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!


