Austin: Crossing Over

We wake up on sandy terrain and head to Austin, the place where two years ago I was in a car crash. We not only reclaim the city, but have a lot of fun doing it: We meet up with Sean at the FSSCA for lunch and then go to a big swimming hole for an icy dip in the hot Texas afternoon with Tzadik's friend Meredith. Meredith is a goddess of a woman--all wisdom and laughter and a good story teller with a big heart and a disposition for catching babies. We leave Austin and journey westward, sleeping at a rest stop somewhere in West Texas. I am consumed by bugbite itching; the door to the tent rips off and Tzadik says we are like Abraham and Sarah. I say sure, except for all the passing semi-trucks and the dull humming of sleeping teemsters in their airconditioned cabs. I realize that I have made it through Austin, barely skinning the edge of a car at an intersection, but safely out of the city by dusk. A turning point.