RAGS TO WILDERNESS

It wasn’t long from the beginning of the splashing of water onto the rocks that I was feeling sweat running down my body. Just from the idea of it, I splashed more water which caused the heat to become almost unbearable to be in.

            At first, I was alarmed at how the intense heat made its way downward from the top of the lodge to engulf my head and then the rest of my body.

            Desperately trying to make out the outline of my companion, I found that I couldn’t sense his presence anymore. I became aware that I wasn’t even in the lodge when looking upwards to find myself levitating amongst the stars in a multicolored galaxy. Hell, I’m levitating in the center of the universe, was my first thought.

            Totally blown away by what I was envisioning, I found myself desperately wanting to escape from it. Scared completely now of what I was witnessing, I did a backwards roll, sending my body to rip through plastic while fighting willow to break free from the lodge.

            What sense of reality I had left was telling me to get to cold water and do it fast. I believed that submerging myself in the pool of icy water would snap me out of what I was witnessing and bring me back to reality.

            Out of pure desperation, I rolled into the pool of water corralled in by the giant trees that reach upwards into the heavens.

            As my head came up from being completely under, I bounced my way to the edge of the pool to hold myself up by placing my elbows upon the ground in front of me.

            I was soon to realize that the cold water wasn’t going to help me at all. If anything, the opposite occurred. I pulled myself halfway out of the pool to find myself looking upwards into the eyes of a tall coyote that was leaning against a huge yellow pine. With back legs crossed, he steadied his tall body by leaning his weight up against the tree with his right front paw.

            I was impressed by the agility of this tall, lean dog. I guessed him to be seven feet tall while standing on his back feet.

            With his free front paw, he motioned for me to come closer to him. I couldn’t fight against it. I had no choice in the matter.