The Town That Slowed Time

The sign at the entrance read:

Welcome to Willow Creek.
Population: 1327
Please drive slowly. We like our squirrels.

Miles Bennett smiled for the first time in weeks. He had driven nearly eight hours to reach the tiny mountain town after finally cashing in six months of unused vacation days. His boss thought that he was having an early life crisis.

Mile thought that he was just tired. Tired of conference calls. Tired of mails marked URGENT. Tired of pretending that "circling back" was a normal phrase people used.

Willow creek looked like the complete opposite of everything he had left behind. Wooden cottages lined flower filled Street, bicycles leaned against white picket fences and people actually waved at strangers. It felt less like a town and more like someone had accidentally built a postcard.

Half an hour later Miles wondered into Noah's pub, the only place that is still lively after sunset. He barely sat down before someone slif into the stool beside him.

You look like you have argued with spreadsheets for a living.

Miles looked sideways. Copper red curls. Gree eyes. A denim jacket. A grim that suggested she enjoyed cuadeing harmless trouble.

Corporate law he replied.

She nodded thoughtfully. Worse.

He chuckled. "You?"

"Marketing".

He winced.

"My condolences".

"Likewise"

No introduction. No awkward small talk. Just two exhausted strangers silently agreeing they have escaped the same kind of prison. Noah, the oub owner apparantly, placed two local beets in front of them.

"On the house" he said.

"Why?" Miles asked. "You both have the same expression"

"What expression?"

"Please don't ask me what I do for work expression"

Sadie raised her glass. "To unemployment".

"Temporary Unemployment". He too raised and clinkled his against hers.

As the evening went on, the conversation begins surprisingly easy. They gave them their names. They both discovered they live old bookstore, hiking trails, terrible horror movies, and making fun of corporate buzzwords.

"Let's circle back"

"Synergy"

"Low hanging fruit"

By the fifth phrase they were laughing so hard Noah threatened to charge them for disturbing the bar. Noad is a charming young fella though. Laughing and threatening. They managed to have a banter when he came to collect the glass and give them a next round.

Later the conversation somehow drifted towards politics.

I think that the biggest problem is that people stopped listening and started picking teams. She said in between her sips. Miles nodded.
"Exactly...If your entire personality is supporting one politician, they that shoulds... problematic"

"So are we politically homeless?"

"I prefer politically unemployed"

"That sounds healthier"

They spent the next 15 minsbroasting the politics from all sides equally. An elderly man who who came a little before they stared talking about politics leaned over. "I have been listening to you two". Miles looked worried.

"Sorry?"

"You would make an excellent married couple". Both answered quickly at the same time the same thing.

"We are not dating".

"I didn't say that you were", said that old man and payed for his beer and walked out of the bar. He was not that old. In his early 50s. The way he dressed and talked suggested that he must be a local farmer.

After a lot of awkward silence that was lingering since the old man left, they stepped outside. Neither seemed ready to hear to the hotel. They apparently booked the same and only hotel of the town.

"There should be a low against a view like this", Sadie said as they reached the overlay above the valley. Miles folded his arms. "It is illegal" he said.
"Only if you get caught" she said with that mischievous smile.
'That is not how the law works"
"Sounds like a skill issue she replied with a smirk .

Miles hadn't checked his phone in years. For the first time in years, the didn't want to.



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