I woke up in Terminal C of Denver International Airport, having slept on the floor, beneath unforgiving lights.
Because people are afraid of each other, I spent another two days stealth camped outside of a UPS store. Waiting for things you aren’t supposed to bring on an airplane.
Trekking poles, tent stakes, a pocket knife.
The megastore where I resupplied had shut down the self checkout lanes, and planned to remove them completely.
“You just can’t trust people,” the cashier said, her boredom masking feelings of anxiety.
Where I saw the inevitable result of systems crushing humanity as a whole, she was dividing herself from the rest of the population, oblivious to the wider societal context motivating human behavior.
Or maybe I’d assimilated the agitated ennui oozing from the general population.
Here I was, on the cusp of a trail that had eluded me for over a decade, and yet, I didn’t feel like myself.
#BetweenTrails