July 24, 2024 - “Where we’ll stay”

Patty likes to take tab at the start of every season and walk her favorite trails. She’s been doing it since the divorce. She told May that trying it with her that one time in the woods, in the cabin by the lake, that day when Patty’s parents weren’t home, and Allan and Bobby had blown them off for beers in town, was one of her favorite days. Patty’s uncle had been there the week before and offered them some and May accepted but when Patty had raised her open palm she slapped it away, saying they had to save it for sometime special, when men weren’t around, is what she meant, and so they had stored the tabs in a jewelry box on Patty’s dresser in her room at the cabin and asked Patty’s parents if they could have a sleepover the following weekend, saying we are running out of time, and who knows what will happen after school ends, we may not ever see each other again and even Patty’s parents had to roll their eyes at that because where did these two think they were going, but still they said okay and for a saturday the place was theirs, and so they stripped down to cotton undies and sunbathed on the rocks by the water, and Patty put mud on her face and walked through the woods for a long time, while May made the sun room an art studio and drew at a desk that was made of wood that came from these woods, and by the time Patty came padding through the screen door, they had both decided to never leave, and neither of them ever did. The story sits like so many others they have told, they type that leaves you feeling safe and sad and stuck someplace you sort of don’t mind being stuck in.