I CANNOT SLEEP
I cannot sleep. The time was 2 am and I am
wide awake. Saito the cat is delighted — an extra, early breakfast and
unexpected play time. “I might as well work,” I think and move to the kitchen
to brew the coffee. While waiting, I step out the front door to breathe the
morning air.
It is quiet with not even a sound from
the distant railroad — not even a cricket. The street is dark and empty and
nothing moves. No wait! Two figures, dressed in completely in black, with black
hoods pulled over their heads, pass by on the opposite sidewalk. “Death and his intern on an errand?” I wondered. Perhaps not, but creatures of the night
nonetheless. In front of me, a cricket makes his way across the sidewalk to a patch of green grass now gray in the early gloom. I smile. Another creature of
the night but one I do not dread.
I return to the kitchen where a spider scurries
about the counter, perhaps looking for crumbs from last night’s pizza. I decide
to leave the kitchen to her for a while and come back for the coffee later. Musings
of Lafcadio Hearn await on my computer.
