October 2023 Flash Lit 9 - Slow and Steady

“All right,” said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone. Alice in Wonderland, chapter 6

 

 

 

Cathy thought that her tombstone, to represent the sum of her life accurately, would have to read, “If I had known how hard it was going to be, I would not have tried.”  That wasn’t quite right.  Maybe “I should have known better.”  That was pithier, at least.  Maybe a little funny.  In a wry sort of way.

 

But first this hill would have to kill her.  Her lungs seemed to think it might.  Her legs, stubbornly pumping the pedals of her bike, screamed that they’d be happy to help kill her if they could just stop doing what they were doing for a minute or two.

 

Cathy bargained with herself:  pedal just 200 more times, and then you can have a rest.  Her hips replied with something unprintable and she lost count.  Okay, then, 200 from now.

 

Pring-pring.  A bike bell chirped cheerily behind her.  “On your left!” The rider, a girl in bright pink everything, zoomed past her.  Damn kids, Cathy thought. 

 

And then the girl called back, “You’re almost there!”

 

Damn encouraging kids, Cathy amended.

 

Except it worked.  Cathy watched the girl’s defined calves work and her own kept going.  She woke up to the smell of the eucalyptus all around her and heard the drip of condensed fog falling from the redwood trees.  The pavement whispered under her tires.

 

Pink Girl disappeared around a bend like the memory of a smile.

 

Cathy kept pedaling.

 

Three more twists to the road and she was there, at the top of the hill.  Cathy inched her way into the parking lot where hikers left their cars, threaded her bike through the bollards that restricted traffic to the bathrooms, and dismounted.  She leaned her bike against the building and panted.  When she had enough breath, she drank plastic-tasting water from her squeeze bottle.

 

Two miles down, twenty four to go.

 

But now Cathy knew she’d make it.