The mid-morning pothole had proved to be as every bit productive as the old man’s newfound friend promised. The three men finished their hunt in just over an hour and a half, each of them carrying out limits of large, northern mallards, wigeon, and a few delicious teal.
Back at Jim’s place, the three of them were treated to a warm bowl of Mrs. Dottie’s homemade chicken soup. The hot liquid broth was the perfect antidote to soothe the cold that had seeped into the old man’s bones. After lunch, Tom and Jake reluctantly returned back to the hotel, even after Mrs. Dottie’s insistence on them staying for another night. It’s not that the old man wanted to leave, but that he thought it best not to overstay his welcome. He left with plans to meet up with Jim later that afternoon for a walk through what Jim described as a “Pheasant Paradise”, and he promised Mrs. Dottie that he would gladly stay for supper that evening.
When Tom got back to his room, he pulled out his shotgun and wiped off any grime the morning’s hunt had accumulated. He placed it back in it’s case and laid down for a short, restful nap.
His nap wasn’t as rejuvenating as he had hoped. Multiple days of hunting were starting to stack up on his joints and muscles. He hopped in the shower thinking that the hot water might loosen up the rougher areas in his knees and shoulders. Drying off, the old man caught a peculiar glimpse of himself in the hotel mirror. His face had gotten thinner and his waist line, too. He looked in the mirror again, this time noticing all the wrinkles and signs of a man with more years gone by then left to come. He stared deep into the eyes of that man in the mirror and let his mind drift into all the memories of those years. He saw his two little girls playing on their back yard swing set, their golden curls blowing in the warm late-spring breeze. He remembered the bumps and bruises, the stories before bed time and tucking them both in with a prayer and a kiss. How fast they grew from that young tender stage into the two teenage girls, and somehow evolved into young women, and then wives and mothers of their own children.
He thought about his wife, still remembering the way she glowed throughout her pregnancy with both of them, the way she mothered them so well, gentle and caring. She took to it so naturally. He remembered the day that they watched their youngest daughter drive off to college, how his wife buried her head in his shoulder to keep the tears from running down her face. Then he thought about the way she kissed him each night before turning out her light and falling asleep and the way she smiled at him from across the room.
Jake stirred behind him and Tom’s gaze was back to the present and the wrinkled man before him. He left the mirror and got himself ready to leave.
The Fall Experience 