A Fall Observation - 2. Picnic

Zander stood. "You guys want to go for a walk, maybe? Stretch out?"

Twoey got up. "Can't go far. They'll be here any minute."

"You think so? I figure we have ten, fifteen minutes, at least."

"Not the way David runs," Twoey said, and I had to laugh. Knowing David, Twoey could have been right.

"Come on," I said, "we have a minute or two." Mel rose.

"Hey, we're going to stretch for a few. You coming with?" she called over to Terry and Andy.

"Sure thing," Terry answered.

We wound up strolling down the hill a bit and walking down the course into the woods. The trail was pretty, running through the tall trees and carpeted with red, orange and yellow leaves. If we had followed it far enough, we'd have found the banks of the Genesee River.

Terry and Twoey shed their jackets. "Getting warm?" I asked.

"Yeah," he admitted.

We walked a few more paces. "I'm worried about David."

"You think I'm not?" Twoey hissed back at me. I'm sure he didn't want to get the others involved in this conversation.

"You sure you don't have any idea what's eating at him?"

"I told you, I don’t know."

"He hasn't said anything to me about it." I said.

"Should he have?" Twoey asked.

Ouch. That stung. I mean, David and I used to be able to read each other's minds. But Twoey had taken over that role. He and David were tighter now than we ever used to be.

I changed the subject. "So. You going to do what those guys did?" I gestured at Zander, walking ahead of us.

"What's that?"

"Get married, smartass."

"You gonna marry Mel?" Twoey countered.

"We're kids, Twoey, Jesus."

"So are they." He nodded ahead.

"So are you." I didn't mean to pick a fight with Twoey. But something was goading me.

"But they're different. Everybody's different."

"No shit. "

"Look Gary, you think I don't love David enough?"

I took a long, hard look into Twoey's green eyes. They flashed in anger. But he was right. I wondered if any of us loved David enough. What made me ache was knowing that our friendship hadn't been adequate somehow. David was better – way better – but I was missing something. We were missing something. Or maybe it was that there was something in David that wasn't quite settled, even now.

But one thing was certain: David loved Twoey, and that seemed to make David happy.

I looked away. "I know you love him as much as I do," I admitted.

"Then we have to be patient. I'm not saying it's easy." Twoey spoke.

"It's just…" I hesitated. The words didn't want to form in my brain. "I feel like we're all going to break apart at the end of this year, you know? I get that. And that hurts enough. But I kind of feel like I've lost my best friend David, already. So I'm not feeling very patient. And patient isn't one of my good points, anyway. Am I making sense? " I finished up.

Twoey actually smiled at me. "You're not losing him. You're just getting me, too. Try not to worry."

"Easy for you to say."

"Easier for you than me," said Twoey, pulling a half smile. "We'd better head back," Twoey added. He might have sounded a little anxious. "We don't want to be in the way of the runners."

Nobody wanted that, so we all turned back. Making our way back up the high bank was a lot harder than going down.

We got back to our spot with only a little time to spare. Suddenly, there was a tension in the air.

Pretty soon, we saw some brightly clad runners emerge from the woods we’d just left, their faces nearly as red as the uniforms they wore. Then more appeared behind these leaders, and I began looking for David. I remember how focused and single-minded David could be about his running. When he made the move from JV to Varsity a few years ago, he was practically a machine. I was sure he would be near the front of the pack.

I wasn’t disappointed. I saw David come out of the woods a few moments later. His face showed complete concentration. He was in his zone. I started clapping, and cheering; we were supposed to make noise and encourage our friends, right? Twoey let out a piercing whistle. Christ, where did he learn to do that?

But David wasn’t alone. He was running side by side with a giant of a kid running in a black and gold uniform. The kid’s legs must have been a mile long.

It was then I realized Terry, the girl on my right, was bouncing up and down, and shouting, too.

“Come on Kaz, keep it up, great work…” she shouted.

Was that her boyfriend? Must be, ‘cause Zander and Andy were cheering, too.

A few moments later, our friends disappeared around the next bend in the course, and out of sight.

“If we hurry, can we make it to the finish line?” Mel asked.

“Well, technically, I think we could, but by the time we park and then find where the race ends, we’ll miss Kaz. And your friend, too," Terry added. She seemed a little bummed by that.

“How will we know how they finish?” Andy asked.

“Kaz will text us. He’ll know.”

And so we stood there as the other runners passed by. We cheered for the Daleville runners and the people from wherever it was Terry and her monster man came from – Blackburn, that was it. As the stragglers were puffing up the hill, I heard Twoey’s phone ring in his pocket. Almost at the same time, Terry’s went off, too.

“Come on, Twoey, what’s the story?” Mel was as antsy as Terry.

“David placed tenth,” Twoey smiled.

