Golf courses and Hell

7-23-05
2:25 p.m.

A third stop. Again, I don’t know the name of the town, but near it was a road I liked called Opportunity Drive. In essence, the Road to Opportunity. At CD change, I took out AFI’s “Sing the Sorrow” album and replaced it with the Verve Pipe’s “Villains”.
We are passing a silo covered in ivy, and I think that it has beauty. The propeller on a boat on a trailer is spinning. Here’s a mobile home with Saskatchewan license plates, and I am reminded of how close I am getting to Canada. A semi from Ontario, now. The song “Villains” by the Verve Pipe mercifully drowns out Shania Twain. “Villains” proves an appropriate anthem for this stretch of road as we pass the exit for St. Joseph, Minnesota.
The trees sense rain; you can tell by the leaves. Something is coming for sure, as the sky is angry and overcast. Even the interstate looks as though it is preparing for rain. I wish it would storm, because nothing is so pleasant as wet hottop with “Reverend Girl” playing to keep you company. Then again, rain might make for in increase in tension here in the van.
We pass a town called Avon and a factory outlet cheese store. Another cemetery. Thoughts of my own mortality swarm my mind, and I find myself checking my seatbelt. The track changes on my CD, and in the Verve Pipe’s silence I hear Shania Twain again. This is followed by a brief wondering: have I died and gone to Hell like my mum’s side of the family has told me I will? But no, “Cup of Tea” starts, and it turns out that knees sore from sitting and a touch of loving writer’s cramp are indeed my reality.
I see fields full of houses, and the houses are all the same. Not exactly so, but their slight differences lie in siding colour and garage placement. I am lost in confusion when I try to think why anyone would want such a house. Certainly the nearby eighteen-hole golf course cannot be that big of a selling point. However, I am saved by “Myself” and the countryside.