Wanderlust (Reprised)

She looks down at her feet in concentration. One step at a time. She regulates her pants, in measured beats.

One, two.. heave. One, two... heave. One, two... heave. One, two... <...fade out...>

In some not so distant edge, she can hear voices. Three distinct ones, definitely. Arguing.

"Do you think we should tell her...?"
"Stop prattling, you're supposed to go THATAWAY!"
"I don't think you're supposed to be hitting my head like that..."

She shouldn't mind them. She should keep on holding her regular pants, using it as an anchor. Then, she doesn't have to think about how difficult all this climbing is. She just needs to get to the top. Up. The Top.

Yes. Have to go UP. GO UP.

One step at a time, she thinks. Just look down. Concentrate.
She's making sure she doesn't step on a loose gravel. She hates loose gravel... A LOT. She doesn't want to slip, like the last time.

"Quit doing that, you're jabbing your elbow at me. And it doesn't help that you're also trying to hit my windpipe..."
"Stop whining and try to concentrate!"
"Hmm. Was it something like lllllmora? Elmora? Elvira? ..."

She tries to propel herself forward and upwards. One, two ... heave. One, two... heave. Beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead.

How come she's having such a hard time? What was she doing again?
Oh. Yes, concentrate.

"What the heck are you doing???"
"SHUT UP, will you? I'm trying to pee!"
"I know I've heard it somewhere before, uh, guys....do you know...?"

Too much noise. She squints and squirms and tries to shut out her ears. She heaves and pants louder, harder. Have to block those voices. Very irritating. Why do they have to be dogging her so close? She knew she should've trained more. If she did, then she'd definitely have left these guys to bite the dust.


"I wonder what mom will say if I manage to get myself a tattoo..."
"Supercalifrage... ler....err... hm. How many characters is that word anyways?"
"STOP IT. DON'T Steal FROM ME!"

Oh. Yes.
Pant.
How distracting.

"Should remember to pay for the electric bills. Yes."
"DAMMIT, stop DOING thAT!!!"

She counts louder, in her head.

"one, two, ... HEAVE. One, TWO ... HEAVE..."
"ONE TWO, HEAVE...."

"What's pi again? 3.14 what?"
"I wonder if bears roam around here... "
"Are you trying to be daft? OF COURSE!"

Beads.
"ONE,."
"TWO,.."
"HEAVE...."

"Wait! wait!"
"What the---"
"....."


".... Ohh."
"What a beautiful spot. Hey you! LOOK!"
"Pssst! FsSSTT! Who-AAAA! YOU!"


She sees a flash of red at the edge of her vision, towards the left. A familiar, deep lovely scent of wind breezes through her. Instinctively, she slows down, and stops panting. She moves her eyes up, from the contours of her beaten, muddied shoe to eye-level.

























She looks, smiles, and forgets everything else.






























Somewhere from the back of her head, one of those noisy participants, lightly supplements the silence. "It doesn't get better than this, does it?" she whispers.

She nods.
Everyone agrees in silence.

... Savor it...