“That’s good, right?”

“Considering the competition here, yeah, that’s fantastic.”

I think to turn to Terry. “What about your boyfriend?”

Her megawatt smile tells me he did well. “Ninth. A tenth of a second ahead of Twoey’s David.”

So she remembered his name. I smiled.

Terry’s phone went off again. She examined a text. “Kaz says he and David are going to run the 10K – friendly, not in competition.”

“Jeez, can’t they get enough?” Mel asked.

Zander and Andy both laughed. “Not Kaz!” the black haired guy grinned. “Say Terry, does Kaz run in his sleep?”

Terry blushed a bright red. “Zander! How would I know?”

But her color told everyone that she knew from experience that he probably did.

“I know David does,” Twoey blurted out.

“Does what?”

“Run. In his sleep.”

“I guess all runners do,” said Mel. She might have been trying to cover for Twoey. She knew some of what David had gone through.

“I do, too,” volunteered Andy.

What was that supposed to mean? But I didn’t have time to think about that. Mel changed the subject.

“What’s happening about lunch?”

“There’s hot dogs and stuff at the Blackburn team tent after the last race,” Terry replied. “I’m sure you guys could eat with us, too, if you wanted to.”

I traded looks with Mel and Twoey.

“They have other food, too,” Terry added – for the runners. They like to eat healthy stuff. If that’s what you’re into.

Twoey smiled. “Why not? Sounds okay to me.”

“And what about tonight?” Zander asked.

“What about it?”

“There’s some kind of post-race celebration at the University. You’re coming, right?” Zander knew damn well we hadn’t talked about that.

As I predicted earlier, Mel looked interested. Twoey looked uncertain.

“I’m up for it if you guys are,” I told them. That was as much as I would say.

“I don’t’ know. Maybe.”

“You’ve got to come,” Terry said with confidence, “Kaz and David finished in the top ten.”

Twoey shook his head. “I don’t know if David is going to want to go. He’s sometimes funny about crowds of people.”

Andy nodded, as if in understanding. “But it won’t be a crowd if you’re there with him. That makes it family.”

“Look, let’s ask David when we see him,” said Twoey.

I wondered whether one would try to talk the other out of it. It sounded like fun to me – I mean, a party on a college campus, or going back home: which would you pick? Get real.

We waited patiently on the blanket for the 10K runners to make an appearance. For the last time, a stream of runners appeared. David and Terry’s boyfriend weren’t near the front this time, they seemed perfectly content to straggle along toward the end.

The seemed to be having a conversation as they ran, something I can’t ever do. But when we stood up to cheer and holler, David waved, and Terry’s huge guy flashed an enormous grin. When they disappeared down the trail to the left, that was our cue to move.

We'd spent a whole sunny morning on this grassy rise overlooking the river valley, and suddenly, we scrambled to gather up our belongings.

"Hey, Zander, don't forget your sketchbook," Mel called out, holding up the somewhat battered item, which had fallen into the grass.

God, if I had talent like that, I'd never lose sight of something so valuable.

"Thanks," he said to her, smiling, taking it back. "We'd better hustle if we want to beat Kaz and Twoey's David back."

Twoey's David? Our David.

Back at the parking lot, we piled into vehicles, and our little caravan pulled out onto the Park highway, an artery which runs the length of Letchworth.

"Is that Terry behind us?" Twoey asked, twisting around.

I glanced in the rearview mirror. An aged Oldsmobile was close on my tail, but I couldn't see much of the driver. "I think that's her," I smirked. "Maybe that's her head I see just above the steering wheel."

That earned me a punch in the arm from Mel. Female solidarity, maybe.

Anyhow, the drive down to the finish line and team gathering area was quick. But finding a place to park was not – the place was a zoo. Now I fully understood the wisdom of having our little grassy spot to ourselves, and I wondered why more people didn't do what we did.

All three cars circled the area, looking for a spot. Finally, we just gave up and parked on the edge of the road, pointed back the way we had just come.

"Come on!" Terry gestured to us as we emerged from our car.

She hustled into the dense crowd of milling runners, supporters and coaches even as we caught up with Andy and Zander.

"How does she know where she's going?" Mel asked.

"Just look for Kaz – the big guy," Andy had to raise his voice.

But there was more to it than that. She must have known where to go, because Terry made a beeline through the crowd, while our group worked along its way in her wake. By the time we made it through, I saw where Terry had gone: a big blue tent, the kind people put up in the yard for parties and cookouts and stuff. She stood there, chattering with her boyfriend.

Closer up, he really did look huge.

Terry waved us over. "Kaz, you have to meet our new friends." Her excitement was contagious. "This is Gary and his girlfriend, Mel," she pointed to us, "and their friend Twoey."

