Well unlike all my other tites, this one pretty much explains it, so with little introduction, I'll let my story unfurl itself.
I had been waiting a year to go to a place that was always said to me as just a really cool place. No one would describe it to me. No one would tell me what was there. Other than the fact that it was "really awesome", commentary complimentary via friends, I had no idea about it.
Lost Lake. They always left early in the morning and didn't come home until almost sun down. Being grounded about 90% of my high school carreer was my reason for never having been to such a mysterious place.
Then college came.
One day, my delightful being Alton decided to take me. "It's a long trip." He told me, saying I should grab a snack or something. Then we were off. It wasn't incredibly early though still some time before noon. The car ride was nice. Smiles and giggles. Some damn hippy music no one's probably ever heard before. Headed to a place I've never been to before. Nothing out of the ordinary for a time being with Alton.
We arrive In a small town I'd only been to a few times before. Everyone I knew referred to it as the 'crater in the ground'. Just a city that is in a giant hole in the middle of nowhere but man can they have 4th of July celebrations...
Across a bridge I've never seen anyone drive on before. Onto a road where the pavement turns copper coloured.
"What?" I asked, smiling with curiosity.
"What?" He smiled, mocking me. "Bet you didn't know about this hidden highway did you?"
I just watched the road. I still can't remember where we took turns, left, right, past a town of population:6, over the tall grasses..
Somehow we got there.
He pulled off the side of the road to a sign that warned NO TRESSPASSING or some other kind of warning. I took a picture of it with my disposable camera. For those of you born in the middle of the damn 90's and younger, that's a camera you take pictures with until you can take no more on the roll, hand it in to someone that develops the pictures, and then you get your paper copy of the pictures within an hour or a day. I know. Old people technology. So weird.
Past the sign it really was the strangest thing to see. I'll tell you the secrets of this 'Lost Lake'. There were rocks. Boulders. Large boulders everywhere on flat ground from what I could see.
"This was a lake once?" I asked.
"You'll see." He smiled, mocking tone. Mocking. Always mocking me. He's my favourite. We walked towards the large boulders. First, sparse, then kinda piled up on some kind of cliff. We neared that cliff and then I understood.
I felt my mouth drop and my smile widen, "What? No way! How? How does that even exist?"
I looked down off the sheer cliff and below, there it was- Lost Lake. I would say that the surrounding canyon imitated the shape of a football field. But bigger. Much. Much. Bigger. With a little... well, lake looking body of water in the middle. Definitely not swimmable. I held on to Alton, being afraid of heights, and spit off the cliff. I watched it until it was a spec, and then wondered if it actually ever hit the ground. That's just how monsterous this place was.
"Can we get down there?" I asked him. "Well duh. Come around here."
We went to the far end of the side we were on to where the walls started to curve. Alton was running around on the way there, hiding here, parkour there; he was always doing things like that.
When he got to where he was taking me, he pointed. Down a crevasse, into the cliff wall itself.
"You're serious?" I just kinda looked at him, grinned, and followed him.
Down. It got cool in the rocks. "It's pretty easy," he said, putting his feet on opposite walls and shimmying down.
"Oh shut up." I pushed him a little, and he laughed, running further ahead.
I have no idea how long we were in that wall for but eventually I saw full blown sunlight again. From there, it was like hiking down a hill, or small mountain like I'd done a million times in the Bear Paw Mountains.
"Smells weird down here." I commented. Not anything horrible that would make you hold your breath. Just something that would make Alton say 'dingy'.
We walked toward the water but not too close- all the ground around it at least two feet in was nothing but mud. Thick deep mud that Alton tested with a stick. The grass was tall everywhere, no one had been hanging around here, that's for sure.
"What's that black stuff?" I asked. "OH gosh, you gotta come see this!" He bounded over the grass to another area of the water where I had seen the blackness. "You watching?" He asked. "Don't touch it!" I said, but as I really looked at the blackness I realized it was moving. He crouched down low, "Hold my arm," I did, and with the other one, he leaned into the blackness and waved his hand over it. At once, the blackness moved, migrated and went insane.
"Flies?!" I was floored! I had never seen so many flies in my life!! There were so many that you really did have to get close to even see that the blackness wasn't one big mass at all. He swooped his hand a few more times over them, in them around them.
