Alphabits

It's a sunny day but the graffiti letters are still trickling down from the eaves along Mission street. They bounce on metal street covers like Alphabits falling from the box knocked over on the kitchen table. They dripped out of someone's white paint pen while we were asleep. These dancing words and the blooming flower baskets and the cloudless sky seem to defy the cigarette butts and black remains of chewing gum that litter the walkway.

I listen to "Starlight" by Muse. I believe the street rolls underneath my feet where the world dances in sweeping motions with the passion of the singer. It colors this place where I pass the people sweeping their doorstops, selling churros, spitting on the sidewalk, youthful and traveling in packs, or sitting in quiet homelessness underneath the murals on 19th.

I hear:
"Hold you in my arms / I just wanted to hold you in my arms
My life / You electrify my life"

I put the song on repeat.

Figments

Convinced that this was a product of the intense heat of the day and exhaustion, I shook my head and went home. I slept with the covers twisted around my feet. Wind whistled through the roughly patched bathroom wall and disturbed my dreams. I grumbled in frustration. I knew I would have to fix that more completely before my landlady returned home. Little bits of wall still fell into the toilet on occasion.

I found myself in the forest again. Sun had cooked the city that day so I had left to go hiking with Ben. We walked in silence for a time and then he wandered off on his own. I trudged up steep winding paths. Branches and vines plucked lightly at my clothing. But I reached a plateau where the ground cover appeared soft and welcoming. There, I sat down in the center of a sunbeam that had broken through the canopy of branching tree limbs. I took a deep breath. Then, I grasped the zipper pull that is concealed underneath my bangs. With my exhale, I pulled back on it and a flurry of little yellow butterflies rushed out. I smiled at the sense of release.

I thought, there will be no little monkeys or trolls here to provoke questions. I heard the trees giggle, a slight fluttering of their leaves in the breeze.

Evening

I walked home tonight after the movies. The evening air was still warm after a day of unusual heat. I felt introspective and didn't make eye contact with the people I passed along the sidewalk. Casual groups of friends smiled and joked easily outside the neighborhood bars.

I looked up from my feet to see a small creature standing in the pool of light underneath a street lamp. He smiled at me peacefully. I blinked a bit and stopped for a moment. The meteor I witnessed with Tomas streaked through my memory. So, my mouth opened beginning to form a question. But the creature only smiled further. He stood up from his relaxed position and strolled out of the circle of light. The night appeared so dark outside of that circle that I lost sight of him.