Transmission #2

I've been feeling a little down lately. 

Well, really down, actually.

And just when I couldn't stand it any longer, the perfect day happened. 

A brisk, cool morning with no humidity and no smoke - the offer was too tempting! We played hooky and got in the car. 

A picnic was purchased and we drove to the river, watching ospreys and cormorants hunt for their breakfast while we ate ours. Never one to miss a trick, a family of crows recognized our car from the last time we fed them and demanded a do-over.

We filled our lungs with the cleanest air they'd had in weeks, tinged with the smell of ions and river clay.

We decided to wait a bit before dessert, so we drove around the backroads for a while. Mom bought tomatoes at our favorite honor stand and we saw the old familiar sights: falling-down barns built from ancient black wood; ginger cows watching their calves being loaded into a truck, never to be seen again; and wild human children with dirty feet enjoying their last day of freedom before school starts tomorrow.

Finally we found the perfect spot to eat our Key Lime Pie.

It was an old park that once belonged to all, bought by developers who tore down the playground and built mansions there instead. 

But the picnic shelter remains, alone, at the crest of a small hill. No millionaire owns this piece of property.

No Man's Land.

The pavilion was cool and dark and funneled the breeze into one big whoosh! we sat in the middle of. I was scared the rich people would yell at us, but we sat unbothered in blissful, key-lime silence. 

On the way home I took a few last deep breaths of fresh air, knowing that the heat and the haze will be back tonight…

But I will be okay this time.