Just Another Walk in the Park -- NOT!

The evening began as many previous scorching late-July evenings. Brendan, minus Shay who was spending the night with a buddy, hit the house about 6:15. Mike whizzed around the Indy 500 lawn-track on his riding mower while I battled Zuma’s relentless forces between preparations of our evening meal.

After reading a text during supper, Brendan announced, “I think he’s about to leave right now.”

“You THINK, or he is?” Mike responded.

“He IS.”

“Do we need to leave now?”

“No, we can finish supper then go.”

From the dialogue, I inferred they had plans. (I’m smart like that, you know.)

At this point, Mike turned to me, “You wanna come?”

Clueless, I gave the logical, “Where?”

Seems arrangements had been made to kick the soccer ball at Tiffany Park with a younger friend of Brendon’s.

“Maybe,” I mustered.

See………I had BIG plans the following morning. A college friend whom I hadn’t seen in thirteen years and I were meeting at the Colcord House Bed & Breakfast in Waco for a catch-up weekend. I still had to plan my wardrobe, wash clothes, pack and gas up. The responsible thing would be to stay home and get organized.

On the other hand…..I wouldn’t see Mike the rest of the weekend plus I wouldn’t have time with the boys. I felt almost obligated to spend some quality time watching two of them run around and sweat. So, when Brendan asked if I was coming while we cleared the supper dishes, I said, “Sure!”

I put on my go-to Yellow Box sandals expecting to plop down for the 3-on-3 exhibition and hopped behind the wheel to chauffeur my crew.

When we arrived at the park, Mike observed my inappropriate shoe attire. “I figured you’d want to walk, but I guess not since you’re wearing sandals. You know there’s that nice track around the park.”

“Yeah,” Brendan chimed in, “the new trails are pretty cool. We’ve ridden our bikes through there.”

I hadn’t intended to walk while they played. My agenda was spending time with them even though I had other things to do. I guess Mike had an agenda of his own – exercise time for me.

“These sandals are practically the most comfortable shoes I have. They’ll be fine for a walk,” I threw over my shoulder as I headed off to check out Park Hudson Trail winding through and around Tiffany Park.

Wow! These were nice trails – wide sidewalks spacious enough for bikers, walkers and joggers at the same time. I crossed an ornamental bridge into a palatial view of serenity. It wasn’t just ONE trail either. There were many forks – all kinds of places to explore. Although I had no idea where I was going I assumed all paths pretty much led to the same area.

A pair of bunnies darted into view, stopped, sniffed the air, and hopped playfully out of sight. Hosts of squirrels darted up and down tree branches while katydids chirped amicably and birds warbled, repositioning themselves to a better vantage point at times.

Eventually I arrived at an entrance/exit farther up the street where I saw the trail pick up again across the road. I sometimes drove this street on heavy traffic days as an alternate less-congested route, so I’d seen early-morning walkers/joggers entering and exiting these specific trails. Now, I too, would know where they led.

Navigating that section was easy. So easy, in fact, when I exited again, I re-crossed the street heading back the way I came. Only THIS time, I would take different trails.

Almost immediately I encountered a deer standing erect with cocked ears and black watchful eyes. I stopped, and for a while we stood motionless observing each other. I baby-talked the deer, as I’m prone to do with most animals, hoping he/she recognized me as friendly.

What a placid trail.

When I returned to the original path I took out of Tiffany Park, I opted to venture the right-side fork for a different view. The sun had sunk lower in the sky and the trail’s sodium vapor lights popped on. Just enough time to round out my evening walk.

An apartment complex sat to my right. How cool to have access to all of this just twenty yards from your front door. I continued on, anxious to see what other compelling sights awaited.

Maybe it was the late evening sunset or the thicker tree limbs above the path, but the trail was definitely darker, even with streetlights on. The tone in the movie version of my stroll would have been “ominous” and “foreboding,” but hey…..this is real life, so I still saw it as an evening walk in the park.

