He had an itch alright. And they were just a few miles from the home of the king. Yeah, he had an itch to see Elvis. And she agreed. But then again, she had been very agreeable for the whole trip. But it did not start in Memphis, and he did not even know her then, but for an itch.
Driving back toward the Portland airport, from a trip out in central Oregon along the Columbia River, his brother suggested one last hike along the Wind River to an awesome hot springs he had heard about. Not far from the trailhead, and hearing the sound of the river, they veered off the trail and bushwhacked their way along the riverbank searching for the warm spring waters promised. The steep banks required grabbing the ground flora as we went to keep from sliding down into the river. It was a crazy tough and seemingly long huck back into the woods. “Should have stayed on the trail”, was too obvious to even say. Then we saw the warm steam rising from the rocks, and smiled to each other.
Yeah, the springs were pretty cool. And seeing some naked folks besides his brother made for a scene alright. But later at the airport he sensed that he had an unmistakable oily feel to his skin and a tingle that leads to an itch. In such a hurry to scale those slopes along the river he had failed to even notice all the poison oak vines he grabbed and scrapped against, wearing just shorts and boots. Not good.
She was headed back to Chicago from a conference in Portland. They both had started such a nice conversation to really mind that the flight was detoured through Vegas, then to Memphis, making a four hour flight into twelve. They shared a meal in sin city and though still full of life and conversation, little did he know that the poison oil was laying dormant, preparing to surface. A hot shower would have stifled it, but under these circumstances, it would have to wait.
By the time she said “ya know, with a three hour layover, we could go see Graceland”, he knew this bout with nature’s defense was formidable. He did not let on though. And off in the taxi they went to do what you do when you’re stuck in Memphis.
Back in Chicago, after seeing the results of his nature hike along the river, she waved good bye from a distance, not wanting to hug him or even get too close. For what had started as an itch, became a monstrous, fiery, and painful rash that spread throughout his legs, arms, and chest, and would take weeks to extinguish.
