Ten.One Thousand, Three Hundred & Eighty-Six

1. Less angry, still tired.

2. I think of him and relate. I miss my friends too. I wish I was curled up on their sofas drinking coffee on a rainy day.

3. She turns up “Gooey” by Glass Animals. I think of Fever Dreams and the ranch and the succulents and the smell of jasmine and lime blossoms.

4. But there is nowhere else to go.

5. I forgot the Snickers bar in the car.

6. I take off my sweater and stretch out in the sun and close my eyes. I hear nothing but the birds, a chainsaw off in the distance.

7. I realize that I shouldn’t be cleaning their rooms but it is soothing me. I think back to her DM about how rest might still look like work to others.

8. I overhear him say that his parents raised them to be color blind but now his brother in L.A., because of the things the school district has decided to teach the kids, is making his brother angry because he feels like he is supposed to feel guilty for being white. But he is glad the verdict came back guilty.

9. It is colder tonight than previous nights. Gray clouds and wind gusts. Dust in the air.

10. I eat the chicken but not the fries.