Origins and Destinations by Doc

He met her on a mountain trail.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Up – up there” he replied.
Pointing at a bare peak far above them, far above tree line.
She looked him.
“Good.”  And she walked away.

Two years passed.
He was sitting in a coffee shop.  A shadow crossed his table.
“Remember me?” a familiar voice asked.
He looked up.
“Yes, the lady on the trail.  The day I climbed to the top of that mountain.”
“Good,” she said, sitting down across from him.

They chatted briefly.
She told him some of her stories.
He shared some of his.
Then she said, “I’ll be in touch.”
He nodded.

He wondered how she would find him.
But she did.
A month later.
In the street.
She smiled at him, and simply said to him, “Come.  Follow me!”
He did.

And that’s how it all started.
A long time later he asked, “Why?”
She grinned and replied, “Why not?”
He clarified, “I meant what for?”
She said, “I was impressed.”
He didn’t say a word.  He noted she’d sidestepped his question.

She brought it up the next time.
“You should know…..” she said.  Then she paused, staring at him.
He filled the silence.
“Know what?”
“That I have plans…”

He then said, “Can I know what they are?”
She simply shook her head.
And then she said, “No!”

He decided that was the best answer she could have given…..

                                THE BEGINNING