Quite Possibly Not A Good Idea

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There’s a time when you just crave something different to eat, especially when you’re not into your work or the going is slow or you’re bored. Then the idea hits you: Chinese food! And before you know it you’re setting off at what looks like dusk because of the heavy smoke, on a quest for goodies.

Let me describe it for you, because I’m not about to do it again in a hurry. It’s an hour before sunset, but you can’t see the sun. The air is a weird grayish-orange color, and it smells funny. After a while your nose starts to itch and your eyes to water just a bit, so you close your visor, and now your vision is cut but at least you can’t smell the nasty stale odor of burned pine…as much.

You can just about see to the next curve, and all the oncoming cars have their headlamps on.

You get closer to town, and bits of ash start falling through the air. It’s not like snow, not like you see when volcano has erupted–there’s less of it, but it’s noticeably harder to breathe. A deer wanders through the street; they seem to be leaving the woods. When you park, there’s a really unpleasant smell–ash, re-burning on your hot engine and tailpipe.

You get the food and tuck it in, your nose wrinkling and itching. The sat is covered in flecks of white ash. You pull down your visor, even though it really is twilight now, and want to sneeze. You know what happens when you sneeze inside a helmet, so you open the visor, and thick pseudo-air filters in, reeking, hard to breathe. You realize that you are getting a touch light-headed as you reach home and slow down, both to watch out for deer which are even harder to see and because you can’t react as quickly. Your mind is foggy and you have the beginnings of a headache.

The Chinese food has great spices in it and helps clear out the sinuses, but some of the smoke particles are in your lungs, your throat feels raspy and dry, and your eyes still sting half an hour after you got back.

Blech.