Thirsty

I placed the little paper cup

Beneath the spout and chunks of frozen water tumbled out

Then moved my cup next door and water poured from the adjacent tap

I slurped the cool mixture

The ice bobbing against my lips

And swallowed the slick liquid

Marveling at how easily I accessed what my body needed

My mind jumped to Saturday

We lost the trail in the forest

After coming down the mountain

We were out of water

But I needed water more than I remember ever needing it before

It didn’t seem to matter that I’d eaten plenty

All that mattered was that food isn’t water

I trudged along behind my friend, getting more behind with every halting, uncoordinated step

My legs were concrete blocks

My arms were having trouble utilizing poles that previously were so helpful

We fumbled through the felled trees which made a random, crisscross pattern my fatigued, foggy mind could not decipher

I gingerly stepped here and there hoping rotting logs would hold my weight

Desiccated, prickly branches clawed at my bare legs leaving their grasp behind in bloody, jagged fingerprints

I wondered what it might be like to fall face first, just like those trees, into the tangled mash

I’m sure it would be warm and suck me in

And did my hiking partner have cell service

Could he summon help in this wooded, desolate place

When he looked behind to find his, now, feeble friend delirious and languishing

On the forest floor

Eyes sunken, parched tongue lolling from my mouth, drool absent

I awoke from my most pleasant dream of lying down to his most welcome words, “I’ve found the trail!”

A “Hallelujah” sputtered up and with it came a surge of energy

Once on the trail, I stopped to turn the empty water bladder out above my head and lamely tried to catch the last few drips

They missed my mouth and trickled giggling down my neck instead

Suffice to say I did survive my trial by way of want for water

Made it to the car to share a coke

And nothing’s ever tasted better

The feature pic entitled “Quenched” was created by me by combining photos from Pixabay, edited using Pixlr . The footer pic is from Pixabay, edited using Prisma. Posts come out when I feel like it. 😀 Scroll down to the bottom of the page to follow me or sign up to receive my posts via email. Listen to many of my post on Spotify. Follow me on Instagram. Take a peek at my Redbubble store Pollyeloquent.redbubble.com. See samples of my products below each post. Thank you for giving me some of your precious time!