Thursday 15 December 2011

Hope and the Seeting Sun Part 5

Cas’ brother John was in town. The two brothers, close in age, had not spent much time together over the years. They decided to hitchhike across the country together. Two big, strong, young men with a tent, a little bit of money and two weeks, what could go wrong?   Their sister was getting married that summer, so they had to be back for the wedding. Other then that they knew they where heading east, 4000 km east.  That was the way Cas liked it. He lived for the challenge, the risk, the chance, and the stories.
Cas and John’s mother had died a few years earlier. Cas had no idea what John’s experience was with the death. Cas had been told him two things by his dying mother. One; do not tell lies. Two; never say I can’t. So a young male, who has neurotic tendencies and a highly active imagination, that almost always works outside the box, was told to never tell a lie and never say I can’t. Cas interpreted this as never lying to himself, which meant he had to learn every deep secret he was keeping from himself by being persistent in his search for self knowledge. Even when he was met with near impossible obstacles he could not stop, his mother told him never to say I can’t. So he jumped off every cliff, pushed every boundary, opened every door and wasted little time doing it.
Cas loved John. He was mean to him when they where younger. He would push, hit and scare John whenever he got upset. Cas was out of control, blind with rage at times. John was younger and around, so he got the brunt of it.  Cas was ashamed but kept trying to make things right by being an honest witness to John and showing him what he had learned.
So here is what happened. None of this is made up, I swear. Ready….
Cas and John took a bus to the ferry, got to the main land called one of Johns friends, who’s father was a pilot and offered to fly Cas and John over the Rockies, 800 km in a private executive jet. They went back into the Rockies to do some camping in the mountains. They stayed by a forgotten hot spring, got rides with many people, got into the prairies, slept a bit and met some more people. They spent a night with the Hells Angles leader and his horny, married, daughter. Then they got a ride with a kind man in a large motor home where they spent 4 days traveling with him.  Got to their destination in 11 days, tired, beaten and ripe with stories to share.
Cas loved to travel, it was his escape. Somewhere in his sole he always took the long way home. No matter what the terrain, he would venture to heights he thought unattainable. This was his way of escape. Cas was addicted to roaming. Yet during this entire journey Cas could not forget about Julia. Cas wanted to, he wanted to move on. He loved Julia but he knew he was not ready go where she wanted to go. He was scared, fragile and needing simplicity. Julia wanted to build an honest life together and Cas was not ready.  But, Cas was charged with never telling lies, which he knew he loved Julia, and never say I can’t, which he felt he couldn’t make it work with Julia, which means he had to try as it was his charge to never say I can’t.

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