"Lost Self" ~ Port Isabel, Texas (c) 2011 Skip Hunt
Last night, (or was it the night before last? I can't remember. The lazy days are already running into each other.) ;) I road my motorcycle down the road and into Port Isabel in search of an easy late-night cheeseburger. The street seemed darker than it should of been, but I paid little attention.
On the way back to my lazy lair, I noticed the street and traffic lights were out. A police car blocked the intersection that I'd just passed through on my earlier search. There wasn't anything blocking the way coming from the perpendicular avenue, so I thought I'd just save some tine and go around the roadblock.
Almost home free when a cop comes running right in front of me ordering me to stop. Kinda harshed my mellow somewhat, but the cheeseburger had gone down so nicely that I didn't mind too awfully much.
He was obviously short of breath from running, but still yelling at me about something. I yelled right back, "Hey man! I can't hear a word you're saying. Let me stop and turn off the tunes in my headphones!"
He stared at me in disbelief as he caught his breath and kept his flashlight blinding my eyes. After I'd put the bike in neutral, taken off my helmet, dug my player out of my pocket and found the pause button... I asked, "What's up?" He looked peeved and asked, "Just where do you think you're going?!"
The situation was starting to make me more than a little nervous and I completely forgot the name of the place I'm staying so I answered, "errrr, ummm... I'm going to the place that I'm staying." I really didn't expect that answer would suffice, but he didn't even press me on the specifics at all. He just quipped, "Well you ain't goin' THIS way son! Not unless of course you actually WANT to die!!!" he then pointed his flashlight to the intersection with a downed live powerline laying across the street.
He then directed me toward the detour and I was once again settling back unto my mellow and didn't give the trivial inconvenience second thought.
It wasn't until I was strolling along the pier earlier today, looking out into the infinite sea when it occurred to me that last night could have easily been my last late-night cheeseburger run. I remember the thump of riding over that live powerline just about as I was noticing how dark the street was. I might not be here today, standing here and losing my self in the horizon.
I really gotta pay closer attention. And tonight, I think I'll look for Mexican food instead. ;-)
Skip Hunt
Austin, Texas