once upon a time;
abby, kelsey, kristen and i
spent the night on the top of a mountain.
in February.
with no tent.
Victoria had been planning to accompany us,
(and supply the tent)
but she got a migraine.
so, no victoria.
and no tent.
Abby lives in a rural area outside Charlotte, and her backyard is basically wild acres of woods on all sides. it also includes a cemetery, small underground pipes, an abandoned warehouse and a ancient rotting house.
but we wanted to go somewhere different.
anyway,
kristen and i arrived early
so we got our coats, hats and gloves and went up to the top of the mountain.
we watched the sunset until kelsey got off work
then we walked all the way back to abby's house (a few miles) for dinner.
(during which we watched hitchcock films)
after we finished eating, we started to pack for our overnight journey.
the following conversation took place:
abby's mom: Why don't you guys take the shotgun?
abby: that's not necessary.
abby's mom: well, then, how about the rifle?
abby: no.
abby's mom: then you have to take the hatchet.
abby: it's too heavy.
me: i have a switchblade.
abby's mom: i don't think you'll be able to fight off a wild boar or a coyote with that.
me: (shrugs) hmm. we'll see.
actually, i wasn't particularly opposed to the idea of taking a gun,
and not just because i like shooting things,,
but considering the fact that abby's nearest neighbors had decorated their backyard with goat skulls on a stick.
but no one wanted to carry a large weapon.
so we set off for the mountain once more, and reached the top.
it then proceeded to get very dark and very cold.
we had blankets and an oil lamp, and three sleeping bags for four people.
there were deer, owls and yes, more than one pack of coyotes.
they seemed to be communicating back and forth at the foot of the mountain.
did i mention we had no tent?
around eleven, we did homework by flashlight.
we lay back and watched the stars,
and got in an rather heated argument about constellations.
abby told us that she had freckles in the exact shape of orion's belt on her leg
but we'd never seen such a thing before, so we didn't believe her.
it got darker, and colder, and kelsey and i got in one subzero-rated sleeping bag. somehow.
sometime later, abby recited edward gorey's
the gashlycrumb tinies.
from memory.
we tried to sleep.
it's not too easy when you're freezing, being serenaded by coyotes and lying on a multitude of sharp rocks.
but we managed.
when we woke up at the crack of dawn
our sleeping bags,
our hats,
our gloves,
our food,
our shoes,
our blankets
and the surrounding landscape
were coated in a thick layer of frost.
we still had to walk back to abby's house
(over a mile)
when we regained feeling in our extremities,
we agreed that it had been, overall, a lovely trip.
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