The Side Effects of Endorphins

It just kept getting worse.The city of Portland was never really well prepared for any snowstorm. Especially a snow storm of epic proportions such as this. The best they could do was have the snowplows concentrate on the main streets that ran through the city so that essential services such as ambulances and police could use them. After that it was a crapshoot. To make matters worse the wind had picked up to almost blizzard like conditions. These were the winds of late November combined with the moisture of late November and record-breaking cold that stubbornly persisted. As expected, trees started to fall as some of the last leaves of autumn still had not made their descent into the clogged sidewalks

The supermarkets were not especially overrun with people as a trip to the store had become an adventure that most people avoided. It had become unclear to most people what day the week it was. Normal activities such as church, school, work was simply neglected as people started to concentrate on lower-level needs such as warmth, food, basic survival.

Seth has decided to get out the cross country skis and his backpack and go to the grocery store for a central such as fruit, cereal, toilet paper and beer. One thing that was working in this town were cell phones. Seth had so many problems of his own. He worried about keeping the house worried about his job. Getting out and getting solid exercise made his problems fade into the background. He enjoyed the Wind whipped snow in his face. He enjoyed the extra effort it took to ski so that the powdery snow. He was jolted back into reality when his cell phone started ringing from the inner depths of his backpack. Normally he would ignore it, however nothing was Linear these days and there was no convention for honoring the tradition of not picking up a cell phone while picking up and endorphin rush.

He looked at his phone and noticed that it was Unix calling. He was relieved, he was scared and he certainly had a rush of adrenaline. He stop in the middle of Grant Park and fumbled with the keypad on the phone. Predictably, none of his touch strokes registered on his phone. He was frustrated and tap the phone harder than necessary, sending it into the deep powdery s snow. The first thought the crosses mine was dammit now I’m going to have to buy price. He got down on all fours and only seem to make matters worse as he covered up what holds were there in the snow. He could feel his heart rate speed up in frustration and a general feeling of losing control. The element seemed bigger than him. A real conversation with Unix would help clear up some of the Mystery. And the truth of the matter is like everybody she touched, Her gentle soul would become a part of her endearment. People simply liked her, she was a gentle soul, with misguided mission. A mission of kindness, intersected with A sense of sabotage. Seth was no different, he really liked her, he was worried about her, he wanted to help her and right now he was screwing that up completely.

As he sat there hopefully digging through this now a large branch fell 10 yards from where he knelt on the ground. The cracking of the branch was loud and echo through the park and the large branch hit the snow almost silently. Seth once again dug through the snow with a heightened sense of urgency. He could feel his body getting cold as he was only dressed for a quick ski over to the supermarket and now he felt he should have dressed as if it was summoning Mount Hood. Contrary to the run of play, He felt something solid in the snow and it certainly felt like his cell phone. He removed his glove, And he was surprised how quickly his fingertips became frigid stumps on the ends of his arms. He wasn’t nimble, however surprisingly the cell phone rang once again. He’s thought
to himself, “wow this is a freak of nature.” But these days what was not a freak of nature. A freak of nature was now be expected.

We picked up the phone quickly before it had made it through playing the first few bars of Beethoven’s fifth Symphony. He had chosen that ring tone as something he would not tire of.

“UNIX where the fuck are you?”

There was an extended silence on the other end of the phone. After what his phone had been through he was not sure that it was even fully working. He sat there and then driving wind driven snow, And for moment doubted his existence. He was A unique snowflake among many snowflakes, and then he heard her voice on the other end of the line. He thought himself, what are the odds of hearing from her, what were the odds of cell phone actually working and then he stuck to his senses and then he had to be living in the moment.

“Seth, you probably figured it out, this is Unix, it is very nice to hear A friendly voice. I am fine, I can explain it all to you later. Why think I can explain to you later. It has been a rather crazy few days. I feared for my life for a while. A rather large redhead, I think she was a redhead, as I have been through a great deal of trauma. It’s still unclear who she is, why She targeted me. It may just be a colossal misunderstanding. Still I feared for my life”

Seth was very cold all of a sudden and sat there taking in all that Unix said. She now had his undivided attention.

“Okay So where are you. Do you want me to call the police?

Seth sat and waited for an answer. He sat and waited for a good long time. Her answer came back as measured. He thought to himself that she may be in a bit of trouble. He thought that somebody had made her make this phone call. However, he did not find distress within her Voice.

“Seth I am up in The West Hills. I am safe right now. I am with a very nice woman who gave me comfort a few hours earlier.I just want to get home. There’s nothing moving on this end of town. is there anyway you can come and get me. I would be very much appreciated. I would like to sleep in my own bed for a night. ”

“Uni are you safe where you are at “Seth said but with added conviction. He sat and talked for a while as a feeling in his fingers slowly dissipated.

“Uni I’m pretty sure a bunch of us could make it over there in cross-country skis, But what would we do to get you back here. You’re pretty athletic and I sense we could teach you to ski pretty quickly”

The wind was howling rather loudly, and Seth even doubted what he had just said to Uni on the phone. It would not be an easy trip. But he certainly understood that you wanted to get home as soon as possible.

“Seth my friend, I do see how that could be difficult. I’m in a bit of shock right now. And I’m not sure what I should do. I’m safe I’m sore and I’ve been through an ordeal. And the police should be involved. Because I don’t think the woman who did this to me deserves a ride off into the sunset. I don’t remember what a sunset looks like right now. ”

“Uni, it might be more important for you to get to a hospital. Did he touch you did he hurt you, I never did trust that rascal you work with. I think The police officers suspect your coworkers. ”

There was silence on the other end of the phone . “No no silly, it was a woman, a very large woman with red hair and then anger problem with some obscure relationship to my parents. I don’t know how she picked out me. She also drove a large sure than life big white truck that handled the snow fairly well up until now. “