Previous Chapters
1.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot
2.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-eb2
3.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-4eb
4.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-3ca
5.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-918
Chapter 6
Monday Morning
Exhausted, C.J.’s sleep was fitful. Strange sounds permeated his dreams. The sounds themselves weren’t odd, the oddity stemmed from the fact he was hearing them in his tent. C.J. shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. He woke up feeling confused and agitated. One minute he remembers hearing the sound of an oar slapping, splashing, and churning the water. The next moment he remembered hearing a conversation full of laughter and “omg” and “can you believe it”. There was no point in writing these things down. Collectively they were senseless, he remembered no details, just noises. There were no images attached to these noises. Maybe they weren’t dreams?
While wrestling with the tent zipper C.J. felt something was amiss. The zipper finally relented and he stuck his head outside the flap, it was cold. He rushed back inside donned a sweatshirt and some sweatpants and emerged from his mobile abode. He slipped his shoes on, did a few turns around T.L.S. deciding what he should do first, finally he chose the latrine as priority number one. On his way back from the lavatory C.J. had a disquieting thought; did I pack the coffee? He rushed to the kitchen and didn’t find any. He decided it must be back in the truck and realizing this was an inevitable trip and knowing he wanted coffee sooner rather than later, he grabbed the keys and started out on a journey to get the rest of his supplies.
The air was crisp but by the time C.J. reached the truck, the mile hike had successfully banished the chill from his bones. He found his last pack and searched its contents. He was in luck, the coffee was there, but he didn’t remember packing anything else, oh no! He looked in the rear driver side window and saw a box shoved up behind the seat. An enamel kettle, and cup, Grandpa bailed him out again. He managed to shove the coffee gear in his supply ruck, locked up the truck and started heading back.
Once he got back to T.L.S he lit a fire, brewed some cowboy coffee, ate two apples, one was smeared in peanut butter, and watched some birds hop back and forth between the branches of the elm and oak trees. Ironically, the only sounds he heard now were of the animals and the insects. He sat for a while longer and then decided it was time to fill up at least one of the solar shower bags. He thought two might be excessive for his current needs. He ran over to the monumental trees and grabbed the wheelbarrow and one shower bag and made his way down to the lake.
The hill down to the lake was immensely steep, going back up would take some effort. Clairvoyantly, C.J. predicted he’d be exhausted on his return trip to the tent, so he devised a plan. C.J. decided to get into the lake. He didn’t particularly enjoy cold water, still, he stripped down to his underwear, counted to three, and sprinted into the liquid cooler. A submerged shout exited his mouth and was stifled by the chilly H2O. After that C.J.’s sounds were a mix of yelps and gasps as he grew accustomed to his new body temperature. All of a sudden he was looking forward to his hike back to T.L.S. After 5 minutes he gingerly walked out of the water and laid down on the now warm grass to bask in the sun. Once sufficiently dry, C.J. dressed and made his way up the hill, he pulled the wheelbarrow behind him like a sled. He didn’t have the energy to push it up the hill.
Monday Afternoon
The sun’s expected noonday arrival caught C.J. off guard, normally he would have been ready for lunch. Except this wasn’t an ordinary day, all of the various morning activities left him more sleepy than hungry. So he decided to take a nap. He climbed into the tent which was comparably warm and cozy. Warm enough to induce sleep, and he didn’t fight it. He laid down, rolled over, and dozed off.
The Proposal
“I love you.” C.J. 's eyes shot open. He remained frozen but his eyes danced about the tent. Who was that? Is there someone here? Who loves me? “I’ve loved you for some time, Suzanne.”
“I love you too, William, so much.”
“Isn’t the lake beautiful this time of year?”
C.J. exited the tent to look around, there’s no one in sight and he can’t hear a thing. He rushed back into the tent.
“Do you remember that, you ate three pies?!”
“Please don’t remind me Suzanne, I was sick for 3 days, and I didn’t even win.”
As they laughed C.J. ran out of the tent again, but ran farther and searched longer. There wasn’t a soul in sight. He sprinted back to the tent, he couldn’t understand what was happening and he was giddy. This is amazing! Grandpa knew about this, and said nothing. C.J. dove into the tent.
“William, I thought for sure you would bring your fishing gear since we made this trip to the lake. Do you want me to hold the oar for a second? ”
“Yes, that’d be great, I just need to find…”
They must be on the lake… C.J. dashed out of the tent and up the tiny slope blocking his view. He stood there with a hand over his eyes and searched the placid blue water. After a 20 degree turn he spotted what looked to be a couple in a canoe on the water. They were headed toward the shoreline on the opposite bank. Feeling quite satisfied that he wasn’t hallucinating; C.J. scurried back to his listening tower.
“You know Suzanne, I was a little nervous, I didn’t know what you were going to say.”
Suzanne chuckled, “You didn’t have anything to worry about.”
After a few moments of silent rowing, Suzanne started to softly sing, “Oh let’s get rich and buy…”
William joined “our parents' homes in the south of France.”
Then together they sang, “Let’s get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance. Let’s get rich and build our house on a mountain making everybody look like ants, way up there, you and I, you and I.”1
By the sounds of things they had something to celebrate. C.J. laughed at his haste. He’d left the tent at a crucial moment, just to discover if he could see what he was hearing. Whatever happened on that canoe was a joyous occasion, or the two of them have a really bizarre way of expressing negative emotions.
Even though C.J. didn’t get the specifics on William and Suzanne’s future, he did make a key discovery. He knew the lake and the spot of land his tent occupied shared some type of one way audible signal exchange. He heard the things on the lake like the sounds were radio signals transmitted through ear hugging, noise canceling, high resolution, and very pricey headphones.
C.J. listened a bit longer to the two of them chatting about their day and the week ahead,but their conversation abruptly ended. C.J. heard the familiar sound shoes make when they slosh through shallow water toward land. He heard the rocking of any empty canoe, then scratching as it was pulled from the water and dragged across a multitude of tiny pebbles. After that there was absolute silence. How peculiar.
Monday Night
All of this magical reconnaissance worked up a mighty appetite. C.J.got the fire roaring, headed to the kitchen pulled out a pot, added some water, and some stone ground grits. He created side dishes of jerky and carrots and feasted like a king. As he sat on his stump watching the flames lick the darkening sky he realized he hadn’t stopped smiling since he realized what he discovered. This is truly magic. Just then a cool breeze slid past C.J.s neck and a deep growl of thunder issued its warning for the hours ahead. C.J. checked the tent stakes, and the rainfly, ran to the latrine, brushed his teeth, and crawled into his cave.
As the tent zipper landed at its final destination, the first drop of rain bounced off his tent’s roof and slithered its way down to the dirt. C.J. laid back and took in the sound of the rain’s assault and drifted off to one of nature’s most soothing lullabies.
Michaelson,Ingrid. “You and I”, Be OK, 2008
I’m not convinced the people on the lake are real, I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Nice continuation of the story, I can see why it's called the listening spot.
"C.J. had a disquieting thought; did I pack the coffee? He rushed to the kitchen and didn’t find any." Truly the stuff of nightmares, lucky he had some back in the car.