The dashboard gave off ten-year-old new-car-smell. Grant climbed into the driver’s seat and felt the packet of Advil Cheryl had tucked into his pocket. The newscaster’s voice was muddled by the fan, and outside, the sky was becoming lighter. Grant felt sick, like he was hung over.
“Are we okay for gas?” asked Pete, taking the passenger side seat.
Grant nodded. “Nice suit.”
“Your wife called to tell you to drive careful,” he said.
The ice on the windshield was gone. Now, there were geese above the rooftops, wobbly v’s hanging on a point heading south.
When Vir showed up, he put a pillow against the window and leaned against it, eyes already closed. Next to him, Owen put his hands on Grant’s seat and pulled closer. “I think Jan would have liked Burma.”
Grant put the car into gear, and pulled onto the road. He felt sick, hung over, something. Anything. The sun flashed in his face, telling him no, it was nothing. Nothing at all.
*****
“Anyway, there isn’t much left of the old man. He’s retired and he’s happy, so that’s that.” Pete took a breath. “Vir still sleeping?”
Grant peeked at Owen in the rear-view mirror. He was sitting straight up, as though his suit would collapse if he let it touch too much of the back seat. “Uh huh,” Owen said, like he’d been talking along. “In Burma, it’s the same temperature in January as it is in July. They’re mostly Buddhists, but they have over two hundred thousand people in their military. Buddhists fight, too.”
“The hell,” put in Pete.
“I once paid 5900 kyats for a potted plant,” admitted Owen.
“Sounds like a lot of fun,” remarked Pete. “I hear Buddhist girls are really something. What do you say, Owen? Are Buddhist girls really something?”
“Shut up,” Grant told him.
“This one time,” said Owen, like he hadn’t heard a word. He was sweating, but wouldn’t take off the jacket. “This one time, I chased a dog off my doorstep. It was a thin grey thing with big eyes. I swore at it in English. At the time I didn’t have any choice, I hadn’t learned much Burmese. My neighbour saw me and started yelling until everyone in the street stopped to yell too. I went to work hungry. Those days, I could never eat, everything made me sick. When I came home, that neighbour’s kids were throwing rocks at the same dog.” Owen sighed. “Jan hated dogs, but it’s fine. She would have liked Burma.”
Grant signalled and made ready to pass the car in front of him. A hint of cigarette smoke came from the black sport utility. The driver-side window was down, a tattooed arm hanging out of it. Grant caught a glimpse of a moustache and sunglasses, the movement of a head turning.
“Jan should have come to visit me when she had the chance. She was planning on it.” Owen’s shoulders rose to meet his chin. “But she hated that they’d changed the name to Myanmar. She thought it was a joke, a really bad one. And now there’s no place in the world called Burma.
*****
In the mountains ahead, snow slid out from under a fog, as though it were heavy and tired of living so high, where nothing ever went. Grant tried to drive faster, but the road was full, the way clogged with everyone who didn’t care about what he wanted.
“She should have gotten married and gone home,” said Pete. “But Jan never listened to people. She listened to television more than she did to people. God,” he whispered, playing with a vent, “she would have made a great mother. Can you imagine her with kids? Can you imagine little people looking like Jan?”
Grant thought about Cheryl, and how she would be at the mall looking for a picnic basket for next year. Only three weeks ago, they’d been in Lake Placid, driving through the winding roads. Cheryl had turned the music down and opened the windows so that they could hear the fall leaves. But Grant had been elsewhere, in another version of the place. He’d imagined what Lake Placid might have looked like if they’d stumbled on it by accident rather than via connect-the-dots, how much deeper and cooler the lakes might have looked if they’d spilled into view rather than been foreshadowed by a map – how much sweeter it might have been to be naked in a glen with his wife during the midday than on the way to satisfy a hotel reservation. Cheryl came flooding into him, as a sign spelled the name of a place where twenty three thousand people lived.
“What about Chuck?” asked Owen. “I think she liked Chuck.”
