vision

I got home late from work and everyone was out late too, so I took a walk to unwind. To the center of town. It was hot and the streets were pretty empty. A woman walking a dog, a kid on a bike, not much else.

I thought about buying some cigarettes and headed in the general direction of Wawa, but that felt like too momentous of a decision (buying smokes in Paris is one thing, buying them in Jersey would be a level of commitment I'm not ready for).

So I cut the circuit short, turning back toward our street. Pines and crooked concrete, vaguely functional street lighting. A cicada fell to a dark patch of sidewalk, skittering in frustration to bury itself in the concrete like a piece of a sound wave falling out of the sky and I had this vision for the rest of my walk of all the creatures on earth stricken sudden with that death dance, every living creature fallen to the ground and twitching its last.

When I got home I felt better.