“Hey, dude ..wusup? wanna’ smoke ..?” My first reaction to this generous offer is to decline, with gratitude. I’m so wrapped up in my workout at the track; it takes a few seconds to realize it’s over! Perfect timing. I circle back and they laugh and light up the bowl for me. Hey, mis compañeros. I’m good. I continue walking down and around to the lower athletic fields ..then up to the schoolyard where two guys are banging on the back door of the gym. As they walk away, a girl strolls up and yells “Kathleen!!” and the door magically opens and in she goes, followed by the guys ..and I’m like cool ..now I know the secret password. I cross the schoolyard, from where I get a view of the ocean ..the same view I get out my bedroom window if I peak ..and realize it’s only a peak because of these trees ..and those bordering Anapamu, which is either a sudden realization or just poor memory for something I already knew. I go down and around the tennis courts and back up the street to my house where my neighbor Amanda asks how my workout went. I go good, but shake my head and say “I think what I do afterwards is counteracting it tho’ ..competing with my system for oxygen ..” which she immediately gets and starts laughing. Now I’m sitting here writing and wondering if I just blew my cover.
