12:20 a.m. - August 17, 2007
North Carolina on my mind
Have you been to North Carolina in the summer before?
Yes and I smile, nod my head, mention the Outer Banks
a glorious road trip from DC to Savannah to celebrate the end of my first teaching gig at Georgetown, having a boyfriend who had arranged to be in DC the summer to be with me. A map, bags of green grapes, a drive just to see what there's to be seen. The museum at Kitty Hawk and countless brica-a-brac novelty stores. Looking for a place to sleep on Ocracoke Island and ending up overnighting on the picnic bench. Pulling over to buy succulent peaches and sucking the juice off each other's fingers. Him driving because it was important to his self-image as the man. Getting lost and then having a flat tire in the alligator (crocodile?) reserve at 2 am, both of us afraid to get out and change the wheel. A vacation at its most elemental definition: Throwing care to the wind and following the black lane south, south, south. His amusement when I'd elicit conversation from the locals just to hear the accent variations. My amusement listening to him sing to oldies songs on the radio. The whoosh of cutting water on the ferry crossing the sound as I leaned into him in the sun and his arm around my shoulder almost but not quite. Looking at the fish in the water, the discovery that this boy-man had a serious fear of the ocean and wouldn't swim with me past knee depth. Holding hands on the beach. Making out in the dunes. The realization that sex on the beach is over-rated because the sand is gritty and is impossible to get out of orifices. His tearing the sleeves off all his Abercrombie shirts and I'd smell his sweat scent. Laughing. A lot of laughing. It wasn't Thelma and Louise but Jason and Ken in a rental car with the windows rolled down to feel the heat. A vacation in a warm place with a boyfriend and a road and a map and so much laughter
and my visit there several years ago. A beautiful place, this state of yours
Until the storms come, then it's a different story!
Funny, I was thinking the same thing.
