>>2785496I like the feeling of being alone in nature, especially in lowland parks low in fame but high with biodiversity, and on winter drives to quiet sites, night or day, where privacy is profound, even as one strolls around the security of an idling and very dependable car. The best friend of my youth was quite the opposite in disposition, quite the hiker, with a cool manner combined with a rather violent fantasy life, at times. In one letter, two years after moving from the Chicago region (where I still live) to Estes Park, he casually mentioned how much fun he'd find it to murder an entire family on the slopes of a certain mountain rich tourists frequented, and a year later asked me on the phone to send him a handgun by UPS or whatever. Naturally I declined by cutting off all further correspondence, but nothing came of it in any case, since he soon afterward formed a close friendship with a neighbor chick quite unlike any I've ever met. He died a kissless hugless virgin, of lung cancer, in 2011, and while I'm nothing of the sort, I knew him better than anyone else did, and didn't mind his worst or most cutting insults, elaborate or subtle as some of them were, since in person we were relaxed in conversation as it's possible to be.