"That's crazy..." I said. Just watching them all go. He jumped out of crouch position, tagged me, and ran off a bit. "So what do you think?"
"Dude, this is awesome. How did you even find out about a place like this?"
"Well, I ..." As he was explaining, I felt something on the back of my arm and I was distracted.
Ladies with long hair- you know how when you shed, that one friggin piece places itself on the back of your arm and is so damn annoying that you want to just rip it off and stomp on it and curse your hair for being long in the first place?
This was not one of those hairs. I grabbed at the place on the back of my arm thinking it was and -
"OW!" I screamed. I took my hand back quickly, holding a fat ass fucking bee in my hand. I threw it insantly.
"You're kidding me!!" I said.
"What what?" Alton, having no idea what just happened. "I thought it was my hair so I grabbed it. It was a bee dude! Look at my finger!"
See kids. This is why I now have Benadryl on my person at all times. Because you really never know when you're gonna get shanked by something you're allergic to.
"Holy cow, your skin really does that? That quick?" Alton asked, inspecting my finger.
I looked at it, I could see clearly where he stung me, still seeing the stinger planted nicely in my ring finger of my right hand. All around the spot, my finger was already swelling and getting redder by the minute. "I'm allergic, Alton." I said.
"Do you have medicine with you?"
"No."
"Do I need to rush you to the hospital?" He asked frantically. "What do you need?"
"No! I just got here! I've been waiting almost a year to see this place! Do you have any Benadryl in your car?" He shook his head. You could see by the look on his face he felt aweful.
"Well come out, we at least have to get you out of here where there are bees."
I agreed, and followed him again. Up the hill, into the cliff. This time around, though, it felt a million times harder. Not like a "going up is always harder than down" kind of hard, like a, "my body is fatuigued and is going to hate me for this" hard. We got to the top and I was still excited with a child-like wonder of the place. I looked at my finer periodically. Not just the spot on my finger, but the whole finger itself was times a a half what it should have been. It had swollen horribly.
"I can't bend my finger," I told him.
"Keep trying. I dunno." He looked concerned. "Maybe I can take you to the near by town? The gas station should have something."
"No," I insisted.
Stubborn.
I was still climbing around on the rocks, taking pictures of him. He stole the camera and took some of me. We took one together. It was still a fun time, but I could tell the bee had made my body something angry.
"I'm tired." I said, sitting on a boulder on the edge."I'm just going to lie down for a while."
I wake up, and the sun is already on the opposite side of the sky. Alton is laying next to me, I go to move but feel a numbing pain in my hand. My finger. I remember what happened, and inspect my hand again. To my horror, the irritation had spread from my finger, down into my palm, and was starting to effect the beding of my pinky and middle finger.
"Alton, I have to get back..." I said quietly, shaking him.
His eyes opened immediately,"You're finally awake! Geeze, you just like, passed out. Ready to go?" He asked, getting up off the rock. "How long has it been?" I asked.
"You were out for a really long time. Couple hours? More?" He looked at his watch.
"I still have to get to Belle's house too. Before the movie." I said, remembering my plans with Belle, living twenty minutes out, and the movie Alton and I were to go to with our group of friends.
"You gonna be able to make it?" He asked, poking at my finger. "Haha, that's a fat finger."
I pushed him, "Oh whatever, let's get to the car."
We both laughed about my 'fat finger' on the way back. I recall falling asleep in the car as well and he woke me when I got to my mum's house.
I ran in and went straight to the bathroom. "What's going on?" She asked as I flew out of the living room.
Alton walked in the door, "She got stung by a bee." he said.
"Oh, well as long as she takes Benadryl she'll be fine."
"She got stung hours ago. Before noon." He admitted.
"Alton!" I said, popping my head out of the bathroom, bottle in hand
"Ginger!" My mum yelled. "Alton! Why didn't you take her home sooner!"
"Look at her!" he said on the defense.
"Mum it was me, I begged him not to take me home. You'd have to see this place! I just got there!"
I downed the Benadryl a few gulps. "See? Better. But I have to get to Belle's now."
