In Light of Recent Events ebook by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-30T14:12:11+00:00

11: Nature People

Even her outgoing voice message was efficient, “Bridget Knutson is not here. Your message, please.” I made sure to call as soon as I’d woken so my sinuses would be a little congested and my voice would be husky. There was no way Rigid would believe I was truly sick, but I didn’t care. Jamie had decided to stay another day, and it would have been inconceivable not to play hooky.

The weather had turned unseasonably warm for mid-February, which gave us the perfect avenue for getting out with low risk of encountering anyone. I loaded my trusty day pack with a large water bottle, a couple of sandwiches, a handful of carrot sticks, and a ziplock filled nearly to burst with trail mix. With Jamie as my copilot, we headed out, responsibilities and cares temporarily fading like the road signs in the rearview mirror.

I always enjoyed driving the Palisades Parkway; it was a travel oasis in a state whose roadways were more typically congested, industrial, dingy and, let’s be honest, disturbingly odoriferous. The northern part of the Palisades, the part that crossed from Jersey into New York State, was a strange hybrid of highway and rural state route. Trucks were forbidden, but cars could go highway speed, and the two-lane northbound route was separated, completely hidden at points, from the southbound by narrow sections of woods and brushy slopes. Pressed up against the road on the side were thick stretches of pine, locust, and, in the spring, golden-flowered forsythia. This was not the turnpike. Here, when I passed slower drivers, I felt no disdain for their lack of speed; rather they became fellow travelers, and we’d all get there when we got there.

I could feel myself easing into the driver’s seat. Jamie, who hadn’t said much since we got in the car, steadied his gaze on the fast-forwarding prickly winter landscape.

“Want some music?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I like the quiet.” A few beats later, he said, “I sometimes think about moving to the city.”

“Not if you like the quiet.”

Jamie shifted in his seat, and turned to me, either having not heard or choosing to ignore my comment.

“New Yorkers can be pretty smug, but I’ll take that over phoniness any day. Out in LA, everyone’s hustling something. It’s like you always have to be ‘on.’ And God help you if you have a moment of ‘off.’”

It seemed like an opening, “So, I can’t help asking, what actually happened with your brother-in-law?”

Jamie’s expression remained unchanged and again, he ignored me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” I said. “Well, I guess I did, actually, but you don’t have to answer. Obviously.” I felt embarrassed for having asked and clenched my hands tighter around the steering wheel.

Just ahead, a very large bird with a wide wingspan swooped from one side of the road to the other.

“Whoa!” said Jamie, sitting up. “Was that an eagle?”

“I think it was a hawk. But it was pretty cool. I haven’t seen one that close before.

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