Character Sketch: A Back Road View

Character Sketches are something I try to do to keep myself writing - an attempt to maintain discipline. This isn't a character sketch per se, but rather more of a painted scene. I gave myself about 20 minutes not worrying about tense or grammar - writing exercises are not about that.

Out the window, everything whooshing by making it difficult to slow my mind. Which was the point of this so-called excursion. Every lane, with their smeared painted lines, were clear, - which I found oddly peculiar as if I was missing something - but I chose a random exit, hoping it would lead to some back roads - feeling getting lost in an unfamiliar place is what I needed. That's where I wanted to be. If not actually off the beaten path, then at least have the illusion I was. It wouldn't be wise with the current conditions of which I'm fleeing to be too close to the outskirts of society. That would exemplify a level of boldness that I care to have, a passion for life that I didn't seem to have anymore. 

Did I ever? 

Hard to imagine or remember a time when the marrow of life was served three times a day. Of course, as I think about it with the fields of grains serenading me with their whispery and windblown notes, throwing caution into the thick, humid, late-afternoon air does appeal to me. Even if in the slightest and implausible way.

The unpainted barn was close enough to the road and far enough away from the house. I decided to pull over. Long blades of grass stretched themselves around the wooden posts up to the middle barbed wire. Just out of reach of the horses' mouths. Three more horses were off in the distance - silhouettes as the sun was being anchored behind the row of trees rooted adjacent to the house.

A light came on in what appeared to be the kitchen and a woman whose age could not be seen from my distance, stood in front of the window. Her gaze was interrupted by two children. They seemed happy. Content. All of them. From the looks of their property - the unpainted barn, one very old car, and a big section of the roof that had no shingles - they didn't seem to have much of anything. Their happiness stung me.

I started my car in search of another back road.