September

There is a stranger conspiring against me. He waits until nightfall to enact his various plots, schemes, and dastardly deeds. He hides like a ghoul -eagerly awaiting my descent into the land of nod. He is a fiend, he is my enemy, and he is faceless.

I live in the midst of two large schools of learning. A middle school and a high one. During daylight hours there's lots of commotion and activity but as the sun sets the neighborhood grows stark, silent.

The middle school ball field and the high school's soccer turf mirror one another across my street. The middle school field is unkempt and mostly dirt with a patch here or there of dead grass. By contrast the high school land is eternally green. Made of synthetic fibers. A lie. There are shadows of shadows that threaten the street whenever the sun sets. The sodium-vapor street lights that line N. Van Ness are of little help.

So far, he has thwarted me time and again. I am left unawares as to how he knows my rhythms.

And when I catch him, he will pay.