AT PEACE

It’s doubtful that Felix is going to win the Nobel Peace Prize, but his continuous diplomatic efforts seem to be bearing fruit. Under his strategizing and nudging, his girlfriend Yuki and his dog Darth have reached a kind of detente; their relationship progressing from barely tolerant to borderline civility. Embracing the new thaw, Darth bids farewell to the garage, and rejoins them in bed at night. Felix commandeers a family trip to the beach. It’s way too cold to swim, but Felix and even Yuki get a kick out of watching Darth running around like the Tasmanian Devil, kicking up sand, and chasing after birds he will never catch. Darth loves to hear them cheering for him, it makes him feel like Freddie Mercury in the tape Felix showed him of the singer being adored at a Queen concert.

This fragile normalcy, almost approaching harmony, finds Felix inhaling deeply, filling his lungs with a briny blast courtesy of the nearby ocean, as he and Darth stroll down the the middle of the beach road. The crooning of the local choir of birds is far more tuneful than he’s ever heard. It’s a revelation how much he enjoys going outside this early, when the world is quieter and less threatening. An energized Darth pulls at the leash, forcing Felix into a trot. After a block, he stops, and tugs at his tee shirt, sticking to his flesh, “Man, it’s already hot out, not too many of these days left.”

“Where do the days go?” asks Darth.

“I mean, autumn will be over soon.”

“What’s autumn?” asks Darth.

“One of the seasons.”

“How many seasons are there?”

Felix counts off on his fingers, “Winter, spring, summer, and fall.”

“What about autumn?”

“Autumn is fall.”

“You people complicate everything,”

Jeffrey Pohn Author

jeffpohn@gmail.com

Based in Los Angeles, CA

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