Postby Tramp » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:17 am
Del, good to hear you're still out on the road.
They left the tangle of Oakland freeways behind, Pam still navigating, never making a mistake, seeming to know exactly what was coming from memory or the map. It was interesting to him how comfortably they’d fallen into their roles together, at least while traveling.
“Don’t you love being out on the road?” he said. “I mean you get to leave what defines you behind, and maybe because of that, this energy starts up, this feeling of freedom. But it’s more than just freedom really. Sometimes I think freedom is a total acceptance of death, and most of us probably couldn’t handle that. But isn’t that where humor comes from? We care about everything so much, but we’re going to die anyway, so it’s all kind of absurd actually.”
“First you’re a speck, now this? Do you do this every time you set out on a trip?”
He got silent.
“Hey, come on, Neal. I was only teasing.”
He still couldn’t respond.
“Look, I like it when you wax philosophic; I’m just not sure what to say about it. All right?”
“That stuff just interests me sometimes. Do you think it’s silly?”
“Not silly, but does figuring any of that stuff out, or talking about it, ever make a difference in life?”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is then?”
“I’m not sure.” The annoying thing was that he really wasn’t sure.