He sat underneath the awning in the park rotunda. The opportunity to move had passed him by. So he sat, waiting for the next moment to move along. Snow was coming down pretty fiercely, and coming in a lot of different directions. He wandered out here to to watch the storm come in. To feel the nostalgia of a morning off. Instead of the radio he checked a website. To check and see if things were closed. Things were closed. City wide, in fact.
Its a little bit different now than it was then. Probably a lot different, actually. He gets mornings off when ever he likes. Not by choice. There wasn’t any one moment that said, “Things will be different now.” They just are. He just is.
But there he was, still sitting in the rotunda. He wandered out of an apartment that was both getting smaller and bigger. The burden was bigger. More to clean, more to to do, more to keep-up. More to pay for. Yet, smaller because there were now days on end when he didn’t leave. Funny, he didn’t feel like a hermit or some sort of social recluse. But, technically he had become one. There wasn’t any one moment that said, “You will be a hermit now.”
He started to draw some figures in the snow. Tracing tracks like a bird. He then imagined a fox chasing that bird. It was a hot pursuit of squiggles and lines in an imaginary game of cat and mouse. The bird won this one. But for how much longer?
There was lot of snow. It was coming faster now, and from every direction.
It had been seven months since she out out grew him. This was an instance when -- like on snow days -- the apartment seemed smaller. It would be another five months before she knew she had out grown him. Outgrown their love. It would be another eight months before he realized she was gone. It would be about another three on the eight on top of the five that she would actually get up and leave. There was nothing that said, “Time to leave now.” She just did.
Suddenly, the urge to stand had grown. A moment to move was fast approaching. He didn’t want to miss this one. In this moment he could go anywhere. Do anything. He’d start with a cup of coffee and a joke with a barista. Who knows what would happen after that? A new lead? A big adventure? This was a big city. The big city! Opportunity was in and around every corner. Just look at him. Outside. On a snow day!
Of course, they were all snow days. Now.
Its a little bit different now than it was then. Probably a lot different, actually. He gets mornings off when ever he likes. Not by choice. There wasn’t any one moment that said, “Things will be different now.” They just are. He just is.
But there he was, still sitting in the rotunda. He wandered out of an apartment that was both getting smaller and bigger. The burden was bigger. More to clean, more to to do, more to keep-up. More to pay for. Yet, smaller because there were now days on end when he didn’t leave. Funny, he didn’t feel like a hermit or some sort of social recluse. But, technically he had become one. There wasn’t any one moment that said, “You will be a hermit now.”
He started to draw some figures in the snow. Tracing tracks like a bird. He then imagined a fox chasing that bird. It was a hot pursuit of squiggles and lines in an imaginary game of cat and mouse. The bird won this one. But for how much longer?
There was lot of snow. It was coming faster now, and from every direction.
It had been seven months since she out out grew him. This was an instance when -- like on snow days -- the apartment seemed smaller. It would be another five months before she knew she had out grown him. Outgrown their love. It would be another eight months before he realized she was gone. It would be about another three on the eight on top of the five that she would actually get up and leave. There was nothing that said, “Time to leave now.” She just did.
Suddenly, the urge to stand had grown. A moment to move was fast approaching. He didn’t want to miss this one. In this moment he could go anywhere. Do anything. He’d start with a cup of coffee and a joke with a barista. Who knows what would happen after that? A new lead? A big adventure? This was a big city. The big city! Opportunity was in and around every corner. Just look at him. Outside. On a snow day!
Of course, they were all snow days. Now.
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