I run from Emma.Not because I’m afraid, not this time, but because I’m on a mission. I have to get home. I take a route through the houses. I know which yards are unfenced and which have dogs. I hop a few fences and silently zoom toward home. Usually I’m invisible, but the moon is full tonight. I suppose if anyone looks out their back door, they can see me.
It’s bright and I can see obstacles like sprinklers in the yards I cross. Yellow light comes from bedroom windows and blue light flickers from living rooms. It’s not that late, but October in Michigan means means dark by 5pm. What else is there to do other than watch TV or retire to your room to read? I gas the wind slips through my hair and caresses my face during my sprint. I suppose one could be outside running like a crazy person. I hop the next fence and land in my backyard. My dog bounds over to greet me and we roll around briefly in the grass.
Dad sticks his head out the doorwall and says, “Janie, I hope that’s you molesting the dog.”
“Yeah, Dad, it’s me. That you?”
I see his white smile flash in the moonlight. “Yes, honey.”
I go into the warm sensible house and leave the wild moonlit night behind.
This continues the adventure Janie started in Moon Over Michigan
Bearing Untold Stories 