In Which We Learn Our Friends Are Not Always Our Friends

"Are you sure about this?" I asked him again.

"Of course I am, you total wuss. Now go." Munch sure can be pushy sometimes.

I looked down the steep hill of the bike path, and thought about it for a moment. "Munch, I'm not sure that this is the best of ideas." This was really kind of obvious, despite the 5 or 6 snakebites I'd downed.

See, Munch had these shoes with these bouncing things on the bottom, and...you know, explaining just doesn't work that well with 'em. Let's just say they looked like a device made by Acme Co., marketed to coyotes for the purpose of road-runner catching. They were crazy fun, too, and that's not just the snakebites talking.

"Logan, leave the ideas to me," he said. Jeez, it's creepy when he wears his sunglasses in the dark. He could be thinking anything. "Are you chicken? Will your girlfriend be mad at you?"

Those shoes were a lot of fun. I bounced up and down a few times, just to get a good feel for them. "This is pretty cool," I admitted. "But howcome you won't go first?"

He turned the glasses towards me again, and said "Because you're younger than me, and less brittle. I'm much more likely to break a hip."

He had a point there. I bounced some more, and then realized something. "Well, what about Finn? He's younger than both of us."

"True," he said, "But Finn's waiting at the bottom to prevent any passerby from going through at the wrong moment. Besides, he's not drunk. Drunk people are more likely to be safe from accidental injury."

This was also an excellent point - and those shoes were super-fun. "Ok," I said, "Here goes."

And there I went. It was great - for about five seconds. And then the law of gravity kicked right in. At the top of the springing arc, I realized that my balance was just a wee bit off, and that's when everything slowed down. My last thought before impact was That gravel's really going to hurt, isn't it? And it did. I continued bouncing, but not on the shoes. Rather, on my shoulder, my back, my knees, then my head, repeat that a few times, until I slid to the bottom of the hill and looked up at the uncaring sky.

Finn was laughing his ass off when some teenagers passed by. "Dude, that looks like it hurt. Wanna smoke?" I actually thought about it, but I could only manage a groan, and Finn flicked his badge and chased them away.

I still hadn't recovered enough to speak when I heard a familiar evil chuckle behind me. "Next time, Logan, don't give your evil ex my phone number, or it'll go even worse with you." He turned to Finn, "Go ahead and call Eames. See if she's got a wheelbarrow to collect her parcel here. On second thought, better call her partner instead. Don't want to tick her off. She's actually dangerous."

So, that's where I've been. Hope you guys are well.