Pete snarled. “Forget it. Maybe in that first year. But then she realized that he was treating her like crap. She admitted it once, remember? We were at Vir’s, in the basement, watching football. She was soaking up beer from the carpet. Then she started crying and said it, that he was treating her like crap. She got rid of him the next week. Maybe it took Jan a little while to catch on to what was going on. But when she did, she moved fast.” Pete tapped his fingers against the window. “She didn’t love him. She never loved any man.”
Grant thought about a patch of gravel on a hillside in Lake Placid. Above it, a path wound its way up towards the top of the mountain. He’d tried to walk up it, only to find it as slippery as car tires on an unpaved shoulder. Dried mud had turned to dust under his feet, and he’d stumbled over and over again. Finally, Cheryl had told him to come back down, and they’d gone into town to buy pottery from Chile.
Grant turned the wheel and slowed down. Ahead, a bridge spanned the highway and shot towards the southeast. A line of transport trucks was already on the off ramp, showing their slogans to the countryside. Grant moved the car to join them.
*****
Vir had fallen asleep again, his head buried in the pillow. His black hair, down to his shoulders on most days, was against the seat in a traditional knot. Next to him, Owen was sleeping as well, straight up. Occasionally, he would start half-awake to find a better position.
“He didn’t have to say that. I loved her too,” breathed Pete.
Grant nodded. He remembered Jan and how her eyes cast about for insects that could walk on water, how she would angle her head so that she had one eye beneath the surface and one above it. At the cottage, that was how it had been. She’d return from a hike with a handful of inedible berries, their juices on her fingers and her giggling about having smelled a bear. Later, she’d sit on the dock and shine the welcome bells with turpentine, or mesh twine until she had a fishing net. When it rained, Jan wished that she could make her arms more brown. When it was cold, her stomach moved beneath her shirt.
If there were ever a valley to be seen, Jan went into it to find the creek that had to be there. If there were ever a rock shelf, she had to uncover the snake that would be sunning itself on grains of sand. Jan conquered the names of leaves, the shapes of trees – and one day, she’d come back from a hike smiling, the same Jan who’d left smiling. Old Jan, friend Jan, same Jan, always there, casting for fish she would not eat. Grant remembered her standing on a boulder, dancing to avoid the flies.
Jan holding a pot over the fire, her hair dripping. A laugh, a smile and the heat from fire-warmed rocks; a story, a half-done song and sky cooled by night. Names spilling like words often do. Grant remembered a mountain bed made of leaves. Thighs and bare skin, the smudge of mud. A convulsion, a whisper, a denial, then the sun. Scents of the country, like love, paced by a heartbeat. Paced by two. A branch attacking a knee driven deep into the mountain bed. Fingers fleeing, a shudder that comes once, that never returns, that so empty returns; returns, only like fingers, to flee. Jan with new eyes. The question: tomorrow the day dawns and next year the mountain bed is rot, and this grassy moss which takes over, does it love you as much as I do now?
“Grant,” said Pete. “Grant, you missed the exit. You better turn around.”
Grant thought of Cheryl, home from the mall and sitting in front of the television. Maybe out in the garden listening to the geese fly. He thought about stopping somewhere and calling her. He found an exit and headed north. On the horizon, hills stretched into the dusk. Of the mountain bed hidden in the faraway land, not a sign remained.
*****
Grant stood on a small plot of land. He watched a little girl tease a boy around the base of a lamppost. Beyond them, something was moving about in a weeping willow, making its way up the branches to the crown.
It was the end of the day, as Jan had wanted. Grant sighed in the still air, in the warmth carried over from the sunlight. Jan was a few feet away.
Pete went to her and tried to keep from crying. Owen went to her too, and laid something down. He whispered what sounded like a confession: “Jan, I got this from Rangoon. It’s not much. It’s nothing at all. Next time, we’ll go together. The next time, get on the plane and come see me, okay?”
Vir came after, his hair about his shoulders. On his knees, he bowed a long, low bow.
