It was July 30 and Elizabeth and Axel hadn’t gone on a picnic yet this summer. While going to a picnic spot near water when the temperature in their northern Pennsylvania town had been climbing past 90 degrees for days, they couldn’t seem to find the time or energy to leave their apartment except to go to work.
“We’re home. We have air conditioning. I’m not going out in that heat again,” Elizabeth said yesterday after work.
“I’m with ya,” Axel said, “so I hate to point this out, but we’re almost out of food.”
“How can that be?” Elizabeth asked. “We never run out of food.”
“I should be more specific,” Axel said. “We do have food but we’d have to cook and, I don’t know about you but, I don’t want to get anywhere near a stove until at least October.”
“We could finish off that cold pizza you brought home from work yesterday,” Elizabeth suggested. “Then tomorrow after work we could stop at the store on the way home and pick up enough ready-to-eat and doesn’t-need-to-be-heated food to last us until this heat wave passes.”
“Works for me,” Axel said. “While we’re at the store, why don’t we pick up some picnic food? Maybe we’d feel better and be less crabby if we went to someplace where we could be near water for a few hours.”
Three days later – on Saturday – Elizabeth and Axel got out of bed bright and early packed a picnic cooler, grabbed some blankets and beach towels, extra clothes, and the books they were reading and headed for the Kinzua Dam area, where they would stake out a spot on the beach and, possibly, go on a hike at Rim Rock or Jake’s Rocks later.
In the middle of the 45-minute drive to their destination, a large bird flew in front of their car and seemed as if it might hit the windshield. Axel swerved the car slightly but didn’t even come close to losing control. He didn’t even leave his lane.
“Thank God it was you driving and not me,” Elizabeth said.
“No kidding! Remember that time we had to stop in Bakersfield and we were walking around that park?”
“Hart Park,” Elizabeth said. “Don’t remind me.”
“That was five years ago. You still can’t laugh about it?”
“No, I can’t,” Elizabeth said. “Peacocks scream and squawk very loudly. It was scary.”
“And when you screamed, it was scary for everyone else,” Axel said, laughing.
“Ha ha,” Elizabeth. “Very funny. I can’t believe no one stuck up for me when I asked who would expect peacocks in Bakersfield, California?”
“That is what Hart Park is most known for.”
“Excuse me for not doing research on Bakersfield, California, prior to our impromptu visit that lasted all of two hours.”
“No need to get testy,” Axel said.
Elizabeth couldn’t think of a witty or snippy retort so she stayed silent. These days it seemed that was the best way to deal with Axel. Ignore him and maybe he’ll go away. Or at least shut up.
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