"You've gotta shoot fast, and if you see it, you gotta believe it, because before you know, it's gone." He jumped to his feet, excited about his day. He was going to be hunting in the woods for the next week, "We're going on an expedition." He adored to announce to anybody who'd listen. No on ever did. "Dick, why don't you just sit down?" His girlfriend would ask him from time to time. Richard would stand up and stick his crotch in her face arrogantly, his Adidas button up sweat pants flopping as she struggled with him to get away. "You know I don''t love you" she'd tell him. Then the two would fight some more, he'd threaten to leave her, she threatened to kill herself, then they'd fuck. This time though Dick had to go.
As they drove through Alberta up the YellowHead Westward, toward the Rockies, Dick thought about how much he loved her. It was a big road, real comfy to drive, but it was also a long road. He wasn't alone on this expedition, Dick had his son, Jamie. Jamie was fifteen this year and Dick promised him that he would take him hunting when he was old enough. At fifteen Dick had shot his first Gun. He could remember the first time he did it, he felt cold. The Two were sitting side by side in the Dodge pick up truck, cruizin at an easy hundred and ten kilometers an hour. It was winter time, and it was cold outside but the roads were in great driving condition. Dick drove up the road lazily, taking it all in.
Jamie loved to watch the mountains grow in front of them. After Calgary, his Dad let him drive, he loved going on the exertions with his Dad. They always did shit they weren't suppose to do. Dad always told everyone they were going camping but they'd end up going out to Banff or Jasper, getting a suite in one of the lodges or hotels and they'd mope around the mountain. "Hey Dad?' Jamie asked, pressing his foot against the brake, they were coming up on the toll-booths, the ones that force you to pay to enter the National park. "It's gonna be pricey Dad" the boy said with a soft air of reproach. He didn't want to piss off his father. "Don't worry about it son, I can handle this one." He took out his wallet, Jamie saw lots of cash. "Where did you get all that?" Jamie asked. Dick looked up form the thick wad of cash and said "Don't ask." Jamie nodded and said "Hey, Pops...We gonna get loaded this time?" Dick nodded and said "Why do you think I brought the Guns?"
When they got to the toll-booth a very attractive young woman greeted them with a great big smile and said "Welcome, Bienvenu, how long will you be staying for?" Jamie looked over at his dad. "Two days" Dick said picking up his right hand and showing her two fingers. The women smiled, then gave Jamie a second look. "It comes to fifty two forty nine" she stated. Jamie handed her three twenty dollar bills and as she reached for the money he looked directly into her eyes. He could tell she was giving him a peculiar look. So he looked back, assuming it was because of his age. He looked back at her with his piercing blue eyes and winked. She blushed, and smiled, and Jamie drove off. "What'd do there?" His father asked. Jamie said nothing. They drove on toward Banff.
When they entered the city limits Jamie headed toward the usual watering hole. "Not this time" Dick said, "This time, we're going hunting." Jamie avoided their usual left turn and made way for, "Hey Dad, where the fuck you want me to drive?" Jamie barked. He asked, not knowing where exactly to go, the city limits were suddenly in the process of advancing. "We're leaving!" Dick sat up. "Pull over! I'm gonna drive." Jamie did as he was told. After the boy had brought the car to a stop at the last gas station in town, the two sat there, in silence. The moment passed, and Dick said "Let's go!" they switched spots and hit the highway. By this time it was getting late, and it was winter, Jamie didn't like to question his Dad but found it strange; that his father wanted to go hunting, in the evening, in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat, and no tent to sleep in. "Dad?" Jamie asked. "What's going on?"
Dick sat there, driving, in silence for a long time. He could feel himself these days, differently then in the past. His knees hurt now when he drove for too long. Dick looked out the window, they were moving west and the sun was just beginning to make it's descent toward the other half of the hemisphere. "You know Jamie, when I was fifteen, I learned some pretty valuable lessons." Dicks face began to sag. Jamie sat there watching his father disintegrate in front of him. "What are you talking about Dad?" Jamie demanded in his fifteen year old scared son tone, he loved his Dad, no matter what his mother said about him. The separation was brutal, Jamie understood that, and he also knew why they divorced. "Is this because of the divorce?" Jamie asked, upset that, his father was giving him some sort of teenage girl break down. Dick just kept right on moving west chasing the setting sun.
Dick turned to him and said with a crazed look in his eye " because when I was fifteen I fucked up!"
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