Pool

I have a favourite place. I have been going there at least a few times a year since I was a little boy when I was first brought to the place to fish with my father. We walked a trail, not a very long one, through woods to a pool fed by a good-sized waterfall. I do not recall catching any fish there as a child.

Sometimes another set of walkers, maybe with their own fishing poles, would join us. My dad would shorten our visit if one of the other visitors whipped out a joint and filled the forest with its dopey fragrance. People were always whipping out a big joint and freaking out my dad. "Motherfucking hippies," he would mutter in the car as we drove back to camp.

I never see anyone by the pool when I go there with my dog and my fishing pole now. The fucking government closed access to the road that led to the trailhead and the extra half hour of hiking the closure created keeps people away now.

Lazy motherfuckers.