It was a peaceful walk back to the truck that evening. The waning sun warmed the old man’s skin as they zigzagged down the beaten path back to the parking lot. Even though the hunt was over, the old man’s vest carrying three roosters, Jake continued to work a tight pattern out in front of the old man.
The parking lot was empty, just like they left it a few hours ago. The old man dropped the tailgate to the pickup and set down his things. Taking a look at the sun and a notice of his watch, he decided that there was enough time to do something he had wanted to do since he got here. He reached far back into the bed of the truck and drug out a Coleman stove. Beside it, he placed a medium cast iron skillet. He lit the right side burner and settled the flame down to a small blue glow. Reaching into the cooler, he brought out a full stick of butter. He unwrapped the butter, plopped into the black pan and placed it on the stove. Next, he dug into his vest for the birds. All three were large roosters, so vibrant in their colors. He selected one and began to pull away the feathers at the chest bone. Exposing the skin, he took his knife and sliced each breast away from the bone and laid them on the tailgate. He peeled back the skin from the bird far enough to reach the legs and worked his hands and knife until he exposed the hip joint. With a few flicks of the wrist and the blade, the legs were in the pile with the breast. Before he discarded the carcass of the bird, the old man made a special effort to remove the bird’s heart. He cut away the veiny cap of the heart and quickly threw it in the pan without so much as a rinse. The still warm heart sizzled and popped against the hot metal of the skillet.
The breast and legs were rinsed off with an extra bottle of water the old man had saved. It was cleaned, as well as could be expected, for the working conditions the man had and then placed on top of the cooler. The man went around and dug a salt and pepper shaker from the cab of his truck. He applied the spices liberally to the meat and placed them inside the pan. The hot butter began its work on the delicate flavor of the bird.
By this time, the heart was ready to be removed. He poked at it with his knife until he was able to lift it out of the pan, onto a paper plate. Slicing it in half, he let it cool for a moment. One side of the heart was given to Jake, the other half he ate himself.
Sitting on that tailgate, the setting sun barely holding on to the horizon, the old man realized something. He felt happy in a way that he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was much more than a smile on his face or a laugh in his voice, it was much deeper than that. He felt a happiness deep down in his core. He felt younger. He felt taller. He felt as if his waning days just might be some of the best he has yet to see.
The Fall Experience 