I was pretty sure it was time to panic. I’d exhausted all other options.

Retracing my steps? Of course, and it had made things worse. I now had no earthly idea where I was.

Praying to the Good Lord Almighty? Obviously. And we can agree He heard me. What He decided to do with the desperate request was a whole other matter. Take Jonah, for instance. I honestly don’t know if he had a wife, and I don’t suppose he made it home in time to ask her to work on those nasty whale vomit stains before they were a hopeless case (which – of course they were), but suffice it to say, the Good Lord Almighty took a different perspective than Jonah did. Of the sense I do have, it is enough to know that my perspective diverges from holy more often than not. Need I say more?

Yelling for help at the top of my lungs? Mmm. Well you have to understand it’s usually a bit complicated to take that option. After all, maybe someone kind and helpful would hear me, but then again, maybe someone unhelpful and not at all kind would hear me too. Or maybe only one of them would hear me and how would I be able to tell if the one who came was the kind person or the one who was not at all kind? Or maybe kind and unhelpful? And, in trying to be helpful, they told someone who was of the not at all kind type? You see? Things aren’t nearly as easy as one might imagine.

And believe me, I was imagining enough for you and me both. You see, it all started with a birthday present. I had years ago expressed interest in going to Radio City Music Hall (an unattainable extravagance for someone like me) and one of my friends with a long, but not terribly detailed memory made the major effort of fulfilling my dream. That is, she got the radio part right, and I had to give her major credit for that. I unwrapped one part of a two-way radio. Ahem. One. And I think it was used. No one ever claimed my friends and I were flush with cash. Every one of us was more of what you call thrifters – or, more honestly, scavengers. But I was curious, and I thought to myself that I might just find the owner of the other part of a set by walking around and speaking into my walkie every so often.

The following day was beautiful, and I was in the mood for a long autumn walk. I ended up at the edge of town and proceeded down a road where I found myself at the edge of Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge: 43,000 acres of fresh air and sunshine; and, I might add, a reasonable place someone might carry a handheld radio. I admit now that sometimes things that seem reasonable at first, don’t seem at all reasonable after awhile.

to be continued…

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