In the Rain

“Did you ever, when it rains, see all the worms come up for air?” Tim wasn’t sure they were still having the same conversation, he thought they were. “And you feel bad for those poor little guys. They’re going to die now, usually drowning in a puddle that’s in a massive expanse of concrete. So, you get a little stick and start to save them. You find the liveliest looking guys, or the ones right near some dirt and return them to their homes. You go around and you get a bunch, then you look around…there are still countless worms dying in horrible ways everywhere. Some of the ones you’ve saved have found their way back to the big puddles. So you’re done. You toss your worm saving stick in disgust and walk away. And you wonder if it mattered. Why you even bothered. They’re just worms.”

Rachel paused expectantly here. He was sure what he was supposed to contribute to this worms in the rain story.

“Who cares? They’re worms.” He had bigger problems. Real problems.

“So you’ve never saved even one worm? Nudged a guy who found his way out onto a scorching hot side walk back onto the cool dirt?”

“No.” He thought about it. It was something so inconsequential he doubted he’d even remember doing it. Though surely if he had done it, he’d remember. “Never.”

“Why not?” he wasn’t sure why she posed such a silly question.

“What’s the point? What does it matter?” They had families to worry about and were here talking about worms.

“It means everything to that one worm stuck out in the sun, doesn’t it?” she didn’t say this like it was a trap closing, instead like she was the worm.

Shit.

“I don’t know. I never think about things like that. I just live you know? That’s hard enough, just getting up and making it through each day. I was nice to my family, I never cheated on my wife. I was never in the PTA or scooped up worms from the side of the road. Is that why I’m here?”

“No. It’s why I am.”

He wasn’t sure what Rachel meant by that, it seemed to signal the conclusion of this conversation and he was fine with that. Tim was content at this point to put behind him the strange events of the past few days, both in general and specific. He didn’t want to dwell on any of it. He wanted to focus instead on finishing this, he could feel that the end was approaching. He put himself in a vacation mindset. Did he think of work when he’s at Disney World? Hell no, he thinks of the fun today will bring. So here he was, looking only ahead.

“We might as well stop in El Paso for the night. Find us a place.”

“Sounds good.” Tomorrow may well be the last day of this adventure. “Do you think we’ll have any trouble crossing the border?”

He didn’t believe it would be a problem but it didn’t hurt to ask. They had one scary encounter already, he wanted to be ready if she expected another.

“About that…” Rachel hadn’t set a destination in the GPS and hadn’t asked him to throw out nearby hotels for her to mull over. “You’ll be crossing the border alone. We’re splitting up for now. I’ll meet you at the base of the Naupa Iglasia trail in the Andes.”

“What!?!” She delivered the news like ripping off a band-aid, fast, unexpected and immediate pain. His thoughts swirled, trying to recalibrate to this new information.

“Yeah. I’ll leave you in the morning and meet you at the trail.” She told him this calmly but he could sense something was wrong. She was holding something from him. “We’re close, we should meet there by dusk tomorrow.”

She smiled at him with eyes wild and uncontained.

“The distance doesn’t make sense but the time does. That’s what matters.” She told him this like it was supposed to mean something to him.

Everything had changed. He wasn’t sure if this development was somehow new to Rachel as well or if she had decided to wait until now to tell him for some reason. Tim had been content to travel with Rachel as a passive actor in his own story. He hadn’t had to make any decisions or do anything… oh god, a thought occurred to Tim.

“I can’t drive.” He needed to clarify although he knew that she knew. “I won’t.”