Busted Secret

He runs. He bikes. He swims. And now he takes walks, even on days he already ran. I’d reply “See you later,” as he walks out saying, “Can you lock the door behind me; I have the key.” Walking is not my thing. Nor is running. Nor is biking. And especially not swimming. I’m a land animal. I don’t do well in water. I play soccer and attend dance classes. The things we do together are hiking and backpacking. My legs are still sore from the backpacking trip we took this past weekend. It’s cold out there. My soccer team already registered 16 players for tonight’s game. I didn’t relish the idea of being on the sideline for part of the game. And I wasn’t sure I’d run very well on sore legs while on the field. So instead of going to soccer, I offered to walk with him. He said he wanted to walk briskly.

As I kept up with his brisk walking, I felt the soreness of my thigh muscles. I wondered if I would enjoy it more if we slowed down on a leisurely (and romantic) walk or if I should have stayed home and enjoyed my exercise-free day. But I didn’t want to spoil our walk. And besides, wasn’t that what I wanted? A short exercise to replace the soccer playing.

I followed his lead, crossing the main road to get to the farm. As we walked along the perimeter of the farm, he told me we’d have to jump two fences. I imagined being apprehended for trespassing the public farm after hours. I thought he should have turned off his head lamp at the fence crossings, but he didn’t seem to worry about anything. Right after we “jumped” the first fence, a goat’s bleat startled me and he laughed. After we “jumped” the second fence, he excitedly pointed to a model H tractor marked with the year he was born and told me he always stopped at this spot. Shortly afterwards, we crossed the main street again, but since there is no sidewalk there, we didn’t take the main street. As we walked on the side street into a neighborhood, he pointed out the peculiarity of an old house at the corner with a large piece of land. All other houses are more modern and don’t take up as much land. When we were about to return to the main street, he told me at which driveway he’d cross the side street to continue the walk home.

Now when he goes out for a walk, I will no longer be in the dark of the route he takes. When he talks about the model H, the odd old house, the driveway where he crosses the street, I’ll know exactly where these places are because I have their pictures in my head.

My teammates may or may not miss me this evening, but they probably agree it was a fair trade-off.