"Congratulations, man. You ran great," I told him, shaking his hand.

"It was fun. Great place to run," the big man grinned.

"Hey, you were running with Twoey's boyfriend, David. Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he should be around here someplace. He was going to come over here once he found…oh." He focused on Twoey. "That's you, isn't it?"

"I guess I should go find David – hey!" Twoey cried out as a pair of arms circled him from behind. David found us.

Twoey turned around to kiss him.

I had to wait to get my chance at giving David a hug. "Great race, man. Fantastic job," I told him when it was my turn, thumping him on his sweaty back.

"Thanks, Gary. You're a great friend. A best friend." David said to me as he let me go.

Those words made me feel something good inside. "How did you survive the bus ride over? You must have left at some evil hour to get here"

"I slept; I meditated. No problem."

"Are you hungry?" Mel asked, stepping in.

David smiled. "Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I barely had anything before the race."

"Terry's boyfriend wants to grab something from here and maybe we could go explore the park," she added.

"Who? What are you talking about?" David looked puzzled.

"The huge guy you ran with. His girlfriend was with us on the hill. Terry. Her boyfriend…"

"Kaz. Yeah. What about him?" The big guy stood a few paces away, but his attention was distracted.

"He was talking about doing a picnic or something. You want to go with them?"

David looked over at Twoey, who smiled and nodded. "Sure. Okay. They have anything I can eat here?"

On the one hand, it was good to see David smiling. He looked happy. Maybe the pressure of this event must have been weighing on his mind for the past week or so. But on the other hand, I wasn't completely sure about this. Maybe I wasn't up for sharing David, not with these new friends.

"Let's go see." Twoey grabbed David's hand, and led the way toward the food, following his nose.

I was surprised that the boosters group running the tent had actually thought of the kind of healthy food David eats. Gotta get the people in Daleville on board with this.

A few minutes later, Mel and I found ourselves on the outskirts of the crowd with David, Twoey, Kaz and Terry, along with Zander and Andy. Each of us carried handfuls of wrap sandwiches - Mel took grilled chicken, I had roast beef - and a bunch of other stuff.

"So, everybody got what they need?" Terry may have been tiny, but she was a real organizer. "The cars are over that way. Let's go see the rest of this place."

"Wait, wait," David interrupted. "I have to tell coach I'm coming back with you, Gary. I'll need to get my stuff off the team bus."

We split up. Twoey and David agreed to meet Mel and me at the car. Kaz, Terry and the rest walked over to where we were parked; we didn't have long to wait before Twoey and David piled in, David carrying a small gear bag.

"Let's go," Twoey said.

I flashed my lights, and our caravan pulled away. The road wound its way back along the valley of the Genesee River, through groves of tall trees, and scrubby growth.

"That's where we parked, and walked through those woods," Mel pointed out as we went by.

David didn't seem to be listening, though. I saw him in the rearview mirror, gazing out the window. Was he retreating into himself, or just coming down after the race?

"Do you know where we are going?" Twoey asked.

"Not a clue." I was following Andy, who drove an older red Ford pickup truck. Terry was driving ahead, leading the way. After what seemed like a long meander through the woods, we came to what seemed like a major intersection. A sign pointed to our left: "St Helena" it read, mysteriously. Our three car procession slowed for a moment. I wondered if there was something good down that way.

Terry must have decided to keep going, because she accelerated again a second or two later.

The roadway continued to twist and turn through woods, now more sharply sloping down and away from the road to our left. I had to be careful not to ride the tail of the pickup Andy was driving. Even so, I caught glimpses of open spaces – wide open spaces – through the trees on my side of the car. And then there was a gap in the foliage, and I got a good look. It wasn't just a valley, on the other side of the trees, it was a freaking canyon. And then it was gone, as the road turned away from the edge, and wound its way around and over creeks and other parts of the landscape.

Maybe a few more minutes, and we came to another, larger opening. There was a picnic shelter there, right at the rim, overlooking the gorge.

"Please, can we get them to stop here?" David pleaded.

He didn't need to ask. The brake lights ahead of us made it clear we were parking here, in a space clearly made for the purpose. We got out of the cars and carried our food across the road to the shelter. We were eerily quiet.

The eight of us stood there as a group gazing out at the sight. Shale rock formations on the far side of the canyon stared back at us, covered with trees in their brilliant fall colors under a deep blue sky. Far below, the Genessee River wound its way northwards, back in the direction of the road we had just traveled.

"Shit. Awesome." The words escaped my mouth. That happens a lot with me.

David walked up to a low stone wall near the edge of the cliff. "It's a long way down." He commented.

Twoey joined David, putting an arm around his waist. Twoey kissed David on the cheek. I was near enough to hear what he murmured: "You okay, angel?"

