We grew up playing in fields, climbing stones, splashing through creeks and turning over rocks to find salamanders and crayfish. We knew what birds flew overhead, what cry that was in the night, when to plant corn so the seeds wouldn’t rot. The three of us loved our countryside, never imagining we’d leave until we entered high school where disdain and depression festered like an infection.

In four years, Darrel, Jake, and I grew apart. Darrel joined the football team, became quarterback, scored a scholarship to West Virginia State, which he deferred after 9/11 so he could join the Marines. Jake smoked weed and drank beer, learned guitar, began singing and writing music, and left for Nashville.

Continue reading at Sascha Darlington’s Microcosm Explored