After a shower and change of clothes, everyone gathered in the lawn chairs beside the fire ring. It was too early for dinner, much less a fire. After their hike, and subsequent doctor's visit, none of them felt like moving any more than was absolutely necessary.
"We did a bunch of things wrong, today, and we were lucky it didn't turn out any worse than it did," Dexter announced.
"What did we do wrong?" Will asked.
Sarah said, "I didn't mean to twist my ankle."
"I know. That was an accident. The reason it happened, though, is because we weren't properly prepared," Dexter said.
"Prepared?"
Dexter said, "First, we should have been wearing hiking boots. They would have supported your foot, so that it would have been much less likely for you to twist your ankle."
"I figured we were just walking," Sarah said.
"There's a reason they call it hiking and the appropriate footwear is called hiking boots," Dexter said.
"That makes sense," Will said.
Dexter answered, "Also, we should have gone on the 'easy' trail."
"It was longer," Will said.
"It may have been longer, but it was probably a whole lot less work," Dexter said.
"Oh, yeah," Sarah said.
"I guess, in hindsight, it is kind of obvious," Will said.
Dexter said, "This is the really hard one to admit. We weren't in shape for that level of exertion."
"I'm not going to argue with you there," Will said.
"You're right," Sarah said.
Dexter said, "If we had been a little more fit, this could have been a fun day. Unfortunately, we aren't in shape, and it turned into a nightmare."
"You're in better shape than me," Will admitted.
Dexter said, "I guess I'm going to have to beef up my exercise program."
"You? Are you kidding? I thought you did pretty darn good," Will said.
Dexter said, "Not really. I kind of pushed it a bit too far. I could have gotten seriously injured. What would you have done if I had passed out?"
"I don't know," Will answered.
"I didn't even think about that," Sarah said.
Dexter said, "You know I had a heart attack."
"I forgot about that," Will said.
"I should have stopped at that spot where we had discussed the dangers of that washout. I should have sent Will ahead to get some water, and perhaps even some help. I didn't. Because of that, I put both of you at risk. That was a bad decision on my part," Dexter said.
"It worked out all right," Will said.
He frowned while thinking about what his father was saying. It seemed to him that his father was taking all of the blame for how the afternoon turned out.
Will said, "This wasn't your fault."
Dexter said, "I'm not talking about fault, here. I'm talking about learning from your mistakes. One of the things that you have to learn, is to examine your past actions, and learn from them. You should be your own harshest critic. You shouldn't focus on only the negatives. You need to look at the things you did right. The whole point is that you have to learn from your experiences.
"You also have to watch what other people do, and learn from their experiences. Maybe they do things differently than you do. If so, does their way work better, or worse than yours?"
"That makes sense," Will said.
Dexter said, "So let's try it. We'll each come up with something that we did wrong on this hike. I'll go first ... I should have stopped at the place where Sarah twisted her ankle, and helped her across the uncertain ground."
Sarah said, "I shouldn't have twisted my ankle."
Dexter held up a hand and asked, "Are you saying that it was a preventable accident?"
Sarah answered, "I guess so. I mean, it wasn't until I had twisted it, that I remembered your earlier warning that the footing wasn't very good through there. I could have been more careful."
"Excellent," Dexter said. "Will?"
"You know, you suggested that we turn around at one point. I dismissed it without thinking. I should have really considered that the hike was a little more strenuous than I was prepared for," Will said.
"That's a good point, too," Dexter said.
"You're right," Sarah said. "I didn't think about that. It would have been a nice little hike, if we had turned around at that point."
"It would have been about as much of a hike as we could have enjoyed," Will said after giving it another moment of thought.
Dexter said, "It is my turn again. I should have gotten a little more experience hiking, before bringing you two with me on a hike."
"What good would that have done?" Will asked.
"It would have made all of the difference in the world. I would have become a little more aware of some of the problems we might have encountered. I could have found a trail that we would have enjoyed, before taking you on it. That way, you'd have had a lot more fun on your first hike," Dexter said.
"I can see that," Sarah said.
Dexter said, "After this experience, I don't think either of you would want to go on a hike again."
"That's not true. I really enjoyed the trip down to the pond and around it. I learned a lot," Will said.
"That was fun. I enjoyed watching the baby ducks," Sarah said.
"It was only coming back that was not so fun," Will said.
"I'll concede that point," Dexter said.
"So you would try it again?"
"Sure," Will said.
"Maybe not tomorrow, though," Sarah said pointing to her ankle.
Her sprained ankle was wrapped in a bandage. The doctor had prescribed aspirin to deal with the pain and swelling. Her ankle was a little tender, but not all that bad. Still, she couldn't put her weight on it. Instead, she had to use crutches to move around. Like most young people, she was milking it for everything she could.
In a way, Dexter was relieved that the two kids were willing to try hiking again. He had enjoyed most of the hike. In fact, he felt that he probably could have handled the entire hike without much difficulty except for having to carry Sarah for the last mile or so.
"We'll probably be talking about this day for a long time to come," Sarah said.
"You're probably right," Dexter said.
Although common interests often formed the basis for friendships, the strength of a friendship was often tempered as a result of shared experiences ... particularly harsh ones. There was nothing like having a tough time to bind people together or force them apart. Brittle relationships often fell before hard times, but good relationships grew stronger.
Will said, "This sure wasn't like in my computer games. I mean, the characters never get tired or twist their ankle. You sure can't save the state of game, here, and go back to try it again. I guess there's a lot more difference between the fantasy world presented in computer games, and real life, than I thought."
Dexter was kind of surprised that Will thought there were any similarities between the game world and the real world. He said, "You don't believe there are monsters out there."
