Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 8 36 www.flybillings.com W HE THER TR AV ELING FOR BUSINES S OR PLE A SURE , W ITH E XCEP TION A L A IR SERV ICE A ND AC CES SIBILIT Y, G E T Y O U H E R E . Seattle Portland Salt Lake City Los Angeles Las Vegas Phoenix Denver Chicago Minneapolis Havre Glendive Sidney Wolf Point Glasgow BIL Dallas Daily Direct Flights Weekly Direct Flights Seasonal Direct Flights Daily Flights in Montana B I L L I N G S L O G A N I N T E R N A T I O N A L A I R P O R T BIL "Don't wake me up," I said, shaking my head. You smiled. "I won't." What I want to say is that in Montana, you and I laughed and drank and danced and fucked in a way that led us to believe that this was our life—booze, magic, and road trips—that this was all we needed. Our lives bled beauty, and everywhere we looked some draw- dropping spectacle popped up before us as if our eyes were what gave this mountain, this river, its very life. I've never been happier. Once, we pulled over near Polson, right before the lake, and climbed into the back of your pickup (Montana a place where even women drove pickups) and fucked furiously beneath the stars in the bed of your truck, the cars shuddering past, you breathing heavily into my ear. I wondered what it looked like to you, the bee-stung sky above, and me deep inside, as deep as I could go and with everything I had. See, Montana was just a silly little song we couldn't get out of our heads, but at that moment, in Yaak, right after we saw the calfskin man doing his jig, it felt as if we'd found the nectar, the secret for which others spend a lifetime searching. A few minutes later, you asked for the car's key to retrieve a pack of smokes, and a few minutes after that, you came back in tears, your fingers red raw. You were sobbing, trying to explain how you'd broken off the key trying to open the trunk. "I'm so sorry," you said. "We're stranded. I'm such a fucking idiot." But it was okay. I held your fingers in my hands and blew on them, telling you the broken key wasn't for the engine—the car was old enough to have separate keys for the ignition and the trunk. You laughed, and we kissed and drank our last shots, and when the bar closed, the fun done, we cruised like innocents, back to Libby, back to reality. We passed countless little white crosses marking the spots where people had died in accidents, but it felt like nothing could touch us, not yet. We weren't destined to be some sad news- paper story forever linked to one of those melancholy mushroom crosses. We knew we were better than that (we had chains and an emergency blanket in the trunk!) or maybe just luckier, but some- how, we made it those sixty-eight miles to Libby, a hotel, and then all the way to here, Lincoln, Nebraska, our little life here today, the shared tender secrets of our children, our dreams all dreamt up. I only wonder if it's enough. www.flybillings .com B I L L I N G S L O G A N I N T E R N A T I O N A L A I R P O R T BIL W HE THER TR AV ELING FOR BUSINES S OR PLE A SURE , W ITH E XCEP TION A L A IR SERV ICE A ND AC CES SIBILIT Y, W E G E T Y O U H E R E . Our convenient flight options now include daily ser vice to Dallas. Seattle Portland Salt Lake City Los Angeles Las Vegas Phoenix Denver Chicago Minneapolis Havre Glendive Sidney Wolf Point Glasgow BIL Dallas Daily Direct Flights Weekly Direct Flights Seasonal Direct Flights Daily Flights in Montana www.flybillings .com B I L L I N G S L O G A N I N T E R N A T I O N A L A I R P O R T BIL W HE THER TR AV ELING FOR BUSINES S OR PLE A SURE , W ITH E XCEP TION A L A IR SERV ICE A ND AC CES SIBILIT Y, W E G E T Y O U H E R E . Our convenient flight options now include daily ser vice to Dallas. Seattle Portland Salt Lake City Los Angeles Las Vegas Phoenix Denver Chicago Minneapolis Havre Glendive Sidney Wolf Point Glasgow BIL Dallas Daily Direct Flights Weekly Direct Flights Seasonal Direct Flights Daily Flights in Montana

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