Under my breath I said, "I hope Paul gets with the program.Under my breath I said, "I hope Paul gets with the program." On cue, Paul noticed that I had packed only one pair of wool socks for him and seethed. "Can't I trust you to do one simple thing? Now what am I going to do?" "Sorry, honey," I said, "I looked for the others, but forgot to ask you." "That doesn't solve the problem, does it?" I didn't respond, but went over to help Bill fold our tent. He smiled warmly, and I could see that he was very happy I could come on the trip. He got a little confused folding the tent, because he was admiring my legs as I moved around pulling the tent out and laying out the folds. I did the high jump in college, and still like the exercise of climbing stairs for hours, so my legs are well-developed, with long ripply muscles. "What's the plan for the trip, Bill," I asked. "We'll go up to the notch - about four hours - then take off cross country over a ridge to my hidden lake. Pretty tough with the packs, especially through a rocky patch. But it's only us and the bears there. We can explore from the lake." "Is it isolated enough for us to go native?" "I always do." Paul called me back before we finished, "C'mere. What's this?" "Dried papaya. You can at least carry the snacks." "It's yours. I won't eat it. If you want it, you carry it. I'm going to take a leak." Paul - still handsome and lean-legged with a blond surfer look - was anything but a surfer. He seemed to hate exercise now that he no longer played sports - he stopped in law school in fact, and worked without let up. |