Portage
An infinite concrete streak wove ahead of me. I get claustrophobic on highways. I scream when cars pass by me. I pant when I approach semi-trucks. You don't even want to see what I do when I try to pass them; I've gotten pulled over for it more than once. A clear blue sky is my only escape. It gives me a feral courage when its teeth bite into the blur of trees that keep me from swerving off this death trap. There's freedom away from the real world and my addiction to it is what got me in my Jetta.
The last cop that pulled me over on my way to the waters told me my speed was "terrified" and stared at me longer than he should have. He also knocked on the canoe on my car more than he needed to. They always think it's original to make fun of a Coyote headed for the boundary wilderness. No one gets that it's more than that. No one gets why I put myself through this constructed hell every year. I get it. I'm addicted to it. Summer is the first few taps on my vain that sparks chills and raises my blood vessels to the surface. This is my release, to be me with my element, to feel free in the wilderness.
*
The excitement of reaching the docks made me feel like a pup. Ranger Matt waved once he saw me. He walked over took in my ride.
"Heya Thomas! A Jetta this year, eh?" He scratched his head and let out an awkward chuckle.
"It was all they had with a top mount. I swear, Matt."
"Haha, I guess I'll have to let out my Ventura this time." He motioned me to the front of the car and made his way to the back.
Together we detached my canoe and set it on the dock. His antlers added inches to the four he already had on me when he stood up. I skipped over to the trunk and grabbed my rucksack. The sudden clip of the belt made everything hit home.
The rush of the seeing a wide open lake split off into several rivers and islands brought a shiver up the back of my head. Ranger Matt put his hand on my shoulder and looked out.
"That Jetta is going to be a bitch to return, ya know."
We both laughed before his black hand engulfed mine and I gave him the rental keys. He wiggled himself into the car and rolled down the window. He slid the chair back before sticking his head out the window.
"Not a word, Coyote." He glared with a childish grin.
"Scout's honor, Moose." I saluted him and returned the smile.
*
My canoe drove through the water across the lake. The deep blue water sparkled under bright blue sky freckled with clouds. My arms worked in rhythm digging the water behind me. Each stroke cut through and around the water and produced a gentle breeze in the otherwise quiet day. By the time I was halfway across the lake the muscles in my arms roared for rest. The quick momentum I had faded and before long I rocked in the middle of the lake panting for air.
Each ripple challenged my balance and sent sparks of fear through my confidence out on the lake. Coyotes are not known for being great swimmers. This sensation chilled my pumping body. I let the calmness rock me back to the serenity of the scene surrounding myself out here in the wilderness. Tall grass ran like a seam around the skirt of the lake. An array of pines, furs, and other assortments of trees stretched as far as I could see.
The trees breathed energy into me. My workouts had revolved around this one focal point of my year; an annual release into the wild. I release my breath and body, and follow nature towards the trees. Stroke after stroke feels easier, the paddle slices through the water and my back helps each arm dig out the paddle out. A breeze fills my nose with purity. The sun sparks across the lake behind me when I near the other edge of the lake. Sand grinds against the bottom of my canoe before I hop out into a warm splash around my ankles. After grabbing my pack and latching it on, I put my left hand on the far side of the canoe a foot from the tip. My right hand clutches the side next to my thigh and I swing the canoe over my head. I walk under it towards the middle until the back end lurches from the water. A grunt and a sniff mitigate the weight before I find the trail in my narrowed tunnel vision. I motion forward and portage into the path always a few steps out of sight. I march forward into summer.
*
The disturbing smell of muck and mud slid into the canoe over me. Its pungent smell whispered the end of my march and my big breaths of air.
A pair of black tufts flash under the canoe. I stumble at the movement and nearly plant the canoe tip first with a yelp. A loud bonk stopped it, followed by a pair of furry paws colored like wet sand scratched with burnt wood that clamp onto the sides.
"Dammit!"
I tried to apologize but my excitement and nerves abashed everything to a sweaty pant.
His ears twitched and his small face held a scowl that held my breath ransom. The tufts under his cheeks had the black bars with a little more gray at the bottom. He huffed and his mossy green and gold eyes dilated within his diamond shaped face.
I recaptured my breath and looked at his naked face in surprise.
"What happened to your Candies?" His face looked youthful and angry without his frames.
"Lasik, you butt." His thin voice echoed inside the canoe.
