The Bug Song
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I started worrying about the fact that there was no way off of the beach except in our boats. Limited access made it the perfect beach, but it also made it dangerous. I worried about the fact that the nearest town was several miles upstream and I honestly had not a clue about what was downstream, except that we would eventually reach the Long Island Sound.
I insisted that we set up the tent to provide some shade. Now Emily and Snowby were getting annoyed. But we got the tent set up. Of course it was 20 degrees hotter inside the tent. We were all kind of new to the whole outdoors thing.
My next idea was to try to find a cooler spot in the woods behind the beach. There was a very narrow, overgrown deer trail leading inland. We walked down the trail just a few steps. It was much cooler. The insects in the trees were playing a special song just for me. Melodic, beautiful, and intimidating.
I looked at the overgrown plants along the trail. They all had three leaves. All at once, the plants seemed to face me, serpentine and nefarious.
It was poison ivy. All of it.
Venom swirled in the cool breeze as the insects sang their song.
Not back here you yuppie scum,
Go back to the beach where you belong.
And we did, in a hurry. My next idea was to get in the river. The cool water was exactly what I needed. I felt instant relief. I took some deep breaths. We were going to be ok.
Then I started worrying about Emily. I wanted her to get in the water too. In reality she was feeling fine, but she got in at my request. But after just a few moments in the water she started getting a rash on her leg. We both saw it. The same thing had happened on the first night of the trip. It was some kind of allergic reaction. It was my fault. It never occurred to me that being overheated was my problem, not hers.
I was also kind of new to the relationship thing.
