Post by Ian (TIO) on Jul 28, 2020 18:09:14 GMT -6
The trek to Harrington Falls was not for the faint of heart. First, I had to drive over an hour and half from Halifax, and be close to the Nova Scotia / New Brunswick border. Second, the day I chose to go, the weather bestowed upon me a heat wave of unimaginable proportions, making the humidity close to 40 degrees Celsius.
“You know I don’t know Celsius,” Knux barked, who I had asked to come along with me. This was earlier inside my gas eating, not for the environment, Hummer.
“Just fucking Google the conversion,” I remember saying, placing the Hummer in park at 1357 Lynn Road, where the GPS said the falls was located, even though I had a hike to go.
“104?!” Knux yelled, “I think I’m going to chill in the A/C.”
“No,” I gritted my teeth, turning the car off, “she wanted you too.”
After huffing and puffing about the affair for minutes, Knux had finally agreed and we began our hike through the Nova Scotian wilderness. Many flora were about, among with small creatures such as squirrels, chipmunks, skunks and deer. There was no natural path so going through the terrain was rough at times, there were fallen trees, big spider webs and some uneven ground. We had made it to a clearing where there was no trees but a large meadow with numerous flowers. We carefully went through, trying not to disturb the flowers, before making it into another small wooded area before coming to the top of what was called “Harrington Falls”.
“It has another name you know,” I said, putting down my backpack, watching the water go the pool below.
“Yeah?” Knux replied with interest. He ran his hands through the water and put some on the top of his bald head.
“The Garden of Eden Falls.”
Knux simply nodded, with a small smile, as he took a picture of the water below. We carefully descended down into the gorge and we had finally made it to the base of the falls. The beautiful thing about this particular waterfall, it is the only one in Nova Scotia that has a natural walkway behind the falls, so you can walk behind it. Knux and I quietly stepped behind the falls and its as if the humidity vanished; the mist of the water hitting our faces was an amazing feeling. It felt not only cooling from the weather; it felt outer worldly.
“I had this insane dream months ago,” I started, allowing my hand to go into the thick water coming from above, “I had a dream I was in Key West, and Jenna had gotten murdered by Saxon Rowe.”
“Sounds life the exact definition of an insane dream,” Knux concluded.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “I woke up and it was surreal. I had to call Jenna and make sure she was OK. It was rough, because we hadn’t spoken in months, and that’s when I found out... fucking hereditary cancer.”
“I’m sorry,” Knux said, for the thousandth time, but I didn’t blame him.
“I’m just happy she decided to allow me to have some of her ashes,” I shrugged, opening my backpack, revealing a small silver urn.
“Was this her favourite spot?” Knux asked.
“One of them,” I nodded, “she asked us all to spread her ashes around Nova Scotia. She gave me the falls... I think because I actually would have to work to get here.”
Knux tried not to, but he laughed, and his laugh caused me to chuckle a bit.
“Jenna getting you still,” Knux smirked.
“Whatever you say,” I distanced myself, not really believing that she’s ‘still getting me’.
It grew silent and all that could be heard was wildlife and the falls. I took a big breath before unscrewing the top of the urn and bringing out Jenna’s ashes out that were in a small bag. The ashes that were given to me was enough that the entire it could fit in the cup of my palm, with a small mound. This is all that was left of my only child, Jenna. She was the last thing I had from Leslie. Leslie and Jenna changed my life completely and as quickly as I had them – they were gone.
“Was it my fault?” I teared up.
“What?” Knux coughed, caught off guard, looking at me shocked.
“My toxic lifestyle,” I continued, “my world – did it cause them to die?”
“What do you mean--”
“If there’s a higher power,” I suggested, “do you think its laughing at me? All my years of substance abuse, fucking people over, being an overall asshole. It’d be easier to kill me, right? So let’s punish him by letting him live but lets kill the ones who he loves!”
“Ian, calm down,” Knux said, putting his hand on my shoulder, firmly, “you are not cause of the cancer that killed your loved ones. You didn’t do anything. Could you have been a better partner and father? Sure... but you’re only human.”
I sat down on the mossy rocks under the falls and once again, it fell silent. Several moments passed before I got up and slowly allow the ashes to fall into the waterfall, and the ashes mixed into it, going into the pool below.
“I hope you’re at peace, Jenna.”
We sat under the falls for another hour before making the trek back to the Hummer. I made sure to start the car and let the A/C run for a solid ten minutes before getting into the vehicle. Knux and I both sighed with relief as we let the cool air blast us.
“Is this the only reason you called me for?” Knux asked, drinking half a bottle of water in a few gulps.
“Sorry?” I asked, confused.
“Besides spreading Jenna’s ashes,” Knux started, “is there anything else you wanted from me?”
“Uh,” I hesitated, “not really.”
Knux laughed, hard.
“What?” I hissed.
“Do you have... ‘the itch’?”
“What the fuck is the itch?” I imitated, “I didn’t hit any poison ivy.”
“You know exactly what I mean,” Knux said plainly, “don’t play stupid with me.”
I fiddled with my phone, as I looked over at Knux and just winked before hitting the gas pedal.
“Maybe.”