"So no more glasses, right?"
"Not after you nailed me on the head." His hands tilted the canoe backwards and a couple inches off my shoulders. "You for example, are now a fuzzy mess of salt, pepper, and cinnamon just like last year when I dropped them in the fire."
I scoffed at him before I slid out from the canoe, "The dad jokes have come in force this year." I slid around him to the tip of the canoe and lifted it out of his hands.
"Heh, it takes kids to have dad jokes." He spun around and gave me the smile of a witty old lynx.
"I guess I'm too old for that now, eh?"
He slapped me on the side before I watched him move out and to the back. Together we picked up and moved the canoe and walked around the edge of the large pond through tall grass. I back stepped and watched the grass climb up to Sebastian's shoulders before I stepped into our little clearing. Our campsite hasn't changed since I found him there a couple years ago. There are no maps to it nor is there an actual path that the rangers mark out during the late spring and beginning of summer. He screamed when I stumbled through with my bright blue canoe on my head. Our confusion and amazement soon became laughter and his invitation has lasted several years now. Both of us are off the grid and together every summer.
*
Our packs sat against a tree off the beach. Both of our canoes arched against it tethered together with his tent set up at the edge of the grass and sand. His eggshell whit chest and stomach took over my view of our camp while I stroked the flint stone into the tinder before me.
Sebastian fell back against the old log we used as a bench, "You're the loud one."
"Oh, come on! You're putting that on me?" I fumbled the flint into the fire pit.
Sebastian giggled into his beer. He drank and watched me, the lines of his smile stretched around his snout and over his nose. I glared playfully over the pit at him before I began striking the flint stone into the sand.
"You know, from what I remember, the group that saw me sit up thought I was using the bathroom."
"Well, you were out of breath and spent--" His honeyed words sweetened my memory of the lost group.
"But! I laughed it off with them. You stayed down." The tinder caught a spark and I fell back on my rear in a sigh of relief.
"Whoa, whoa, it's not like I could have moved, bub, you had it easy on your knees." Sebastian sat up and dug his beer into the beach like a cigarette. "In fact, you had your hand on my back keeping me against the grass." Sebastian's grin flickered out to the water before he began to crawl forward, "Not that I would have tried to get up." His eyes caught the embers of the fire.
"Hmm hmm hm, what a day that was." I watched his eyes begin to flicker once he relaxed by my feet.
"One of our best," His hand glided up my leg and underneath my shorts.
I went to finish my beer and felt Sebastian's other hand slide across my stomach. He pressed me down until I was on my back. His nails picked at my fur causing me to shiver all over, making the last drops of my lager harder to swallow. A rush of intoxicating excitement blossomed from his hidden hand's destination. Pleasure hummed through me in a growl while I let him shift gears. A rub of his thumb added to the growing heat around us.
Our five day adventure started its close as the sun rose above the trees over the pond. The tent and its poles tarp lay together behind me. Sebastian sat on the beach, his right hip and hand anchoring him down. His short tail flicked and he met my eyes over his shoulder.
"It won't always be like this you know? Summer won't last forever. Come with me." He rotated over to his other side and watched me walk up to him.
"I don't know what's after summer, Sebastian." I grabbed his right hand and helped him up.
He didn't bother to wipe off the sand on his sides, "Its fall. The colors change, leaves turn, a rare few like that bright orange like your eyes, and you help me with them in my backyard."
My free hand planted against my hip to help sooth my nerves. His other hand grabbed mine and I went rigid.
"I can't tell how the seasons will work with us, Thomas." Sebastian's shoulders drooped and he looked pained, "I can hope that we last like summer, for as long as possible. But, but you need to see that I want more than this," He stood tall again, and moved close, almost nose to nose, "I want you in fall. I want you in winter and spring. I want to see how you look at home." Sebastian grabbed my hands and wrapped them around his waist. His hug was tight, "I want to watch the snow fall together. We will always have the summer, Thomas, like we've had it for the past six years."
"Okay. I'm in."
Sebastian's full weight toppled against me in our embrace. The audible breath shot through the fur down my back. His chin dug against the side of my neck and I tightened my arms around his back. His body ground into me; his cold nose worked its way around my neck and up my throat. He nipped at my fur with his teeth up my neck. Two hands cupped my cheeks like my mom once did and pulled me down, locking his snout with mine. We breathed together on the beach in our summer.