Came the time

Came the time when the two travellers knew night would catch them, and shelter must be found.

The first line of the new book I'm reading called 'Speaks the Nightbird' by Robert McCammon. Something about that line intrigued me from the get go. The placement of words and the thoughts it invokes.

Yesterday afternoon my Mother and I headed to Ellensburg to meet #61 for his birthday, he will be seventeen in a matter of days. So we spoiled him for hours, then he was ready to go hang with his friends and my Mother and I faced the decision of what to do now. Light was retreating and we needed a place to stay. Mickey blue eyes also had his own plans and it came to us that we were not needed anymore. As a parent and Mother some times it is shocking to realize my own guilt need not be so deep. I reflect back in my mind to those days when I was the same age, and what I can remember is that you only want your parents around when you need them. That your life with your friends was the most important part of you. You being the key word. You, yourself want to hang with your friends and enjoy the simple pleasures of that feeling that you belong to a clan of sorts. Having grown apart so much from your parents, into your own self with wants and desires for a life apart from them. That is what seventeen is all about, the precipice to adulthood and breaking away. The key is to know, as a parent when to let go and when you are needed.

So my Mother and I thought about what we wanted to do and opted for the comforts of our own beds and lives with a little sashay side trip to Barnes and Noble. Friday night at Barnes in Noble in the mall adjacent next to the Movie Theater? The place was filled with teenagers, many of them seventeen year old boys loitering about with their friends and girlfriends. I wandered through the rows to my favorite section and came upon three teens, two girls and a boy. All were tall and thin, with skinny jeans and hair cut with that shag cut, that makes me think of the Bay City Rollers on the cover of their album, era's ago, perhaps the only difference was the amount of piercings between generations. They were hovered close together and one was reading from a book to the other two. So I smiled to myself, and eavesdropped. When she finished reading they went on to discuss the book and life in general. But what I felt myself was, the sweetness of the moment in their freedom to be out enjoying themselves on a Friday night without their parents. I moved on and around the bookstore exploring my favorite haunts; bargain books, various display tables and the journal section.

I can hear the hoards of teenagers around me hollering intermittently as they move to different plans, I mused over a new journal; two of them catching my eyes, the first with a ornate metal owl embedded in the cover, my name means 'little wise owl', but after looking at the price not so enamored of it, perhaps later with a gift card I think. The second etched with embroidery and the paper folded in a way, to resemble an old notebook. I sigh, however I'm not ready yet to commit to the purchase of a new one and decide to wait to the new year or my birthday and the books I'm carrying are weighing heavy in my arms.

Heading up to the counter to pay for my two new books, the clerk asking the usual questions and one specific to another book I had selected. Suddenly a loud whoop filled our air, and we both turned to look as lanky boys filed out the door. She shook her head, smiled and said "teenagers."