I opened the driver door, tossed my bag in the back of the Rogue with the rest of my belongings and got behind the steering wheel. I put on the seatbelt, and sat there looking out of the windshield at the tomato plants I had planted along the barn. I knew that they were going to die without me there to water them, as I was the only one who watered any of the plants I had put in.

I lit the cigar that I was holding and put it in my mouth. The smoke formed a nice thick cloud in the humid air as I tried to condense the last 18 months into words. And what came to mind was…Well, Fuck.

With my cigar firmly clamped between my teeth, the radio blasting “Lunatic Fringe”, I put my car in Drive and headed West. I had a definite destination, Arizona, but what I didn’t have was a definite route. The easiest way would be to take US 20 pretty much the entire way, though it takes you through every big city along the way. The distance between Columbia, SC and Phoenix, Az is approximately 2000 miles. I planned on driving 600 miles a day. That would get me to Phoenix in four days. “By the time I get to Phoenix” she would have risen four times. Get it?

I would like to regale you with my stories from this trip west. Unfortunately, I found myself thinking of the plants I left behind. I had planted Asian lilies along the front porch, after ripping out a bunch of ugly bushes. It had taken a couple of weeks to dig out the roots, and stem. The fountain grass seeds along the front of the drive, they were just starting to come up. I got adventurous and planted a couple of tomato plants by the barn. Of course, I was the one to water all of those plants. Just something else I ended up leaving behind. You never get away clean, do you?

This is the third installment in an on going story. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

You can find the first installment here: https://iamphildodd.com/2023/09/23/the-hook/

You can find the second installment here: https://iamphildodd.com/2023/09/27/the-hook-chapter-two