Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Daydream believer.

I went to see Ben at work and crossed the Failing Pedestrian bridge. A long narrow concrete bridge that spans 8 lanes of I-5 so high up in the air traffic snarling and screaming underneath like the Styx begging for lost souls to throw themselves in. The concrete tilts a little to both sides, either for water run-off or to heighten the extreme vertigo. A mesh covering rises up from the bridge railings like a barrel vault in a basilica. Just chicken wire and hope between me and the sky. I always walk down the middle just in case. Today I had to be polite and share the walk with a beautiful woman, skin the color of toffee and cherry-hued corn-rows. She must've seen the terror bubbling beneath the surface because she smiled hugely as we passed, her teeny sapphire nose ring twinkling reassurance.

At the steps to my house, I saw the mullet-headed mail carrier. She looked scary until she smiled a mouthful of perfect white teeth. A nice day for smiles.

Between here and there and here again, this is what I saw:
A sweet-smelling tree snowing its small white petals onto a lawn covered in violets. The lawn fronted a little white house with aged ceramic angels lining the front window.

A fat white dog sitting on the steps to his house, reclining like a king and watching incuriously as I walked by.

A skinny black cat with slitted yellow eyes. We made eye-contact and I smiled. She opened her eyes wide and was still watching me when I turned to look.