Villandry Bike Trip

One day, Sarah and I had the brilliant idea of biking 20 kilometers to Villandry and camping out- tent and all- at a nearby campsite in Savonniers. We ended up waging war with a multitude of ants and ultimately being chased out of our flimsy tent by those multilegged, militant bitches and sons of bitches. Sometimes, though, even the defeated are rewarded- a pity prize, I guess. As we sat on a bench a few feet from the banks of the calm Cher river, we saw the night come alive.

It started with the slow setting of the sun. Rose hues and soft oranges fading gradually into light shades of lavender and yellow. But watching the night fall is akin to watching one's hair grow. We start watching with such determination and patience, hoping to catch the strands in the act of growing, but somewhere down the line, we forget our purpose. A few months later as we brush our hair in front of the mirror, we realize with a shock that hoo boy, a visit to the barber shop has been long overdue. Perhaps, at this point, the hair is sweeping the floor and now you realize why the house has been so clean lately.

Anyway, so that is what it is like to wait for the sun to set. I blinked, and suddenly all the objects around me were silhouetted, as if a painter had come and brushed the trees and the sailboats and the distant cabins and even us, I am sure, in black ink. By now, the air feels a bit chilly, and so I pull open my sleeping bag and the two of us, Sarah and I, sat wrapped up in bright pink or mint green sleeping bags like a pair of caterpillars waiting in their cocoons to morph into a pair of summer butterflies.

Then the music started. The croaking, the chirping, the cawing, and the dolphin calls, the rustling and the wind! My God, what a ruckus! But all the creatures are invisible to the human eye, hidden in the banks, under the river, or behind shrubs and other vegetation. And where are the dolphins? Dolphins in the Cher? Truth be told, ever since I watched that Simpsons episode where the dolphins kick man into the ocean and take over land, I've had a slight irrational fear of the beady-eyed creatures- that evil glint in their glistening eyes, and their fixed, malicious smiles, their horrible clicking sounds that send uncomfortable shivers down my back and make my skin feel all prickly...I shuddered inwardly as these thoughts assailed my mind.

"Something wrong, Ann?" asked Sarah.

"Nah, just a little cold."

"It's the dolphins isn't it?"

"...God, they're creepy."