A character pastiche: Looking through Jo's eyes

Peddling up the steep dirt road was hard. Heart pounding, her forty-eight-year-old calf muscles burning, she said to her self, "Screw them, screw them all. I don't need any of them." Gulping air, her voice was dry, but forceful, like her dogged determination to reach the top of the hill. "Don't be that way Jo", she countered the shadow-self that follow her every step. "I'll lose another ten pounds by the end of this month, and tomorrow, I'll get my hair done. Screw the money."

The early morning was cool, the sun just peeking over the grey-green mountains to the east. If she weren't riding her bicycle, a sweater would be needed to block the chill in the air. The sky was a power blue, not a cloud anywhere to be seen. By ten o'clock, it was going to be hot, and by four in the afternoon, unbearably so.

Jo was almost to the crest of the hill, her legs screamed for her to stop. She put her head down and focused on the thick knobby front tire. One, two, one, two, over and over, the front wheel making only a half revolution for every gush of hot pain in her legs.
"Keep going, just a little future. Stop now, and you might as well eat a whole pizza for lunch, with a bag of shortbread cookies for a chaser. Stop now, screw it... No, no, NO! I can make it. Don't look up until you get to the top. I can't...You can and will. Think of something else."

"I want to walk around naked in my own yard. If only we could have bought the whole mountain there wouldn't be new neighbors a quarter mile away with their snooping binoculars; I should do it anyway, it's my property, my body and my life.

She looked up, sweat rolled down her cheeks to puddle then drip from her outstreached chin. The black lab pup that had tried so hard to keep up, was now sitting in the middle of the road wagging it's fat tail in the dirt. He barked incouragement as if he understood her effort to reach the finish line. There was no yellow ribbon to break, no cheering crowds, but he was enough. She smiled as the bike stopped. "Yes!", she yelled to the open mountain sky. The pup wiggled with pure joy, and licked the salty dirt on her left ankle. "Stop that! it tickles!" She eased the bike to the ground and stepped wobble legged to pick up the dog.

"Thank you little buddy, I didn't even see you pass me." Holding the puppy close to her chest, it squirmed while licking the salty dirt from the underside of her chin. Her heart hammered loudly in her ears, the smell of puppy's breath, and pine trees over-powered her senses. Squatting to sit down she breathed deeply. The puppy gyrated, feet kicking, but she cribed it tightly. The ground felt cool on her bottom, she twisted sideways dislodgeing a small but sharp stone.

"What a wonderful morning, yes it is.", and the pup yipped in agreement. She could hear a black bird somewhere near, and the high pitched whisle of the red-tailed hawk that circled overhead. At that moment, she was happy. Her shaddow whispered, "Now what?". "Screw you", she said and laughed out loud.