandered down the path toward a look off. Richard took pictures of the famous Peggy’s Cove lighthouse. Then he took a picture with he and David in the foreground.
“Ready to scale the rocks?” David inquired.
“As long as we stay on the easy ones,” stated Richard. He had read the warning signs littered all over the rocks warning tourists to avoid those that were wet. In this way a person could prohibit his own drowning and subsequent death. Richard intended to follow the rules to the letter.
The two brothers wandered around the aged rocks for a period of time without incident. David then suggested to Richard that they go behind the lighthouse and take a picture from the ocean side. Very few tourists ever get that shot.
Richard was keen to do something so rare. Suddenly he misjudged the gap between the rock he was on, and a lower rock he was trying to get to on the ocean side. Within seconds Richard found himself being swept around a corner, directly into a another large, pointy rock, as if the largeness was not enough. David ran up to him.
“Richard! Are you alright?” screamed David.
Richard moaned.
David quickly dragged his brother onto dry land.
“That was quite the fall you had!” Deftly pulling out a first aid kit from his backpack, David worked on Richard’s wounds.
“Didn’t you read the safety signs?” asked David.
“Yes,” moaned Richard.
David sat with Richard while he recuperated, fetching a large blanket from his backpack so that Richard could warm up. Once it was mutually determined that Richard could walk easily. Richard and David worked their way over to the local restaurant and ordered a crab bisque each.
“After we eat, we’ll back track to the cabin and you can take it easy for the rest of the night,” suggested David.
Richard thought this was a great idea. The two brothers ate their soup and discussed all manner of interesting topics before setting out for the cabin.
Richard ached on the ride to the cabin. Each bump in the road seized him with pain. Soon they were in a makeshift parking lot. This followed a brief walk through the woods, at least it should have been brief. Richard was grateful to have David to help him along. He really was a good brother. Soon, Richard and David were in the warm confines of the log cabin and Richard could finally rest peacefully in the guestroom after successfully completing his evening routine.
“You’ll be in much better shape by tomorrow, and we’ll have some more fun. A good night’s sleep can cure many ailments,” reassured David.
Richard did not take long to fall asleep.
David went out into the living room, pulled out his copy of Moby Dick, found his place where he left off last time, and spent the night reading in his favourite chair.