Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Experiment 11 - The Same But Different

Today I walked home in an altogether musical, bright, sunshine attitude. This was hardly surprising since the weather was warm with no traces of sticky wetness in the air or the temperature precursor to hellfire madness. I had the pleasure of a full 15 minutes walk to my apartment. I realized, in a very Our Town sort of way, that I had walked this path so many times and was completely unfamiliar with what surrounded it. So, I purposely sidestepped the path.

I was happy I did. I found some wildflowers and a wonderfully gnarly stick that looked intimidating. The bark was peeling off, but my chief concerns were, did it have ants and was it rotted?

Since the answers to these questions was a negative, I proudly carried my rather cumbersome stick, or the adventuresome staff, toward my homestead.



There used to be an old house right next to the soccer field. I had always wanted to visit the demolishing site.

So I trudged forward, almost afraid that I was on forbidden ground. I found fascinating bits of house. It is sad to see such a small representation of something that used to be permanent. Well, it was permanent in the sense that I never expected to see it demolished in my lifetime.

There were red painted circular shaped stones that had broken in two. These I couldn't connect to the house in my mind. The ideas of secret societies and hidden treasures played around in my mind long enough for me to recognize...

A stone part of the wall flung into the foliage just beyond the clearing. I thought I might take it home as a souvenir. Unfortunately, as I turned it over, something moved on it.

It seemed odd for there to be something amber moving along, but there they were, an army of ants scurrying in and out of a hole in the stone.

I felt I had invaded a private party and almost apologized audibly to the ants as I tossed them back.

I shook it off and gazed upwards. There was something anchored to the ground that resembled a high jump. But if any jumper so dared to jump it, they would have a quick and fatal meeting with the trees just beyond it.

It was then that two guys hurriedly came toward the empty lot. One on a bike, the other keeping up on foot.

The first kept riding up the hill and looking at me with a quizzical eye. The second slowed, unsure of himself. "We are supposed to meet here right?" He asked the first.

"Yeah he said in the e-mail we were meeting here." The confidence in his voice was slightly shaken.

I lowered my eyes and walked toward the soccer field parking lot. I tried to glance back at the two guys surreptitiously, but even fake spying was never my strong point.

The silence was palatable, pushing me away.

I wondered for a bit if I could sneak back later and discover what the secrecy was about.

I realized though, I would much prefer a nap.