"It's been a while since I've been in an area where I have the potential of being the only person in a 5-mile radius."
"It's nice."
I take a look at the Sean Hannity collection, and a plaque from America's Most Wanted which I can only assume is because they filmed something here. Melancholy has crept into my brittle bones, binding tightly like deep roots I know all too well.
"We're here on a trip, I called you last night about a card."
I have found myself in a place I never thought I would this year, as well as in a place I didn't think I would stand. The flow of time made it otherwise.
"Oh!" The man behind the desk exclaimed. "You must be Joe."
My dad placed his hand on my shoulder. "Yep! And this is my son." I snap to and release my gaze from the random picture of Sean. "Hey. Nice to meets you." I put my hand forward to give out one of those famous cold hard American handshakes.
My dad and the man continue to talk. My mind began to drift off, staring aimlessly at the jackalope in front of me. I wonder what life for it must have been like, scary probably.
After my dad and the man settles up we hop into his truck and head out to the lease, we have a bit of grief getting and celebration to do today.
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[12ish Hours Earlier]
After a confusing hour or so, my dad and I unload his truck for a rousing Father and Son Hunting Trip. You may think this would be an event I'd hate, on former occasions you'd probably be right. Not so much this time.
"I bring ALL the guns in right? It would be a dumb thing to leave them in the truck, right?" The look on my fathers face tells me my joke didn't land the way I thought it would. We get ready for bed because we got a big morning ahead of us. While my dad was on a witch-hunt for the card I was able to sneak a few hits in before the evening ended.
"Do you have anything you want to watch?" My dad shrugs and kind of waves me off. I land on an episode of The Simpson's. Some minutes fly by.
"Hey, Dad..."
"Yes, Son."
"Do you believe in aliens?"[1]
Some more times passes. We see the family have a struggle on the tv. "I have so much more to worry about on this physical world that I don't have time to care about what happens above it."
fair enough.
Shortly after we turn off the show, and lay down to rest for the night. I took the bed opposite of how mine is paired back at my house, somehow it feels familiar, like all the random beds I've slept in over the years. The mattress is less giving then the ones back home, for the better, I don't think I need to get used to this.
Maybe my dad is right, the physical world is more important than myself.[2]
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[1] "I mean, you'd be dumb if you thought we were the only living sentient beings in this Galaxy."
[2] "Some say that depersonalization is a form of enlightenment, but not all enlightenment is equal." read more