An Evening Hike

I arrived home a bit earlier then usual from work yesterday evening.
It was still light out and the sun shone happily through open patches of clouds.

I stared out the window for a few minutes, reveling in the light then stepped out the back door and into the fresh air.

Beside our house are several acres of wooded wetlands. My feet turned towards it and I found myself hiking into the thick brush.

I climbed over fallen logs and picked my way through vine covered underbrush. It was slow going but each step that I took brought me deeper into a magical place where trees swaying in the wind whispered a soft melody to me.

A rain cloud passed over the sun and flung tiny icy raindrops on me but there, in the shelter of the trees, I raised my face and let them splash onto my skin.

A flock of seagulls, tiny specks of white against the black of the rain cloud, flew past skimming the tree tops.

The cloud moved on and the skies cleared. A half sliver of the moon smiled down at me through the lace of the tree branches towering high above me.

I felt a momentary pang that I hadn't brought Chanda with me to capture this but somehow it felt right. This solitary moment free from the things from my other world.

I stayed until the sun faded and the cool evening air began to pluck through my clothing biting into my skin.

I followed a tiny animal trail back to the gate of the woods and stepped out of the magic back into my regular world.

I walked the parameters of the yard and finally back to the house, flicked my mud covered shoes under the alcove of the terrace and stepped through the terrace doors and into the inviting warmth of home.

Lord V smiled at me over his magazine and I walked softly over to the bar filling a tiny champagne flute with water, arranging tiny purple flowers brought back from my wanderings inside it.

I set the little vase beside a larger one that held the first daffodils of the season, I had picked a few days earlier, then went about the business of making dinner while my insides hummed a soft happy tune.