AT HAPPINESS: FOUR TROLLS ON A BRIDGE

Photo by Shaggy Hobo

So today on the trail at a point where the trail crossed a little stream over a footbridge, a tall, pretty younger, blonde woman came down the hill. There she found 4 older sweaty hikers taking a break by the stream. She smiled and said, “look four trolls on a bridge.”

It was said in good humor and we laughed. She stopped and chatted for a second, she lived nearby and was out for a day hike. Of course after a month on the trail, almost anything she said would have been charming.

As she walked by I found myself slightly enchanted.  I began to think about the river scene from Brother Where Art Though.  I wondered if she was a land siren and if I followed her up the trail, would she perhaps turn me into a toad? Such is life on a hot sunny day on the Appalachian Trail. Rev Kane