Grant thought about Cheryl. She would be driving, sniffling about the rain. After dinner, she would call to ask how things had gone. He would talk about the drive, the heat in the car, and what he was about to do. The others were watching.
Jan liked leaves better than flowers. Jan had a name for everything that the world didn’t. Jan with new eyes, spent on the mountain bed, telling him long ago how this would go. Grant felt his heart pounding against the low light. He shuffled forward and saw his breath in the evening. It drew out before him, and beyond the cloud, there was a rumour of hills, the pastel marker swish of dawn – that, and the hint of the world where real fog came from, the same place where secrets still lived, and danced their way into sunset.
Well done. As always, clearly there, yet mysterious as well. A whole lot of longing in this.
Mark, thank you. Can you point me to what you have written of late, especially fiction, would love to catch up.
This is the only piece I’ve completed in the last couple of months… http://markpaxson.com/2015/12/21/chicago/
This is, as the title says, the story behind the story … http://markpaxson.com/2015/12/21/the-story-behind-the-story/
I took a break from blogging for the month of December and am trying to re-orient myself to fiction writing. I have returned to one of my half-completed novels with an eye to really trying to get it done early in 2016, but I’m still struggling with distractions and the internal editor. I hope to sit down some time this weekend and begin again.
Hope everything is well with you.
If you need any help on the novel, review or anything like that, let me know.
Will have a look at Chicago.
I will take you up on the offer once I finish it. I’d like to have a few readers take a few shots at it. I’m really struggling with how to write the final two (or three) big chunks of it, but once I do, and I am committed to doing so, I’ll send it your way. Thank you! And the offer is open to you as well. If there’s anything you’re working on that you’d like feedback on, send it my way. Happy New Year to you!! I hope you and your family are doing well.
Deal.
All’s well here – it’s snowing profusely at the moment, and this place is quiet but for the super-loud music. The best to you and your family this year, Mark – a year of writing, no?
That is my goal for 2016 — one of them anyway. Let’s see what we each can accomplish in the months ahead.
How perfect to start the new year with a new piece from you, Trend! Happy New Year!
Happy new year to you too, Elyse! Hope you’re doing smashingly well and that the new year treats you well.
Ahhh my Trentonian fix. Thank you. A rare treat to find a post..good to see you sir and to hear from you.
Fondly,
Your biggest fan 🙂
Cheers!
Hopefully this won’t be too rare, Audra – I suspect it won’t be. Biggest fan! That is so awesome… thanks Audra, as always.
Happy New Year, Sir Trent … and welcome back into the fold.
Thank you Frank, and happy new year to you too. Hope all is well.
Wow at the very pleasant surprise in my inbox. Of course, I want more. That didn’t change with the transition to 2016. Happy New Year, Trent.
Hey Jaded – happy new year to you too, wishing you the absolute best for the year to come. And always great to hear from you, I always figure people will forget about me after my extended absences but honestly seeing folks like you around just makes my heart warm.
Reblogged this on Kate McClelland.
A better way to begin the year there is not. Happily lapped up this latest unfinished tale with relish my friend. Happy New Year NB…may blessings abound for you and yours. You’ve been sorely missed!
SB! Happy new year to you and your family – been missing chatting with you. Hope you’re well, and looking forward to reading your stuff (as always).
wait… is Lake Placid a real place??? and does it have big alligators in it?
Lake Placid is real. They even had 1980 Winter Olympics there, where the famous Miracle on Ice game occurred in which the American hockey team defeated the big alligators.
It’s an awesome place to visit, too.
oh… right… I remember that… it was so unfair… alligators are cold blooded and could barely move.
They need to make a sequel to that movie. Lake Placid and the Two-Headed Alligator?
Or: Lake flaccid and the two headed trouser snake… (best porn title ever)…
wait… where did my other comment go???
What now?
never mind… I found it
“In the mountains ahead, snow slid out from under a fog, as though it were heavy and tired of living so high, where nothing ever went…” and, “Fingers fleeing, a shudder that comes once, that never returns, that so empty returns; returns, only like fingers, to flee…” Who writes like this other than you? And there is so much more. Just a stunning write, Trent. Absolutely one of my favorites. Now stick around and give us more where this came from – wherever the heck that is!