I watched as a huge bird, maybe a hawk or a buzzard, soared overhead alighting the topmost branch of a Live Oak. He paid little attention as I passed. I guess it meant I wasn’t dead or decaying, always a good thing. We had a storm four nights earlier with winds strong enough to knock down the fence at my house, so this particular trail was littered with small sticks, leaves and other debris I suspect wasn’t usually there. I paid more attention to this path lest I step wrong and put a damper on my reunion-weekend plans.

Unexpectedly a downed, quarter-sized branch sprang to life only two short steps in front of me. It zigzagged away from my direction, but I couldn’t have cared less! In my haste to be ANYWHERE other than where the snake was I shot like a rocket into the air. Much to my dismay, my JP4 pack promptly hit empty and I returned to earth, my left foot landing half-on the sidewalk and half-on the unlevel ground. Of course I had on those stupid sandals and could feel my foot slip. This was a feet-don’t-fail-me-now situation if I’d EVER experienced one, so I wasn’t about to allow that sandal fall off. Imperative I hit the ground running, I shoved my foot hard, relieved when the strap caught hold even as it cut into flesh.

“Screechhhhhhh, Screechhhhhh,” echoed from somewhere behind as the sudden activity captured the monster bird’s attention. I was semi-aware of large flapping wings as we both, apparently, vacated the area. From a safe distance I finally turned to view the scene. The snake was nowhere in sight, but it didn’t matter. He could be lurking ANYWHERE, plotting a grisly attack.

Surprised to be alive and completely amazed I didn’t suffer the fatal heart attack I always assumed would occur with a snake encounter, I wasted no time in heading on down the path, painfully respectful of the tender skin under my sandal strap. I couldn’t wait to be back at the park!

With the exit/entrance in sight, I slowed my pace considering removing my left shoe. However, as relief was literally steps away, I thought the better of it “just in case.”

Wait! This didn’t look right. There was no power plant near the park, and an electrical power plant lay dead ahead.

Reaching the exit, I surveyed the area with no clue as to my location. This was absurd – I thought ALL these paths led to the same approximate place. Guess I thought wrong. Imagine that.

A football field length to my left lay a semi-busy street. Surely I’d recognize where I was then. Even though the street looked familiar, I still couldn’t place it -- specifically in retrospect to Tiffany Park. I had no choice but to turn around and head back the direction I’d just come.

BACK ON SNAKE TRAIL!!!!!

The funny thing…. Park Hudson Trail truly was well-planned. Strategically scattered emergency phones lined the paths. I’m positive those phones contained GPS so the exact location of any call was instantly discernable. I could picture the reaction on the other end if I picked up a phone and said, “I don’t have a clue where I am. Can you tell me?” Lost on the Park Hudson Trail was not considered an emergency, I’m fairly sure.

By now it was dusk, my foot was being rubbed more raw with each step, and here I was forced to backtrack. I knew Mike, Brendan, and the friend were definitely finished playing soccer. I also knew I was a brisk twenty minute walk from the park. But since I was back on the snake trail, brisk wouldn’t be an issue.

With trepidation and minimal discomfort, I set foot back on the path. As it was considerably darker every stick on the sidewalk loomed menacingly, a potential villain. Once soothing night sounds heightened my tension. In anticipation of the park, I scamper-gimped forward.

It was probably a good thing I didn’t recall the exact spot I encountered Mr. Snake.

Unscathed I reached the fork-not-taken leading back to Tiffany Park. In record time I crossed the bridge, soccer fields in view.

“There she is!” Brendan announced.

“You made it.” Mike smiled.

“You got lost, didn’t you? That’s what I told Dad. There’s a bunch of trails that go all over the place back there.”

“Did you enjoy your walk?”

Hmmmmmm…….not quite sure “enjoy” is the best term to describe my eventful stroll. Perhaps “entertaining” is a better choice. It was without a doubt, THE most entertaining walk in the park ever.

Just Another Walk in the Park -- NOT!!!!