The shower burned my skin. Every drop of water found a new cut. My hands ran through my hair, down my chest and to my legs. Granite dust surrounded the drain. I leaned against the wall and fell asleep.
"We can be fresh through the night and have the sun wake us up," I told Jamie as we hiked up to the base of the Zodiac, a steep route on the far right side of El Capitan. We started at 4 in the afternoon. My idea seemed good at the time, to climb the route in a day as my first El Cap mission. Standing in the shower, exhausted from over twenty hours on the route and a full day hiking and descending, I wasn't sure if it'd been the best idea.
The hot water eventually scalded me back to semi-alertness. I grabbed my towel and let the water drip down my body. I just needed to walk to bed. I worked for the concessionaire in Yosemite and the employee showers were a good 500 feet from the tent cabin I shared with Jessica, my girlfriend. The five hundred feet might as well have been five hundred miles. I stumbled towards my bed.
"Great job," Jessica's blonde curly hair framed her face. Her long legs brought her to our bed, were I lay, almost dead. She leaned down and stroked the side of my face. She kissed me on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you. I'm going to get you some food."
I fell asleep for an hour. She woke me with chocolate milk, crackers, and fruit. We lived large in Yosemite. I devoured the food. And fell back to bed.
"Tired," she ran her hands over my shoulders, rubbing the muscles. "How'd it go?"
"Good. I led the first block." Her hands kneaded into me. I relaxed a little. "Jamie led through the middle. We passed some people in the middle of the wall. Jamie fixed the rope over the edge of their portaledge. When I jugged up, their ledge went sideways. They woke up terrified."
Her fingers rolled along my spine. She rubbed my lower back.
"Take off your shirt," she said. I grunted, sitting up. I dropped back to the bed when my shirt hit the ground.
