Jasper: Day Five - Clean at Last!

A midnight hike by moonlight, guided by the Friends of Jasper. We climb to the top of a ridge, and watch the Blue Moon - the second full moon in a single month - rise in ghostly shining robes through the silver clouds. It's cold, I shiver, but don't seem to feel my body. A dark ocean of pine trees rolls away to the horizon and my cool blood seems to vibrate at the same frequency as the air through the branches. I breathe it all in. I stare at the moon and trace her journey up into the sky. The others look at the city lights on the other side of the ridge. But the moon, the moon, she demands my respect. My companion read my mind. He dares me to howl into the sky as loud as I can. I want to - but he doesn't understand. I want to - it's what the moon demands, of course. But it's a private thing. If I could run down to the woods... I won't be a spectacle for these others. I won't make it a joke. The Moon demands respect. I give her her due - silently.

I move closer to my companion, to his warmth on this chilly night. He's colder than the mountain. "Look, I know I'm not very affectionate right now. I don't know what's the matter..."

But he does. He will tell me that he has heard from his girlfriend back home - that's right, his girlfriend back home. They started seeing each other two weeks before he left on tour. He's told her where he is and what he's doing in the vaguest terms. But she wants to speak to him. She wants to talk. And he's nervous. Tomorrow he will buy a calling card and pace the town nervously until he finally gets through to her. Gets through to her.

How did it go?
Fine.
You had a good talk? Everything all right?
Yeah. Let's go.

I have become the Trusty Spaniel, but he has now tucked his tail between his legs and become the Whipped Puppy. The air will never be the same between us. How could he care about her so much and still be here with me? And with that girl in Winnipeg... And with another one in Edmonton - though this one is still in the future. But still... what can he be thinking?

We head for the Miette Hot Springs. Another hike to work up a satisfyingly dirty sweat, and then down to the hot springs. In the change room one is asked to shower before going in the pool. Ahhhh! Pink industrial liquid soap! Warm water! The others around me have no idea how great this feels to me right now! I'm enjoying this sooo much and I haven't even left the locker room yet.

The hot springs are HOT! It's true. And we lounge in one pool, and then head for a quick jump into the cold pool, just to shock the heart a little bit, and then ease back into the slow lobster boil of the spa waters. The sun burns molten rays down onto the pool, and the pavement. We don't talk. We soak, and listen to the fragments of conversations around us. Hours pass. He goes off for a nap on a bench without speaking. I dip in the cold pool again and look for a patch of shade. No luck. The sun burns though my hair, through my scalp, burns my skin, now more exposed than ever, but there is no respite. I wait.

I wait. From trusted companion I am now on a leash, an invisible leash that keeps me on this deck. He sleeps on the other side of the pool. I wait. Nothing else to be done.

But wait for the sun to cool.

N.