It was a great experience for Marsden to wake in the morning and not have to face a day of dealing with other people. It wasn't only that Marsden had spent the previous couple of years living in crowded noisy dorms. Living in the tent out in the arid New Mexican mountains was the first time in Marsden's life in which he had entire days and millions of acres of unfenced wilderness all to himself. There was no parent, teacher, boss, or landlord he had to deal with if he didn't want to. There was no place he had to be, no classes he had to attend, no job he had to go to.
The early morning sun would shine down on the tent, making it so hot inside that he would wake up and get out of the tent. He didn't need an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. Once he got up and out of the tent, it was quiet. There was no movement except for one or two scurrying lizards. Lizards make no sound.
Some days instead of going to town to where people were, he would instead turn his back on the town and walk alone in the mountains. Marsden spent hours walking around the foothills. Everywhere the view was spectacular and dramatic. He could see for miles in every direction. The air was clear, the ground was clean, and the sun was bright. The clear air and immense quiet heightened Marsden's senses. His hearing became acute and his sight became sharper. He could smell the delicate scent of the pines, the wet earth of the arroyo. His sense of touch was magnified. His skin, exposed to sun and wind, quivered with the freedom of not being subjugated by four walls.
There was hardly a sign that other people existed anywhere on the planet. The occasional rusting can or bit of barbed wire Marsden found was like an ironic decoration placed by a fussy decorator. The small pinon pines only grow to be a certain size, and they also grow a uniform distance from one another. It was as if they had been planted by a landscape architect and evenly trimmed- none of the confused bramble of the eastern forests. Marsden found an abandoned cabin. He considered moving into it, but it was too far from the road.
The lizards kept Marsden company. The lizards were like tiny people, frantically scurrying around on secret errands. Occasionally a lizard would pause on a rock, cock its head and stare quizzically at Marsden. They would carry on wordless conversations. Although Marsden was alone, he didn't feel lonely.
He didn't bring a radio or television with him, although there was an AM radio in the car. Also in the car were two books of poetry: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and a book of poetry by Galway Kinnell. A red candle left on the dashboard had melted in the sun and the wax ran all over the Kinnell book and the binding fell apart. The wax sunk into each page, and wax laminated poetry spilled from the dashboard on to the floor of the Dodge. There was a poem in the book that Marsden liked, in which Kinnell made a last will giving various parts of his body away when he died.
Lee eventually met two neighbors who had camped on the same little mountain stream. One was camped upstream, and the other downstream. The first day Marsden pitched his tent, a guy with long, black straight hair welcomed him to the little creek. He told Marsden not to use any soap when washing his dishes, because that guy drank the water down the creek. Marsden never saw that dark-haired fellow who lived downstream again, or even came across his campsite. Marsden found the campsite of the guy who lived up the creek before he met him. The guy up the creek didn't have a tent- all he had was a clear piece of plastic dangling between two trees. Some rocks had been placed in a ring for the fire. Empty cans and bottles and bits of paper were strewn around. Eventually Marsden met the guy a couple of times, and found out that he was living on food stamps and was from Massachusetts.
Lee Marsden had plenty of friends in San Cuencas. He could always find a friend's house to hang out for a few hours, if he wanted to be inside, take a shower, watch some TV, or socialize. There was his friend Joe's house. Joe had cable television and a VCR. Marsden could go over to Joe's and watch cable. There was also his girlfriend Ann's house. Marsden spent lots of time at Ann's house. Even though Marsden spent much time at Ann's house, he was mad at her. Marsden had asked Ann if he could move in with her, seeing as how he spent so much time over there anyway. Ann had said no. So Marsden had decided to move into a tent just inside the San Cuencas National Forest. Marsden never thought about himself as a "street person" or "homeless".
Marsden also never considered that Ann was right. He was mad at her for not letting him move into her house, even though if he had given it a moment's thought he would have realized it would have been impractical for him to move into Ann's house. But it was no wonder he wanted to move in there. It was a beautiful house, with a large glass picture window looking out towards the snow-peaked mountains of the San Cuencas ski basin. However, the house was already crowded. Ann lived there with two other women. One of the other women that Ann lived with also had a boyfriend who spent much time there. Ann's roommate and her boyfriend would have huge loud yelling matches late into the night.
Marsden thought he loved Ann, but it was hard to distinguish what he thought was love from the terrific sex that he and Ann had. Ann had long legs, with shapely muscular thighs. Ann knew her legs were her best asset, and always wore skin-tight jeans which showed them off. One day Marsden and Ann had been driving through the fragrant streets of San Cuencas, in Ann's Italian convertible sports car. Her hands gripping the leather steering wheel, Ann said that she didn't love Marsden. Marsden interpreted this to mean that he could pursue Fiona.
Fiona had just finished her freshman year at St. Francis College. She was nineteen years old, and she had decided to stay in San Cuencas for the summer. She was gorgeous and exoctic in a way that Ann wasn't. Marsden had fallen in love with her the very first time he had laid eyes on her. He had gotten to know her a bit during the school year, but he had always felt intimidated by the gang of guys that constantly surrounded her. Lee found out that Fiona was working in a Mexican restaurant washing dishes. He parked up the street, and stood outside the screened back door of the restaurant. Through the screen door he could see Fiona standing at the sink. She was wearing an apron, and held a dish in one hand and a dishrag in the other. The gang of guys were gone, back to their homes for the summer.
"When do you get off work tonight?" asked Marsden quietly.
"What would you like to do?" Fiona asked.
"I could give you a ride home." Marsden thought she might like driving around in his frayed '66 Dodge Coronet. They agreed that Marsden would come by to pick Fiona up after she got off work, at nine o'clock.
Thanks to everyone who upvoted Part One. There is still more to the story, so stay tuned!