David nodded. "I'll be fine."

I wondered again what was on David's mind, but I was distracted by the sound of someone sitting down heavily at a picnic bench.

"Whew, I'm ready to eat!" the big man, Kaz exclaimed.

This seemed to startle everyone into action. I realized how hungry I was.

I couldn't help noticing David glancing at Zander and Andy across the big table a couple of times. Was he mad at me for joining up with them for the day? Maybe this was a mistake.

"This is good stuff, thanks for letting us sponge off your tent," Mel said to Terry a few minutes later.

"I don't think anyone minded. There was plenty."

"You brought all that from home?"

"No, it came from the University. From the people taking care of runners in the dorms," Kaz chipped in.

"Did you see Glenn there?" Terry asked.

"I wasn't looking for him," Zander said.

"Who's Glenn?" Mel asked.

"He's the guy hosting us at his suite at the University," Kaz said. "He kind of coordinated where we slept and when we ate. Gave us a tour, that kind of thing."

"Does he run for the University?"

"I don't think so. I think he does something for the Athletic Department."

"I hear there's supposed to be some kind of party or ceremony tonight for all the runners," I put in nonchalantly. I watched David carefully – despite everything, I wanted to be there. A party on a college campus? Who would want to miss that?

"Did someone say something about a party?" Mel chimed in.

I saw David wince, and my heart sank.

"Sounds like fun," Twoey added. "You want to go?"

David shook his head. "I don't know. Not sure I'm feeling it."

"Come on, David, you've got to be there. You placed in the top ten!" Kaz smiled a broad smile. "Besides, I'd be lonely without you."

David's eyebrows went up.

"Hey, David's mine, back off." Twoey laughed.

Kaz turned a shade of pink and joined the laughter. "You know what I meant. We have to stick together. I ran with you. Twice."

Finally, I saw a small smile break out on David's face. "Maybe. I don't know."

"Yeah, you know. Just don't want to admit it."

"You'd better agree," Andy chuckled. "Kaz doesn't take no for an answer. Hell, he bought me sneakers so I would run with him."

"Get out, that's not true," Twoey accused.

"True story," Andy insisted.

"Come on, David, I want you there," Kaz coaxed with a grin.

Twoey made his best pleading face. "Can we go? Please?"

"Okay, okay, fine." David capitulated, putting up his hands. But he was still smiling.

"Great, I'll call Glenn." Kaz said.

"Whoa, whoa, what's that for?"

"You’re not gonna drive home all tired out, are you? You can stay in the suite with us," Terry explained.

"But – "

"Come on, David, it will be fine. I don't mind crashing in the dorm for a night." I told him.

"And Ginny will be okay with it," added Twoey.

I really don't remember the food we ate. I remember more the light and the sun shining into the gorge, the sense of space and the power of nature.

"Incredible," I heard David say.

"Like something out of Earth Science class," I agreed. "Why the hell didn't they take us here instead of that stupid field trip to a swamp?"

"You had to go on a field trip where?" Kaz, the big man, asked.

"This was what, in eighth, ninth grade? Anyway, we went to see this big dairy farm, and then we had to hike down to some huge marsh where we got this freakin' lecture on agricultural runoff pollution."

"God, that was a terrible trip," laughed Mel. "Remember how Angie Merrill slipped off the trail and stepped in the mud all the up past her knees?"

"She bitched nonstop all the way back to the farm, and the whole bus ride home," I recalled. "And Burch had to ride with her up front in the..."

"...up in the front of the bus. To take care of her." David finished my sentence for me.

Oh shit. Sometimes, I just can't help my stupid mouth, saying stuff at exactly the wrong time. Burch was the one who'd hurt David.

"Yeah, well, we never got to go on field trips for science class," Twoey said in a hurry, covering for David. "Nothing like this. This is awesome."

"You're right. It is." Andy said in a quiet voice. "But I can see the point about the farm runoff, too. Don't want that getting into your water."

"You some kind of expert?" David challenged. There was something, off about the way David narrowed his eyes at Andy.

"No. Just worked on a farm."

"Farm boy, then?"

"Um, no. I got hired, um, by accident." Andy's voice trailed off.

David looked down. His nerves had been twanged by mentioning Burch; but what was up with Andy? How do you get hired by accident?

"So, I saw on Google that there's this big falls and a bridge across the river further down the road." Zander changed the subject. Thank God. "Anybody interested in seeing what it's like?"

"I'm for it. I need a hike." Terry said.

"I'm in," I agreed. Anything to lighten things up. And Letchworth is an amazing park, worth exploring.

"Sounds good to me," added Twoey.

Kaz and David, the guys who had run all morning, just exchanged looks and shrugged.

"Okay, then. Let's get moving," Mel smiled, making the decision final.