#14 Pink Pen (Première)
On Steep Hills and Being A Parent
“Hey!”
“Oh! Speak French?
“Un peu! One sec…”
Il avait l’air triste and on the verge of tears. He plopped on the rock next to the trail et je suis descendu vers lui. Neither of us expected to find anyone on Neron: it’s a little mohawk mountain with a skinny ridge trail pleine de wind and descents glissants. Today I read that in March 2020 a woman my age “a chuté dans un couloir de descente, le couloir Godefroy, dévissant sur plusieurs mètres sans pouvoir s’arrêter” and was declared dead at the scene.
“I am so happy to see you…j’ai pensé que j’ai perdu la trace.”
“Me too! I was just following the pretty little blue dots and wasn’t sure if this was the actual route.”
“Ouais…moi aussi…J’ai très soif. Est-ce que do you have any water?”
Je me sentais like a hiker father helping an underprepared grasshopper as I handed him a tartelette au citron, some electrolytes, and my extra water. I tried not to widen my eyes as he quickly finished the entire bottle (“Thanks!”). It’s always (usually) easier to help than to be helped — While he apologized for drinking with notable desperation I felt smugly superior as the more responsible traveler.
“Pardon. So fucking relieved. Before I saw you up there on the rock, j’ai eu une mauvaise mentalité”.
“Huh?”
“Une mentalité faible.
“Uhhhh…”
He pointed to his brain, looked down, and shook his head.
“Oh yes! Haha! Yeah. You seemed sad.”
After I pointed him to the nearby descent I’d just climbed(super glissant), my new child departed to meet his friend for dinner near Clémencières. A half-mile later, wondering if he’d made it safely to the bottom and congratulating my unending generosity, I slipped on an off-piste rock and jutted three feet toward the edge of the cliff. Rocks crumbled under my feet as I peered down the chute et je me demandais si quelqu’un était mort ici. I watched a head sized rock tumble down the mountain…little chunks were thrown off as it fell faster and faster and faster than I thought a rock should be allowed to fall.
Maybe this is what it’s like to be a parent: Prepared by comparison, but still stupid.
Still hope he made it down ok.