Will said, "Of course not, but not all of the games we play have monsters. A couple of the games I've played are military games. The weapons and stuff are all pretty accurate, according to the stories on the web. Even some of the landscapes compare well with reality.
"The point is, our characters go running all over the enemy compound in some of those games. I never really thought about how I would feel after running that much while carrying all kinds of weapons. I mean ... that's the unreal part. We can run forever in some of those games. There's no way I could have run up that trail and fought the Taliban. I'd have been wheezing, and puking my guts out."
"Oh, gross," Sarah said.
"You're probably right about how you'd feel after running up the trail," Dexter said.
The sad fact was that Will was in horrible physical shape. It wasn't that he was overweight. It was that he had no stamina or strength. Years of sitting in his room playing games on his computers, had basically left him a physical wreck. His weekend skateboarding hadn't done much to develop any muscles. Dexter couldn't imagine what kind of shape Will would be in after working twenty years in an office.
Will said, "I never really thought about that before. There's no blurring of vision because sweat has gotten into your eyes. There's no fatigue that makes it impossible to raise your gun. The game makes you ... like ... like a comic book superhero, or something."
"It might be a different story if you were in really good shape. I'll bet there are some folks who could have run the whole trail, and still be ready for anything," Dexter said.
"The point is, that in the real world, I'm not capable of doing that. In the game world, I am," Will said. "It kind of gives me a false sense of ability."
"That's true," Dexter said.
Dexter had once read that the games people play as children, prepare them for their life as adults. He wondered what kind of world it would become, where interacting with false realities taught the essential skills for being adult contributors to society. It was a rather frightening thought.
Sarah asked, "So, are we going to try hiking again?"
"What do you think we need to do before we try it again?" Dexter asked.
"Get in better shape."
"Get hiking shoes."
"Get the right kind of clothes."
Dexter said, "I agree with all of those things. If you get new hiking shoes, you'll have to break them in before you go hiking in them."
"Right," Will said.
Dexter asked, "So will you get in better shape?"
"I think I will. I might start jogging," Will said.
"Same here," Sarah said.
Dexter said, "I don't like jogging. I consider that the devil's exercise."
"Why?"
"Everyone I know who jogs, ends up getting hurt," Dexter said.
"So what do you suggest?" she asked.
"Walking, cycling, or swimming," Dexter answered. "I would guess that walking is probably better preparation for hiking than swimming. Cycling would probably help build up your stamina."
"That makes sense," Will said, wondering where he could walk.
It didn't dawn on him that he could walk around the block. That just wasn't done. He guessed that he could drive over to one of the local parks and walk there.
"We don't have bikes," Sarah said thinking that she would prefer cycling, over walking.
"That's easy enough to fix," Dexter said.
Dexter had been meaning to get a bicycle. He had told Samantha that he would rather ride a real bicycle than an exercise version. He wanted to see the world go past while he peddled, rather than just stare at a wall.
Will asked, "How?"
"We can go to a bike store and get bikes."
Will said, "I think I would look horrible in spandex."
Sarah said, "I think I would look good."
"Spandex?" Dexter asked wondering what that had to do with getting a bicycle.
"You know, those tight little outfits that cyclists wear," Will said.
"What's wrong with wearing blue jeans?" Dexter asked confused at the suggestion that a special outfit was necessary to ride a bicycle.
Sarah said, "You've got to wear the right kind of outfit."
"Why?" Dexter asked.
Will said, "It cuts down on the wind resistance."
"Are you going to be racing?" Dexter asked.
"Well ... no ... it's just that ... riding a bike in jeans, just isn't done," Will said.
"That's right," Sarah said.
Dexter was dismayed. It seemed to him that the bike should have been the more important consideration than the clothes.
Then it dawned on him. For the kids, having a bike, riding it, and wearing the proper clothes; were all essentially one concept.
He muttered, "When did each activity begin to require a different outfit?"
"What did you say?" Will asked.
"I was just curious when riding bicycles required specific kinds of clothes," Dexter said.
Sarah said, "Always."
"It wasn't always like this," Dexter said.
Will said, "Sure it was."
Dexter said, "We didn't require special clothes when you were younger."
"That's different."
"Why?" Dexter asked.
"I don't know," Will said after a pause.
"We weren't riding our bikes for exercise," Sarah said.
Dexter replied, "Yes, we were."
"We were?" Will asked.
"Sure. It was a fun family activity and exercise. There's no reason it can't be both," Dexter said.
"We'll be riding our bikes for exercise, now."
Dexter looked at Will with a frown. "Why can't you ride it for fun?"
"We're getting the bikes to get in shape," Will said.
"So what? Can't you have a little fun while doing it?" Dexter asked.
"I suppose so," Sarah said with a frown.
Dexter said, "You know ... when I was your age, riding a bicycle was a form of transportation. I rode my bicycle to school, to the park, to the store, and to work. I went everywhere on it. I wore school clothes and work clothes while riding on it. My school clothes and play clothes were one and the same. I didn't require special outfits to ride my bike."
"That's weird," Will said.
"Weird?"
Will said, "I just can't imagine it."
Dexter gave up and said, "We'll buy bikes and outfits."
Sarah said, "Don't forget that we'll have to get helmets and pads, too."
"What for?" Dexter asked.
"They are required by law," Will said looking at his father like he didn't know anything.
Sarah said, "It's illegal to ride a bike without wearing the proper safety gear."
"It's just riding a fucking bike," Dexter declared.
Will, quite seriously, said, "No. We're going to be getting into shape to hike. We've got to do it right."
"I guess you're right," Dexter said, and sighed.
Will said, "I guess we'll still need to take walks."
Sarah said, "We're going to have to get some clothes for walking."
"Will we need helmets and pads, too?" Dexter asked.
Edited By TeNderLoin