"That's not the best idea. You should wait to see her tomorrow. She lives 30 minutes out."
"I know, but I haven't seen her all summer, and her mom is there too. Haven't seen her since I graduated. I'll see you after our movie tonight." As I was getting my car keys, Alton explained to my mum our plans.
"Please call me when you get there," She asked.
"Sure, sure." And we were both out the door.
"See you at the movie tonight!" I hollered after him as he got in his car.
So I admit, not the smartest thing to drive when you're having an allergic reaction and the medicine is also making you tired. But I got to Belle's, looking at her new dress."It's versatile, there's like a million ways you can put it on. I'm finding out how to do it." She showed me her dress, her mum was talking to me as I was on the couch. I told them both about the sting and that I was a little tired.
"You can take a nap here if you want," her mom offered, "I'll wake you up when we eat."
"No that's okay. I'll be alright. I'll get plenty of sleep when I'm dead," I winked at her.
"You kids these days. You never sleep. Belle hasn't either! Work yourselves to death." She walked into the kitchen. Belle sits on the couch next to me, puts her feet in my lap. We catch up on school and summer stuff. Start watching the tv when her mom turns it on.
"Girls, its time to eat." Her mom shakes us a little.
"What time is it?" I asked. Not knowing we both fell asleep on the couch.
"Oh, about 8:30. I know it's a late dinner, but I didn't know when you two would wake up."
"Oh no! I have a show to get to by 9:10 tonight!" I said, and jumped off the couch.
"Thanks for having me, but I gotta get outta here! Sorry momma." I hugged her goodbye.
"Want to go to Fresno this friday?" I asked Belle. It's the lake between her house and mine.
"Sure" She yawned awake.
"Okay, see you then!" And I ran out.
Adrenalin was going. I wasn't even tired on the ride home. I hate being late to things. I roll up in my '89 Ford Tempo like it's nobody's business and the crew is waiting outside.
"Ginger!" someone said.
Alton ran up to me. "Show them your fat finger!" He demanded as everyone crowded around. You would swear we were ten years old all over again.
I pushed him, he pushed back , I showed off my fat finger, we went into the movies, and called it a day.
Remember churr'ins, bring your Benadryl.
I had been waiting a year to go to a place that was always said to me as just a really cool place. No one would describe it to me. No one would tell me what was there. Other than the fact that it was "really awesome", commentary complimentary via friends, I had no idea about it.
Lost Lake. They always left early in the morning and didn't come home until almost sun down. Being grounded about 90% of my high school carreer was my reason for never having been to such a mysterious place.
Then college came.
One day, my delightful being Alton decided to take me. "It's a long trip." He told me, saying I should grab a snack or something. Then we were off. It wasn't incredibly early though still some time before noon. The car ride was nice. Smiles and giggles. Some damn hippy music no one's probably ever heard before. Headed to a place I've never been to before. Nothing out of the ordinary for a time being with Alton.
We arrive In a small town I'd only been to a few times before. Everyone I knew referred to it as the 'crater in the ground'. Just a city that is in a giant hole in the middle of nowhere but man can they have 4th of July celebrations...
Across a bridge I've never seen anyone drive on before. Onto a road where the pavement turns copper coloured.
"What?" I asked, smiling with curiosity.
"What?" He smiled, mocking me. "Bet you didn't know about this hidden highway did you?"
I just watched the road. I still can't remember where we took turns, left, right, past a town of population:6, over the tall grasses..
Somehow we got there.
He pulled off the side of the road to a sign that warned NO TRESSPASSING or some other kind of warning. I took a picture of it with my disposable camera. For those of you born in the middle of the damn 90's and younger, that's a camera you take pictures with until you can take no more on the roll, hand it in to someone that develops the pictures, and then you get your paper copy of the pictures within an hour or a day. I know. Old people technology. So weird.
Past the sign it really was the strangest thing to see. I'll tell you the secrets of this 'Lost Lake'. There were rocks. Boulders. Large boulders everywhere on flat ground from what I could see.
"This was a lake once?" I asked.
"You'll see." He smiled, mocking tone. Mocking. Always mocking me. He's my favourite. We walked towards the large boulders. First, sparse, then kinda piled up on some kind of cliff. We neared that cliff and then I understood.
