“I want you to write an account of a time you felt trapped.”
Louise Doughty, A Novel in a Year
Locked in an Airstream, with a man that I had only known for a month, I had an overwhelming sensation to flee. I was cornered in the bed against aluminum walls, with the weight of two down comforters on top of me, staring at a low aluminum ceiling. I was somewhere in the woods, bordered by farmland with no farm houses in sight other than the old school house with rickety plumbing and an occupant that smoke a lot of pot. I didn't know which direction was Fennville, Saugatuck, or Douglas, Michigan. There was no posted address, my cell phone had a shaky signal, but I decided walking somewhere would relieve my trapped feelings. I quietly left the camper, peed in the woods, and headed for the road.
After walking for over forty minutes, I ascended a slight hill as the horizon shifted with each step closer to a stop sign. I didn’t know which way led to town. I stood at the intersection for quite some time before I turned back to camp.
I was on holiday in the Everglades. Having borrowed my grandfather's airboat, my friend Travis and I were going to spend a couple of nights cruising around, sleeping on the boat, fishing, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. The first day of traveling through the swamp was pretty uneventful and relaxing. I caught a couple of pan fish that we cooked up on the miniature propane stove and slept well in a beer-induced slumber. The next morning we headed out again. I was driving and going faster than I probably should have been- didn't hear the gas can fall from the rear of the boat. That night it was pretty much more of the same, more fish, beer, cigarettes, and good vacation conversation. Staring at the beautiful fern covered cyprus trees, water hyacinths, and mangroves in the distance gave some sort fulfillment of our wanderlust. Slept well on the deck again and woke up to a foreign rubbing sound on the hull, starboard side. Travis had awoken just a few moments before me and was giving me the most wet-eyed look that I had ever seen. It was, at least, an 8 hour ride back to the launch and we had almost no gas and were surrounded by a dozen or so alligators.
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