Osceola High School is already large- there is a sign on the football team’s field house that reads 5-A State Football Champions. When I was in high school in North Carolina, the schools only went up to 4A. Like high schools in many other areas, though, it is expanding. Half a dozen or more trailers set in a construction zone beside the school, and I can’t decide if the trailers are for the construction workers or rather make-shift classrooms to deal with the overflow of students.
Some of the houses and cars around the school have signs in the windows that say “Go Kowboys!” or “Kissimmee Kowboys,” the school mascot.
If I continue running south down Thacker Avenue, eventually the road ends at the train tracks. Just south of the school, though, there is a community that lines gravel roads leading to an open pasture.
I went for a jog in and out of these roads for the first time a few days ago. It was a Friday evening, just as the sun started to go down.
I liked the people in this neighborhood. Many were sitting outside, sipping various beverages on a porch or on their steps. Older model Mustangs and Camaros set in some of the yards.
A plump and cute blonde, when she saw me running by, took a break from wrestling in the yard with a guy I am guessing was her boyfriend to shout at me, “Run faster, boy! Work out! Get that heart pumping!”
I smiled at her and gave a thumbs up.
As I jogged past another house, I could tell that they were gearing up for a big party. Rock music blasted from an open shed to the side of the house, and two shirtless guys with beer guts stood on the porch. One of them, probably in his early 20s, paced back and forth with a cell phone. The other fellow, a little older and much bigger, was mouthing off to an obvious bottle-blonde standing in the yard. She had a nice figure but a tough looking face, and she held a cigarette and a beer can in the same fingers that she was using to point at the guys on the porch. She fussed at them about who knows what.
That house looked like a good time for the night, and I was mildly tempted to go home, get cleaned up and then come back out there to see what adventures I could get into. The two shirtless guys glared at me as I jogged past, though. I could tell that they were the types who enjoyed brawling after having a few drinks.
It made me sad, too, to realize that I am a bit too old to pull off a stunt like that now. It would not be like I was some young kid showing up to a party. I am older and I have more responsibilities.
Anyway, I continued my run that Friday evening, back past the high school and then down a road headed further west than I had run before. To my surprise, the road dead ended at a small airport- The Kissimmee Airport.
I stopped at a fence and watched a few private planes take off or come in for a landing. This was right as the sun disappeared below the trees. A cloud bank just above the horizon made for one of the prettiest sunsets that I have seen in a while. I noticed a couple of guys sitting on the hood of their fuel truck next to a hangar watching the sunset as well.
The weather here is a large part of what makes Kissimmee great. Perhaps the summer is too hot for some. For me, though, it feels nice to be outside, any time of the day or night, almost all of the time.
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