I felt my mouth drop and my smile widen, "What? No way! How? How does that even exist?"
I looked down off the sheer cliff and below, there it was- Lost Lake. I would say that the surrounding canyon imitated the shape of a football field. But bigger. Much. Much. Bigger. With a little... well, lake looking body of water in the middle. Definitely not swimmable. I held on to Alton, being afraid of heights, and spit off the cliff. I watched it until it was a spec, and then wondered if it actually ever hit the ground. That's just how monsterous this place was.
"Can we get down there?" I asked him. "Well duh. Come around here."
We went to the far end of the side we were on to where the walls started to curve. Alton was running around on the way there, hiding here, parkour there; he was always doing things like that.
When he got to where he was taking me, he pointed. Down a crevasse, into the cliff wall itself.
"You're serious?" I just kinda looked at him, grinned, and followed him.
Down. It got cool in the rocks. "It's pretty easy," he said, putting his feet on opposite walls and shimmying down.
"Oh shut up." I pushed him a little, and he laughed, running further ahead.
I have no idea how long we were in that wall for but eventually I saw full blown sunlight again. From there, it was like hiking down a hill, or small mountain like I'd done a million times in the Bear Paw Mountains.
"Smells weird down here." I commented. Not anything horrible that would make you hold your breath. Just something that would make Alton say 'dingy'.
We walked toward the water but not too close- all the ground around it at least two feet in was nothing but mud. Thick deep mud that Alton tested with a stick. The grass was tall everywhere, no one had been hanging around here, that's for sure.
"What's that black stuff?" I asked. "OH gosh, you gotta come see this!" He bounded over the grass to another area of the water where I had seen the blackness. "You watching?" He asked. "Don't touch it!" I said, but as I really looked at the blackness I realized it was moving. He crouched down low, "Hold my arm," I did, and with the other one, he leaned into the blackness and waved his hand over it. At once, the blackness moved, migrated and went insane.
"Flies?!" I was floored! I had never seen so many flies in my life!! There were so many that you really did have to get close to even see that the blackness wasn't one big mass at all. He swooped his hand a few more times over them, in them around them.
"That's crazy..." I said. Just watching them all go. He jumped out of crouch position, tagged me, and ran off a bit. "So what do you think?"
"Dude, this is awesome. How did you even find out about a place like this?"
"Well, I ..." As he was explaining, I felt something on the back of my arm and I was distracted.
Ladies with long hair- you know how when you shed, that one friggin piece places itself on the back of your arm and is so damn annoying that you want to just rip it off and stomp on it and curse your hair for being long in the first place?
This was not one of those hairs. I grabbed at the place on the back of my arm thinking it was and -
"OW!" I screamed. I took my hand back quickly, holding a fat ass fucking bee in my hand. I threw it insantly.
"You're kidding me!!" I said.
"What what?" Alton, having no idea what just happened. "I thought it was my hair so I grabbed it. It was a bee dude! Look at my finger!"
See kids. This is why I now have Benadryl on my person at all times. Because you really never know when you're gonna get shanked by something you're allergic to.
"Holy cow, your skin really does that? That quick?" Alton asked, inspecting my finger.
I looked at it, I could see clearly where he stung me, still seeing the stinger planted nicely in my ring finger of my right hand. All around the spot, my finger was already swelling and getting redder by the minute. "I'm allergic, Alton." I said.
"Do you have medicine with you?"
"No."
"Do I need to rush you to the hospital?" He asked frantically. "What do you need?"
"No! I just got here! I've been waiting almost a year to see this place! Do you have any Benadryl in your car?" He shook his head. You could see by the look on his face he felt aweful.
"Well come out, we at least have to get you out of here where there are bees."
I agreed, and followed him again. Up the hill, into the cliff. This time around, though, it felt a million times harder. Not like a "going up is always harder than down" kind of hard, like a, "my body is fatuigued and is going to hate me for this" hard. We got to the top and I was still excited with a child-like wonder of the place. I looked at my finer periodically. Not just the spot on my finger, but the whole finger itself was times a a half what it should have been. It had swollen horribly.
"I can't bend my finger," I told him.
