Saskatchewan Drive
Familiar talk is all you can remember. Vague banter sneaking up here and there, stealing your ears and attention. Spilling unbridled from what’s-her-name’s lips or what’s-his-face’s mouth, it has deftly, stealthily drowned any island of recollection you tried to glean from the day’s teachings.
A tide of listless applause adjourns the tired congregation from its day-long engagement in the lecture hall. Home you rush, distractedly, eyes burning red and dry; mind hollow, still ringing with the sound of obscure, multisyllabic terms and awkward, quadruple-German-hyphenated eponyms. The resonance soon dulls, giving way to a long-awaited sigh of relief.
The break, though, is short-lived.
In slithers the rest of the afternoon’s exchanges, a discordant symphony of misplaced soundbites …whispering sarcasms passed behind a hand to only the truest allies; strange anecdotes from the OR; delerious visits to the ER; adrenal cysts, ligaments like batman, mannitol bowel explosions, and jabs at mac users …most of all though, you hear the sharp silence of his guarded glare from across the table.
White noise and dark intent. Maybe he too had heard.
…of how stupidly you let physiology betray judgment two Saturdays previous. Wrists glowing blue, green, and orange, you spent too much time laughing at urology jokes, but wasted none when the drinks were finished. Unruly, thoughtless rebellion. What were you thinking?
Oh wait, you weren’t.
…
And suddenly, all at once, the urge to escape conquers your senses. The only thing left of the day’s meaningless murmurs is an overwhelming desire to erase them, to fly away from this all; leave for a minute and never have to worry about returning.
So you do.
The air outside smells like cold rain, and it’s clearer than you remember from the way home. Each step purposely propels your core along the slushy sidewalk; faster and faster you run, almost out of desperation, trying to break from that sunken, resigned, and obtunded-but-annoyed state of mind. Hazy orange streetlights brighten your trail, punctuating the steady, ivory spotlight that is the 7pm moon, peeking out just over the highrise apartments and tall cedars that line Saskatchewan Drive. This is your escape.
