A Torturous Walk

Weekends are good. Time off from the job. Time off to have a little fun and adventure. Time off to sleep that little bit extra. Time off to awake to a long, lazy breakfast; not the hurried cornflakes-with-milk thingy we have to do every other day during the hectic work week.

We took Pico for a walk on Sunday afternoon around Campus Lake. It’s a 2.2 mile loop around a lake surrounded by winding paths and sycamore trees. On a normal day it’s a beautiful walk. But on a day like yesterday, it was, “A torturous walk,” as Nanu called it.

The January cold bit into my face, fingers and thighs, through the layers of clothing I had on. By Carbondale standards, it seemed like it was the coldest day ever.

Despite the cold, it felt good to be out. Pico was in heaven. He had his red sweater on and was frantically following his nose, inhaling the smells of numerous dogs who had walked that same route before us. The waters of the lake looked crystal clear. We saw a ton of ducks swimming by and the occasional turtle.

About a mile into the loop, I took Pico to the water’s edge to watch the ducks.

Normally he hates water and will never get into it of his own free will. So I wasn’t expecting what happened next. Pico jerked on his leash as he watched the ducks swim past and leaned forward, nose quivering. I took my eyes off him at that very moment and the next thing I know, he’s fallen into the icy water.

My heart stopped. I saw Pico swimming in slow motion, his sweater a red blob in the water. I felt foolish still holding onto his leash. Fortunately for me, he hadn’t fallen very far. I leaned over and managed to drag-carry him out of the water.

Unsurprisingly enough, Pico was fine after his little mishap or should I call it adventure? And despite having just been immersed in near-freezing water, he shook himself, spraying water all over me and then took off, following his nose all over again.

Nanu removed Pico’s sopping wet sweater and got his gloves wet in the process. I had gotten my gloves wet by pulling Pico out of the water. And Pico was wet all over. In about five minutes, Nanu and I had ice-crystals form on our gloves. And then we saw ice-crystals form on Pico’s body.

In no time we felt C-O-L-D-E-R than ever; in definite need of warmth. Nanu couldn’t feel his fingers after a point. Neither could I. The exposed parts of my face hurt with the cold. To make matters worse a wind had just started blowing.

But we were midway into the loop and the car was parked a mile away. There was nothing else to do but to suck it up and walk as fast as we could, the rest of the way.

We felt a bit like the lost climbers on Mt. Everest, doomed to die of frostbite. Yeah that is an exaggeration, but I can totally understand what they must have gone through.

Strangely enough, even though we were literally freezing, there was something exhilarating about the whole experience. However we sure were glad to come home to a warm house and some hot coffee.