Musings

     Fire drill. We quickly reported to the dumpsters. Everyone stood in clusters while I faced away, wishing it were winter. In front of me: tall, tall grass in the distance. A naked sky, blushing blue. A telephone pole closer to me, I was focusing on its long shadow and thinking about how to measure the earth with two sticks when I noticed movement on the aforementioned shadow. As if the telephone pole had suddenly grown a hand just to wave at me, briefly. I pulled my eyes away from its dark, gray soul to glance at the very real, solid, wooden structure in front of me. And it was there that my exploring eyes found a bird. Fluttering and looking annoyed as can be. Maybe from the stench, maybe from the noisy kids below. Gray and white bird. I saw a golden flash at the corner of my eyes. Not the sun, not a camera, not lightning but a cat. A collared, yellow striped cat leaping in and out of a ditch. Friends? Conspiracy theory.