“It was probably the donuts,” I teased.
“Watch, when we get out, the fart will follow me on the trails.” He laughed heartily and covered his stomach. “I’m going to leave a trail on the trail! It’s probably embedded in the fibers of my clothes.”
Mid-thirties.
The rain had stopped, so we pulled into the empty parking lot where a few trails began. I pulled my phone out to look at the weather app and the radar. There was more rain in the area, but it appeared to be light. Ryan was already out of the SUV and stretching his arms above his head.
“There’s no one here,” Ryan said as I got out of the SUV. I pocketed my phone and reached for the two bottles of water in the cup holders. I tossed one to him.
“You forgot your water, my boy. I can’t have you running around on trails dehydrated.”
“We’ll only be gone for forty minutes or so. I doubt I’ll die of thirst.”
Side by side, we began walking along the trail.
“What if you fall and scrape your leg? If you had the water, you could wash it off,” I explained.
“I’m pretty good on my feet. I won’t fall. But what ifyoufell?”
“It wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Why not? Are you good on your feet too?” Ryan asked as he jumped up on an elevated rock section and then hopped down next to me.
“No. I have a bottle of water and could wash it off,” I reminded him.
He laughed as we walked along. Ryan stretched his arm behind my shoulders and squeezed. It pleased me when he initiated anything physical.
“Don’t worry, Russell. If you fell and hurt your leg, I’d make sure we’d use my water to clean off your leg.”
“What if you hadn’t brought your water?” I playfully asked him.
“We’d have to use yours, then.”
“What if I drank all of mine?”
“Then I’d have no choice but to pee on the wound.”
I shook my head as I laughed.
We stopped several times to admire and gaze at the beauty of the arches and scenery. Both of us took some pictures with our phones of the beauty around us, and of each other, on our hike.
The farther we walked along the trail, the more I noticed how much lighter and carefree Ryan became. He pointed to a spot where he wanted to get a picture of us. There was a wall of red rock that was about three to three and a half feet tall, and behind the rock wall were a few beautiful arches. I leaned against the rocks so he could grab the picture of us with the arches in the background. Ryan climbed onto the top of the rock wall and crouched behind me. He wrapped his arm around me and stretched the arm with the phone out in front of us.
“Smile, Russell.”
How could I not? My boy was feeling good and secure enough to wrap his arm around me. After he took the picture and before he pulled his arm away, I grabbed his wrist so I could see the picture. It was breathtaking.
“Forward it to my phone,” I told him.
I wanted it before he second guessed himself and deleted it. I watched him forward the picture to my phone and felt it vibrate in my pocket. Ryan surprised me again by kissing the side of my cheek before he playfully slapped my chest and stood.
While we were on the trail at the beginning of an incline, rain started to come down heavily. I pulled the hood over my head and glanced at Ryan. He was laughing and pulling his hood up. I pointed to the arch at the top of the incline.
“Come on, we can wait out the rain under that arch,” I said.
He nodded, and we took off jogging up the hill. I was well aware of the fact that Ryan could have easily beat me up the hill, but he kept the pace that I’d set. Under the cover of the arch, we took some pictures of the valley as the rain came down.
“It’s an incredible sight, isn’t it, Ryan?”
