Off the Beaten Path

Chapter 1 “I’ve had it with people,” Hugh declared, hauling his expedition backpack down from the top shelf of his closet. “Family, so-called friends, the people I work with. Every damned one of them.” He slammed the backpack down on his bed then took a deep breath. “Don’t look at me like I’m crazy,” he muttered when Orion, his goldador, c****d his head. “Yeah, you’re coming with me. It’s not you I’m pissed at, just anyone who walks on two feet. So we’re moving out and moving on. No more being cooped up in the city. We’re hitting the trail and never coming back, if I can help it.” The immediate reason for his decision was the need to get away from the accounting firm where he’d worked for the last two years after leaving college. The need had become reality a few hours before. “You’re what?” his boss had said when Hugh walked into his office to tell him he was tendering his resignation. “I’m quitting. Leaving. Getting out before I turn into a drone like everyone else who works here,” Hugh had replied. His boss had blustered, cajoled, and finally told him he could pick up his final check at the end of the week. “Without a recommendation from me on your job performance, when you start looking for another one.” Hugh had been tempted to flip the man off. Instead, he’d sarcastically thanked him for his concern for his future, and left. He would have loved to tender a resignation to his family as well—at least to his tyrannical father and dutiful mother. I guess I am, although not in person. He didn’t mind his brothers—too much. Like him, they’d bent to their father’s will, living the lives he’d programmed for them. In his older brother’s case that meant a good job, a wife, and kid. For his younger brother, it was going to college to major in business whether he liked it or not—just as Hugh had. Hugh’s only out, during what he caustically thought of as his formative years, was spending as much time as his father would allow hiking the mountains outside the city. His father had only let it happen because he deemed it a way for Hugh to become more self-reliant. For Hugh, it had been an escape from the rigors of his home life and school—and more recently from his stultifying job as an accountant. “Now I’m going to do it for real,” Hugh said under his breath as he began taking the clothes he’d need from the closet and dresser. Not the suits, dress shirts, and shoes from his everyday life. They’d stay behind. As far as he was concerned his landlord could trash them or sell them, along with all the furniture and whatever else he’d leave in the apartment. He would pack his personal items from the bathroom right before leaving, including a couple of towels and washcloths. One of the items he would definitely take with him was his bow. He’d learned to use one while in college, thanks to the guy he’d been dating at the time. The guy his parents had never learned about, since they’d never found out he was gay. Some things were better kept to himself when it came to his family. He’d bought a three-piece, takedown recurve bow right after college. When broken down, it fit in a carrying case, along with bowstrings, arrows, an armguard, and nock sets, which attached to the bowstring to nock arrows in the same spot for every shot. “No, Orion, we’re not going right this moment,” Hugh said with a laugh when the dog left the room, returning moments later with two of his favorite toys clamped in his jaws. “We can’t get out of here until after I get my final paycheck.” Of course Orion had no idea what he was talking about. Usually, when Hugh got out his backpack, it meant they were taking off for the mountains within the hour. Not this time. Going to the hall closet, he got the gear he’d be bringing with them—a four-season sleeping bag and mat plus a sheet of heavy plastic in case the ground was wet, a single stove burner with gas cartridges, as well as a fire-starter—since he didn’t intend to return to civilization for more cartridges when he ran out—and his lightweight tent. He also had several pots and pans but would only be taking the frying pan and one of the pots due to how much else he needed to bring with him. The case for the stove fit inside the pot, thus taking up less room in his backpack. He added two water bottles and purifying tablets, tin bowls, plates, and collapsible cups, sporks and knives, and several packets of travel tissues. He set everything on the dining table for the time being, before going back to the bedroom to start packing his clothes, which would include both a lightweight waterproof jacket and a down one. There were some things he needed to buy, to wit a small camp shovel and a couple of pairs of warm hiking pants to augment his jeans, and packs of freeze-dried food. He’d worry about that in the morning. When he was finished, he got Orion’s leash and he and the dog set out for their evening walk. The night was balmy for early fall, with a three-quarter moon above them. An auspicious start to my new life. It’ll be full by the time we get to the mountains. As he walked past her front yard, the nice woman who lived two doors down from Hugh’s apartment building said, “You look happy.” “Meaning I usually don’t?” he replied, grinning. “Not often. Mostly you seem to be carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.” “I suppose I do,” he admitted. “I’ve decided to do something about it. This is between you, me, and the fencepost.” He gestured to one of the posts on her picket fence, getting a laugh from her. “I’m moving to the mountains Saturday morning.” He didn’t bother to tell her he’d be living rough until he decided where he’d settle for the long term—if he did. “That will be a big change,” she replied. “I have the feeling, from looking at your expression, that it’ll be a good one, too.” “I sure hope so. I’m sick and tired of city life. I need my freedom.” “If I were younger, male, and—” she winked at him, “—gay, I’d offer to join you.” He chuckled. “If you were, I’d take you up on it. Right now it’s only me and Orion. Not that he isn’t great company, but he lacks something in the conversational department.” “And makes up for it by being protective, I’m sure, in case you run into a feral rabbit.” Grinning, he replied, “As long as it’s not a rabid rabbit, I’ll be fine.” “Try saying that three times.” She leaned over the fence to give him a hug. “You take care, and keep in touch. You know my number.” “I will,” he told her, knowing it wasn’t the truth. Two of the things remaining behind when he left would be his phone and laptop. He and Orion continued on, stopping twice to chat with neighbors they knew from Orion’s walks. Then they returned home. After taking the partially full backpack into the living room, Hugh showered and crawled into bed. It took him a while to fall asleep, as he went over everything he needed to do, and to remember to pack—but eventually he did.