Whisk on a High Wire: entry two

PART 2

My eyes dart all around at the sudden change of scenery. Peripherally, I can see swirling wisps of clouds overhead, dozens of waterfalls cascading to my right and a mirror of water a mile wide to my left that is the dam tamed river, this area’s pride and joy. Absorption is not an option at 70 miles per hour with semi trucks to navigate. The sky changes every ten miles until finally the clouds are dense and starting to leak droplets. By the time I am halfway to my destination the sky has lost all control and I’m in a deluge. Behind the front tires of each dinosaur on wheels is a wave of road water that renders a wall of invisibility. Squeezed between the concrete guard rail to the left and the truck’s underbelly to the right feels like tempting the inferno so I drop behind the truck and cruise at a slower pace knowing this won’t last the entire trip.

Just as I settle into the road groove a hit of reality rushes over me. I am actually doing this. I think of Elmer, the man willing to take my offer under his asking price for the property. He wants a café in town. He somehow understands the importance of a place that’s local. People take ownership of their local joints, for better or worse and I think Elmer truly understands this. To have to drive 10 miles round trip just to get a good egg breakfast is a burden so people tend to stay home and day after day sit alone when they’d rather be out among their community. I think Elmer is tired of being alone but knowing him, it is about a much larger picture. He understands the value of a restaurant to a small town.

Like having a school, a town with a good eating establishment attracts families and residents, helps the town to grow. Residents of a community need a place to bring visiting relatives whether before or after a joyful or sad event. Or, to bring friends who drop in for a day or more. Local news and gossip get exchanged, new friends are met, engagements take place, birthdays celebrated, loneliness abated, babies introduced, children shared, break ups softened, mourning soothed, observers entertained, entertainers satiated and more than a few bellies filled. Elmer knows this, he is my partner in spirit on this ride and I am grateful he has entrusted his lots to my ambition.

My mind snaps out of its thoughts as a ghost-like figure of an old man appears at the side of the road. I jerk the wheel but can’t see him in my rear view mirror. Fog, gray water and road provide no contrast for seeing such details. In my mind he was old, feeble yet earnest looking, certainly not an image of Elmer but who he was and what he was doing out here I may never know if, indeed, he was here to begin with. In the back of my car, the food for today’s fair has once again flown to the other side of the car. As the rain seems to be abating, I pull of at a local tourist attraction, a 120ft. waterfall to inspect the damage.