"Keep trying. I dunno." He looked concerned. "Maybe I can take you to the near by town? The gas station should have something."
"No," I insisted.
Stubborn.
I was still climbing around on the rocks, taking pictures of him. He stole the camera and took some of me. We took one together. It was still a fun time, but I could tell the bee had made my body something angry.
"I'm tired." I said, sitting on a boulder on the edge."I'm just going to lie down for a while."
I wake up, and the sun is already on the opposite side of the sky. Alton is laying next to me, I go to move but feel a numbing pain in my hand. My finger. I remember what happened, and inspect my hand again. To my horror, the irritation had spread from my finger, down into my palm, and was starting to effect the beding of my pinky and middle finger.
"Alton, I have to get back..." I said quietly, shaking him.
His eyes opened immediately,"You're finally awake! Geeze, you just like, passed out. Ready to go?" He asked, getting up off the rock. "How long has it been?" I asked.
"You were out for a really long time. Couple hours? More?" He looked at his watch.
"I still have to get to Belle's house too. Before the movie." I said, remembering my plans with Belle, living twenty minutes out, and the movie Alton and I were to go to with our group of friends.
"You gonna be able to make it?" He asked, poking at my finger. "Haha, that's a fat finger."
I pushed him, "Oh whatever, let's get to the car."
We both laughed about my 'fat finger' on the way back. I recall falling asleep in the car as well and he woke me when I got to my mum's house.
I ran in and went straight to the bathroom. "What's going on?" She asked as I flew out of the living room.
Alton walked in the door, "She got stung by a bee." he said.
"Oh, well as long as she takes Benadryl she'll be fine."
"She got stung hours ago. Before noon." He admitted.
"Alton!" I said, popping my head out of the bathroom, bottle in hand
"Ginger!" My mum yelled. "Alton! Why didn't you take her home sooner!"
"Look at her!" he said on the defense.
"Mum it was me, I begged him not to take me home. You'd have to see this place! I just got there!"
I downed the Benadryl a few gulps. "See? Better. But I have to get to Belle's now."
"That's not the best idea. You should wait to see her tomorrow. She lives 30 minutes out."
"I know, but I haven't seen her all summer, and her mom is there too. Haven't seen her since I graduated. I'll see you after our movie tonight." As I was getting my car keys, Alton explained to my mum our plans.
"Please call me when you get there," She asked.
"Sure, sure." And we were both out the door.
"See you at the movie tonight!" I hollered after him as he got in his car.
So I admit, not the smartest thing to drive when you're having an allergic reaction and the medicine is also making you tired. But I got to Belle's, looking at her new dress."It's versatile, there's like a million ways you can put it on. I'm finding out how to do it." She showed me her dress, her mum was talking to me as I was on the couch. I told them both about the sting and that I was a little tired.
"You can take a nap here if you want," her mom offered, "I'll wake you up when we eat."
"No that's okay. I'll be alright. I'll get plenty of sleep when I'm dead," I winked at her.
"You kids these days. You never sleep. Belle hasn't either! Work yourselves to death." She walked into the kitchen. Belle sits on the couch next to me, puts her feet in my lap. We catch up on school and summer stuff. Start watching the tv when her mom turns it on.
"Girls, its time to eat." Her mom shakes us a little.
"What time is it?" I asked. Not knowing we both fell asleep on the couch.
"Oh, about 8:30. I know it's a late dinner, but I didn't know when you two would wake up."
"Oh no! I have a show to get to by 9:10 tonight!" I said, and jumped off the couch.
"Thanks for having me, but I gotta get outta here! Sorry momma." I hugged her goodbye.
"Want to go to Fresno this friday?" I asked Belle. It's the lake between her house and mine.
"Sure" She yawned awake.
"Okay, see you then!" And I ran out.
Adrenalin was going. I wasn't even tired on the ride home. I hate being late to things. I roll up in my '89 Ford Tempo like it's nobody's business and the crew is waiting outside.
"Ginger!" someone said.
Alton ran up to me. "Show them your fat finger!" He demanded as everyone crowded around. You would swear we were ten years old all over again.
I pushed him, he pushed back , I showed off my fat finger, we went into the movies, and called it a day.
Remember churr'ins, bring your Benadryl.
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