Salt Creek

The lamp post across from the house went out again and my dad says it only does that when I’m home. Two for two he says. Do you think he’s onto something? The sun keeps setting before 5pm the way it always does this time of year but now I’m sitting at the edge of our driveway wondering why we’re feeling worse off than last winter. You’re convinced the praying will help to buy us more time. Of course that’s not how this works but I’m too tired to fight your thought process. I’m laced up and chasing the last sliver of day down to the shore and back. Taking the largest strides I can manage and thinking about the time my dad told me not to run after anything that isn’t worth the chase. It should be a short list he said. His words are still floating somewhere in between my brain and the outside air when my feet hit the sand. They sink but they’re stuck at the same time. Maybe this feeling is the closest we’ll come to slowing the time down what do you think? It’s better with your shoes off and your toes in. Do you notice how the people in our hometown plug their ears whenever an ambulance drives by? Like it’s their first time every time. Like they never came and left and now this is all they’ll ever know. I’m on my way back and I catch myself staring at a couple doing just that and I feel far away again.