Friday, August 10, 2018

Leap

Call me a sissy scaredy-cat coward while pointing out that even children and nearsighted tech-nerds braved the attempt and I’d have to agree; nevertheless, discretion (such as it is) remains the better (perhaps only) part of valor for this chicken-hearted chicken when it comes to hurling oneself off a plastic ramp into Lake Washington atop a janky BMX bike after careening down an increasingly wet and slippery runway especially when well-lubricated already with apparently not quite enough liquid courage to overcome the survival instinct part of the lizard brain for yet another year running.

Long story short: as usual, I preferred the view from the water and was rewarded with the sight of one more hilarious splashdown after another as less fearful, younger, or maybe even drunker souls than me piloted the floating two-wheeler into the drink much to the cheers, jeers, and sympathetic groans of the assembled.

It was the perfect night for launching, one of those magical Seattle summer evenings where the lake water and air temperature align so that it’s just as warm to be wet as dry; the watery choice, of course, has the secret advantage of providing a full-time conduit for beer-processing, a point we need not belabor, but bears noting because why the hell not, everyone does and it’s awesome, right?

For some reason, the younger, cuter version of the bike gang declined to stop and join, but oh well, these kids today with their appetites for exposure, more power to them, but this lily-livered old-timer will continue to capture life in the time-honored manner of imprinting memories directly onto the grey matter and then making up stories about them, like the one where Shows Up Joe flies far beyond the handlebars as he splashes down atop the lake’s silvery surface in the waning twilight of the August eve, just at the point where everyone turns into luminous shadows, backlit by reflections, glowing at the edges, walking (and riding) on water.

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