Truck stop.
Small town.
Canadian Rockies.
It was June.
Her name was June.
“Just the ice? $2.25.”
The biker handed over the change.
A toonie and a quarter.
Goodbye Lilibet.
We barely knew thee.
June had light blonde hair with a black streak across her bangs.
Clearly dyed, but which part was unclear. Even to her.
Strange for an older lady but perhaps not so strange anymore.
All the youth are getting older.
She’d left Halifax on a lark and didn’t stop until she’d reached the Rockies.
She regretted the move.
She regretted staying.
She regretted a lot.
She regretted the rain.
She regretted the sun.
She regretted having been born on a Tuesday.
She didn’t regret the truck stop though.
$2.25 for a bag of ice.
It would all be melted soon enough. Along with it, her heart.
She’d learn to love again.
She’d learn regret takes on many forms but it need not last as long as it had for her.
The plexiglass barrier closed for the final time that night.
The front door locked.
The biker swung a leg over his Harley, fired up the engine, and set out for Yellowknife.
June was headed the other way.
June was headed for Mexico and a dream she never knew she had.
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