And So It Goes…
The weather
had been absolutely gorgeous for many weeks. But living in a large metropolitan
environment didn’t really afford Ben Webber many opportunities to fully enjoy
it. Especially working all day long in a crowded office talking to strangers on
the phone. Listening to them complain about their high insurance bills. It was
very difficult to keep a smile in your voice, call after endless call.
At the end
of one particularly annoying day, he took off his earphones, gathered his
belongings, and left. Thankful that his 2 week vacation would start the next
day.
He’d had his
fill of the city for a while and decided his parents’ cabin in the woods about
100 miles away would be the perfect place to get away and think. About what he
wanted out of life. What would make him happy. Happier than he was now. He
would figure out what to do from there. Give himself some time and space. It
wasn’t as if he had a family to consider. So why not?
When he
finally reached his destination after making his way through heavy traffic, and
picking up a pizza for dinner, he unloaded a few things from his trunk and
clicked open the front door to the cozy one-bedroom cabin. It was late evening and
chilly by the time he got there, so he made the necessary preparations to build
a fire in the fireplace and struck a match.
The flames
flared brightly and before long, it was warm enough to take off his coat.
The next day
it rained. Of course.
He sighed, went
out the screened back porch and down the stairs, sloshing his way through the
mud to the wood shed to refill his stock. Not too far in the distance, he heard
the sound of a frog croaking loudly.
Ribbit.
Ribbit.
The air
smelled so fresh after the rain!
“Wow. You
sure don’t get this In the city!” he said outloud, taking a deep breath.
Ribbit,
ribbit replied the frog.
The next
several days passed in much the same fashion. No television. No outside
communication. He didn’t WANT to know what was going on in the world. Couldn’t
be anything good, anyway, he told himself.
He spent his
time reading and listening to his parents old CDs. He’d always liked the music
from the 60s.
In the late
evenings he would sit out on the back porch reading whatever book he could find
that struck his fancy from his parents’ bookshelf. Today, it’s another Erle
Stanley Gardner mystery. It kept him occupied for a while, and between
chapters, he would just sit back in his chair and take in the air. Ahhh, the
crisp, clean air. Don’t get THAT in the city, he mused more than a few times.
Just sitting
back and relaxing in the quiet.
Sometimes, he
shared his thoughts on life with the frog, which he named Gus. Gus was a very
good listener and never argued. Always ribbit-ing in agreement to whatever Ben
said. The topics varied from the sad state of our Country, to who would win the
Super Bowl, to which team Tom Brady would decide to join after leaving the
Patriots.
“I REALLY
don’t care,” offered Ben. He was a cheater and so was the coach.
Ribbit.
One day,
while enjoying the porch conversations with Gus, a feather floated down from
above and landed on Ben’s hand.
“Wow! Look
at that, Gus! I can’t remember if that’s a GOOD sign or a BAD sign. But it’s so
soft.”
After a week
had passed, Ben began to miss certain things; his apartment, television. He
actually started to miss talking with “people.” After all, the vocabulary of a
frog isn’t very extensive. And just once in a while, it might be kind of fun to
actually ARGUE with someone!
Ribbit.
Toward the
very end of his two-week self-imposed exile, Ben started to get cabin fever. He
tried walking in the woods, more reading, more music, more discussing life with
Gus, but nothing worked to ease his feeling of isolation and he became more and
more restless even to the point of being combative with Gus.
“What did
GUS know, anyway? He’s just a stupid frog!”
On the last
night of his “vacation,” Ben fried up something for dinner and then sat out on
the back porch.
“Well,” he
sighed, “tomorrow it’s back to the old routine and my apartment in the Big City.
I’m actually kind of looking forward to it. Isn’t that weird? But isolation
really wears on a person after too long, and it’s time to go back home. Kinda
miss my friends at work, ya know?”
The next day,
he repacked his few belongings and put the bags in the trunk. Thankfully, the
rain had stopped and the sun was brightly shining.
With one
last look around the cabin to make sure he had cleaned up properly, he went to
the back porch. “Gonna miss you, Gus!”
Ribbit.
And with
that, another feather floated in front of his face and landed on the ground at
his feet. That’s twice. I wonder what that means?
He drove
back out onto the main road and made his way back to The City. He reached to turn
on the radio and then remembered it hadn’t worked for several weeks.
Oh well. He
could catch up on the news when he got home.
Traffic was
unusually light for a weekend, he thought.
When he
arrived home a few hours later, after stopping at a drive-thru to get something
to eat, he took the elevator to his apartment on the second floor, unlocked the
door with a sigh, and stepped into the entryway of his unit.
“Just the
way I left it.”
After he
finished eating and unpacking, he plopped into his favorite chair, and turned
on the television to see what he’d missed.
“Unbelievable!!
I have to stay HOME now?????? I should have brought Gus with me!” he groaned.
Ribbit!
Quarantine.
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