This is a visible taunt, a thumbing of the nose.

Guess what I'll be doing this week?

Pass the leaf bags, please.

 

  10:24:32 PM    comment []

 

As I walked this morning, a litany of chores ran through my head.  Monday morning school preparations were foremost in my mind.

 

Pack snacks.

 

Lunch money.

 

Sign papers and send back in back packs.

 

Make sure my son brushed his teeth.

 

Put in another load of laundry.

 

Detritus, all of it, nothing of real import and yet nothing that could be forgotten.

 

My jacket rustles in the crisp fall air, my breath hanging before me.  I churn along, paying little attention to much else but my inner mantra of household tasks.

 

Something moved.

 

It caught the corner of my eye; I thought at first that I had imagined it.  But it moved again, kept moving.

 

At this early hour, everything is a gradient of gray, tinted like watered India inks, running at the edges.  What ever it is that is moving is gray-ish in this non-colored light, less gray than the lawn, more gray than shrubs that might be autumn-tinted yellow in daylight.

 

It’s moving faster now, fast enough to make me hesitate.

 

It’s moving toward me, silently.

 

Not a rabbit – it’s much too big, and moves in a straight line at an even pace, not like the hesitant rabbits. 

 

It’s not a cat; they tend to lope a little, making an oozy bounce as they run at this speed.

 

It’s not a dog; a dog would bark at me by now, only two houses away.

 

This gray-ish creature suddenly turns, runs across the street in front of me, only ten feet away.  For an instant he looks at me, as if in recognition, then focuses on the direction in which he is headed, picking up speed.

 

His tail, for a second, flicks as if to make a fluffy farewell of grayed-out orange fur with a ghostly white-tipped salute.  His pointed face, whiskers and ears forward, aim for the cornfield adjoining this street; small dark gray feet move effortlessly and silently along the grassy margin.

 

The corn swallows him, seamlessly, without a ripple.

 

He is gone.

  12:24:44 PM    comment []