Meet Brooklyn

The sun rose to noon and the forest was thick with the humid air of summer. Brooklyn wiped the sweat from her face and leaned her back against the trunk of a pine tree. She closed her eyes and listened to the wind pass through the canopy above her. The air passed through her soaked black tank top and cooled her. Out of the blaze of the sun, the breeze raised goosebumps on her tanned skin. The sensation exhilarated her and she opened her eyes.

All around her stretched rolling green hills and a cloudless sky. All week she had waited for this. As a student of botany, most of her days were a revolving wheel of tests, labs, and long hours of studying. She wasn’t blessed with social skills and so most of her conversations were either casual small-talk or discussions with colleagues. Each semester she swore that she’d fight her anxieties; she could spend just one Friday night at a bar or club, or at least ask a classmate to a movie. But weekends would pass and she’d be back in class having spent the weekend going over the syllabus for the coming week.

Here though, in the forest and the hills, she felt her nerves melt away. Since her teenage years, when her interest in flora began, she found comfort in afternoons spent in nature. Whether reading a novel in the gardens of the university or hiking through the mountains nearby, their vibrant colors and indolent calm were a relief from the strain of city life.

It was a Saturday and she woke that morning with a lust for mountain air after another uninspired Friday night. There was a trail that she had walked many times before but had never finished. Summer was beginning to settle in and she wanted to get as far as she could, maybe even the entire way, before it was too hot to continue. She was at the trail by 7 in the morning and was already feeling the heat rise off the ground. Adjusting her backpack, she set off.

Brooklyn drew in a deep breath and combed back her wet, black bangs. She exhaled slowly and put her hands on her knees. She watched drops of sweat fall to the ground from her forehead. She massaged her thick thighs. Her legs were slick and her cut-off khakis clung to them. She thought about her body. Though she never considered herself beautiful, years of hiking made her legs toned and shapely. The few boyfriends she’d had commented on what a nice ass she had. On some of her lonelier nights she considered what her boyfriends had said and would put on mock fashion shows in her apartment. She would wear her only her panties and strut in front of her bathroom mirror, strutting, stopping, and turning to run her hands across her…

She stood up and got a bottle of water from her backpack, shaking off whatever silly train of thought she was on. She saw no one when she parked and hadn’t seen anyone else one her way up the trail. It felt like having the entire mountain to herself. She put the bottle back into her backpack, along with a first-aid kit, some granola bars, a map of the area, and a field guide to local plants and animals. She swung the pack across her back and took in the view once again. She was definitely farther than she’d ever been on the trail and saw she was it forked into three directions.

At the fork was a wooden post with signs that were supposed to indicated what lay in each direction but the etchings in it were too warped to make out. The idea of adventuring into the unknown was suddenly titillating to Brooklyn. Maybe, she thought, this is just the new and exciting experience that she’d been waiting for.

Indeed.

A compass dangled from a ring on one of the straps to her backpack. Taking a knee, she held up the compass and looked down at her map.

The compass read that one trail went southwest. Following along on her map, she saw that if she continued that way she would come to a valley that appeared exceptionally thick with vegetation. An orchard, maybe? Or perhaps a meadow?

Another trail veered off to the north. In this direction lay either a creek or brook that lead to a pretty sizable pool of water. A chance to refill her canteen and a beautiful relief from the heat!

Keeping on her current heading to the east, Brooklyn saw that she would eventually come the summit of the mountain. Nothing too exiting there but imagine the view!

Brooklyn stood, shouldered her pack, and started off. She smiled and again wiped her brow. It had gotten warmer since she left the shade.