The Plourde family in Edmunston has heard about my walk, offers to put me up for the night, but they are sixty kilometres away, straight into a heavy head wind and a downpour. I need all of my tenacity to make it to our rendezvous point by late afternoon, and I think I will be too tired to be a good guest, and besides, my face seems to be formed into a permanent snarl from the wickedness of Mother Nature.
Ah, but I had nothing to fear. Richard Plourde, optometrist by day, published novelist and aspiring giant pumpkin grower by night, is charming and a fabulous story-teller, is curious and has a keen interest in every subject, and soon I am re-energized. His wife, Jocelyn feeds me the best home-made carrot cake that has ever melted on my tongue. She feeds me a second slice, and when I say ‘no’ to a third, she smiles and sets it in front of me anyway.
The two teenage children are both talented in the arts, and the daughter tells me that she read everything on my website before I arrived. She starts to giggle and says the funniest part was what I learned from my father – how to identify the female body parts on a Playboy centrefold. (Clitoris, Dad? No son, that’s the navel.)
I am shocked when she says it out loud and bursts into laughter, and I look at her parents, who both seem unperturbed and are chuckling themselves. I mutter something about editing my website to make it more family-friendly.
In the morning, Richard is up early before the rest of the family to see me off. He talks about his passion for coffee, specifically what constitutes a perfect cup of coffee – 19.5 grams of New York Stumptown coffee, dripped for exactly 28 seconds, frothed with milk using a two-point tip into a delicious latte. He prepares my drink using a machine that looks ultra-sophisticated and ultra-expensive.
When the latte is finished, he places it in front of me gently, as if offering a sacrifice, and asks me to tell him if this is not the best coffee I have ever had. It is truly delicious and I don’t remember having had a better one since. Before I leave, Richard draws me a map of how to navigate my way out of the city and back to the highway, using an obscure route that provides several traffic-free peaceful minutes and nature vistas.
