Hill of Hell

I heard it climbing the slope from behind me and thought it had a broken muffler. The sound was a manic scream, but it wasn’t the first car I’d ever heard in need of repair. 

I just kept running, focused on keeping my breathing calm and my legs pumping at an even pace all the way up the hill. That was my training goal that morning of hill intervals. Smooth breathing and even leg turnover. Things were going good. 

I was almost at the peak of the slope when the taxi passed me. The racket it was making was deafening. I kept focused on my body, and only looked over to see the cab go by when we both reached the hilltop.

It wasn’t an exhaust problem; the roar was from screaming animals jammed inside a taxi cab. 

The taxi was packed with exotic beasts, like some kind of 21st century gas-powered Noah’s Ark departing Osaka’s Konohana district. And all the creatures were screaming like bloody murder. A collective HOWL of fur and fancy feathers. All packed in that shiny black taxi. Back seat, front passenger seat, on the dash board, heads hanging out the windows. Just before the sun broke into day. Not unlike roosters, I guess. 

My pace slowed as I felt the slope level off. I deserved the body-break for all my hard work pushing it up The Hill of Hell (as my personal trainer likes to call that span of road bridging between Shikanjima and Fukushima). I watched the cab full of beasts roll by and estimate that it had around a dozen animals stuffed inside — none within any cage. 

While it was a junglesque tangle of wildlife in there — and thus hard to tell for sure — I’d say I saw a small horse, two deer, a baby elephant, two hyena, three peacocks, a young tiger, two chimps and a Siberian husky. All expressing dissatisfaction of one form or another. A big loud menagerie of complaint. 

The doppler-effect warped the animals’ howling/growling as their confined transit unit rolled by.

My shirt was sweaty but not overly soaked. I felt the morning air cold on my chest. My core heat pushing through the polyester. The sun brewed pinkish below the edge of the darkened east. “What were they upset about?” was the question that popped into my head. I looked at my smart watch and stared at the digital icon for my heart beat beat beat. 

Oddly, it wasn’t until I reached the bottom of the Hill of Hell that I started wondering, “Who’s animals are those?” Then, “Why move them in a cab? Must be a safer way.”

I walked around in a few circles to let my body rest but not tighten up. I watched my watch again and let my heart rate drop to close to resting. I checked my core temp. I needed to run one more Hill of Hell interval before going home for a shower. My watch indicated that my breathing intake was very good for my age. 

The sound of the cab animals’ voices had vanished into the distance. “Are they heading to the zoo? Wrong direction, I think.”

I sucked in a quick breath, touched my watch’s lap timer and started running back up and over The Hill of Hell.