Photo by Yves Alarie on Unsplash
Blue Mountain
We had passed halfway point. Every muscle in my body was singing, brimming with lactic acid. We’d been arguing, arguing as we climbed, about the best way to climb a mountain, though I’d never climbed a mountain before and you’d topped the summit countless times. I wanted to enjoy the walk: the winding path fringed with unfurling ferns and bamboo stalks, gold and tall. You said: To get to the top, you’ve got to look up. Kept leading us off the path to the short cuts through the underbrush over rocks and red soil. Impossible to gain stable footing, we kept on moving, the forward motion propelling us a step ahead of stumbling. It started to rain. You took my hand. The air thickened with the scent of parched earth being pummelled by water, particles of dust darting up, resisting their muddy fate and already I was drenched, had never been so wet; I’d never been so close to the clouds with the rain coming down and kept on going. At the summit we stood, hearts swollen with victory and relief, though thick grey mist had stolen the famous view of the north and south coasts of the island. Later, in the guesthouse in the valley, you tell me of the Taíno and Maroons who escaped slavery by fleeing to the Blue and John Crow mountains; it was here, in unmapped land colonists dared not enter, that they gathered, grew strength, and planned their resistance.