There are dark places under sunny skies.


The street that Alex lived on was astonishingly average with one glaring difference; there was only one side.  The other side had a large gray wall with what looked like industrial buildings on the other side.  Alex and Nicholas wondered from time to time what was on the other side.  But the wall was too high to climb.  Where the wall ended on his street turned ninety degrees and looked to them like it went straight on forever.  There were about fifteen little houses that were built in the 1950's on their block.  Nicholas, Alex and his little brother were the only children they knew of here. The summer days felt very long, but the cicadas had not started chirping, so Alex knew there was plenty of these beautiful summer days left to practice going down the dirt ramp in the woods before they had to go back to school.


"Did you ask your parents if we could go to the festival?" Nicholas asked excitedly.
"Yah.  But they said no.  They don't want me going that far on my bike yet."
"But did you tell them that we would go together?"
"Yep.  Still no."
Nicholas sighed.  "I don't get it.  We're totally safe!"
"I know, but...."  Alex trailed off and they both looked East.
"That...sounds like...crying.", Alex stammered.
"Hell if it is.  There are no kids besides us on this block."
"Well I don't know.  But it's loud.  No one cries like that unless they are getting spanked."
Nicholas lowered his voice.  "Why don't we walk over there?  We can pretend to just be walking by."


They dropped their bikes at Alex's house before walking East toward the sound.  They walked about five minutes while randomly talking about their G.I. Joe collections before they slowed down.  They saw the house.  They saw that the garage door was open.  They saw that a woman was wailing, pacing back and forth.


They saw the body hanging in the garage.


They stopped, turned around, and walked back home slowly, not wanting to be noticed by the wailing woman.  Without saying anything, Nicholas took his bike and walked it to his house two houses away.  On his way, an ambulance flew by and stopped at the house.  Alex looked up, looked down, then went inside for the rest of the day.

The Navigator


The navigator always
Knew the bearings.
Right before sunrise,
Look at the brightest stars
Just above the horizon.
Plot the degrees on the chart,
And know where you are,
And where you are going.


But the stars are not simple for him.
They do not guide him.
Uncertain,
The waves carry him.
He drifts where they bid him,
While entirely lost at sea.


for tim

The subject of my father is a hot button one to say the least.  I'm not sure when my father started dying.  Funny how that works for people.  As long as something is done slowly enough, a change can happen with few complaints. I have been thinking about my interactions with him before he died.  This one happened about a month before.


Two weeks ago Sara heard on the news that someone had dumped a body on the road that was less then a block from the house she grew up in.  It didn't surprise her that it came up in the conversation with her father.
"Did you see the news about the lady?  It doesn't surprise me.  I heard she was black and that the suspects are black as well.  I bet they are from four blocks away in Inkster."
"Could be Dad.  I can see why they picked that spot to dump the body.  There is only woods and a field on one side of that part of the street."
She thought about that place for a moment.  She remembered going down the path to the creek hundreds of times on her two speed bike.  She couldn't recall ever feeling a sense of danger there. But, looking back on the quiet creek that was spattered with garbage and branches, she thought about all the dangers that Could have been there.
"It's depressing Sara."  He sighed.  "It makes me think about death."
"You say that a lot dad.  Hopefully the new medication will help."
"Hopefully.  I'm tired hon.  I'm going to let you go."
"Um..Ok.  Goodnight Dad."