That second line with the fingers is my favorite – thanks much for the comment, Kelly, and I’m sure there’ll be more. And before I forget, happy new year, my friend.
Thank you – same to you! Wish you all the best! 🙂
I agree. And nice to see you around again, good sir.
Mr. Walker – happy to be around again. I shall be visiting soon to see what delights you’ve produced of late. If anything in particular you’re especially proud of, please let me know.
I appreciate your kind interest. As a general rule, I’m pretty particular about what I do or don’t post. Based on what I perceive to be your taste – and I could be off on this – I think you might like:
https://waltbox.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/baby-doll/
or
https://waltbox.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/die-my-darling/
It’s not kindness, Mr. Walker, you’re a terrific writer and I like terrific writing. Thanks for the links, I will certainly check them out.
Yay! Glad to see same Trent coming back from Burma or wherever you’ve been.
I would love to have gone to Burma! Happy new year, X!
Hey Trent,
I saved this read for early this morning while I was on a catamaran headed for Key West. It seemed like a wonderful way to savor every word. Unfortunately, my comment didn’t make it through or something as it isn’t here. You have to know it was a really, really good comment 😉 I will give it another shot.
We should all be so lucky to make such a lasting impression on the people we love as Jan obviously did on these four devoted friends. This reminded me of “The Big Chill”. Good friends getting together to say a final good bye to someone they all loved…something that seems to be happening with a higher degree of frequency these days. Thank you for this very intimate look at a very personal event in the lives of this group of friends.
Catamaran headed for Key West??? That sounds… wonderful. Enjoy your time down there, Michelle, and thanks for your comments – hope to see you in my reader soon, perhaps with some photos of places that have managed to avoid snow since forever.
Have I mentioned before that you are one hell of a writer?
It’s good to read you again. I love the characters here. I can see them. I want to be standing next to them at the end because I can already feel what they are each going through in that moment, so I might as well be there too. I think that means job well done to you.
Can’t wait to read what you come up with next.
Too too kind, Matticus – thank you. Glad the characters seemed real, I don’t think there’s a better compliment.
You really do write so wonderfully! What do you do with your writing other than post it on your blog? (Please don’t say nothing!)
Hey Vanessa! Happy new year and great to hear from you! I do write for other forums, and have a stockpile of stuff that I’m in the process of submitting, but I’m awful lazy about it.
Nice juxtaposition between Rangoon and Lake Placid. So where’ve you been? Are you writing and posting elsewhere? Or did you take a break? Are you back for a while or will there be another disappearing act?
Took a break from the blog, but not from writing. Just couldn’t keep up with everything, and I’m really really hoping not to take another break, as I miss this place when I’m not in it.
I’d like to see you TRY and take a break from writing. As if you could.
You have a real gift, Trent.
Are you working on a writing project, or just busy with ‘real life’. You haven’t been publishing much on the blog. (i.e. almost nothing for months and months)
Busy with real life, I guess, though writing too. Just couldn’t parse out enough time to get back into the blog, but I’m hoping to fix that.
As long as you’re writing, that’s the important thing. Although your blog readers selfishly want the quick hits from you.
So very many of your stories hurt. I miss Jan, too. I would leave her a song.
Glad to have your writing back.
Thanks Jones. Now – what is The Old Jones? What’s this about?
I moved hosting. You need to come visit the new place, and resubscribe. Tell all your friends, ’cause I lost like 700 subscribers because WP installations are a pain in my ass LOL
Holy crow! I’ll pop over.
Please do; I miss your responses!
wassup homy! lol why didn’t Cheryl love Jan? I’m glad it didn’t get tooo sad at the end… but as always, your writing is like ‘fingers fleeing’ across my soul. 🙂
Thanks Shards. I’m sure Cheryl would have liked Jan, but I’m not sure they ever met… you never know what the heart does, right.
could’ve been his long lost sister….
ooooh… lol 😛