I’m sitting on my porch smoking a cigarette.
“Can I play with the kids?” My son asks.
“Yeah,” I reply.
My daughter scampers after him. She squalls when the training wheels get caught in the grass and I tell her to get off and push it. She resists for a while, but finally gives up. Minutes later they are zooming up and down the alley.
Kids are everywhere. Like a moth to a porch light, they hover around the yard and soon everybody is playing. Sticks and rocks get thrown onto the street, toys are strewn about, girls are laughing, boys are chasing each other–it’s a beautiful sight.
A father and his two sons speed through on their bikes. A mother pushes her baby in a stroller. An old woman walks up the street by a small patch of woods at the corner of the alley. A car creeps through, trying to dodge kids and toys. The smell of grilled hamburgers creep across the fence. A motor cycle revs in the distance. A siren wails. The air is cool. The leaves are falling. Clouds. Trees. Flowers. Water.
My apartment is small, but the location is fantastic. My kids get to make a pile of new friends, I’m minutes away from anything I need in town, and if I only had one more bedroom, I’d stay here for the long haul.
****
I’m reading a book and I look up. My daughter is on the porch and her face is full of dirt and grime. I let a curse word slip silently in my head.
“Daddy, I’m thirsty!”
I tell her to go inside and get a drink of water. I go back to reading my book and she is outside, drinking from her sippy cup and hovering around me hoping for some attention.
“How’d you get so dirty?”
“I was playing with Chris up by the barn.” Yeah, there’s a barn up the street with a mattress inside that kids jump on. I chuckle.
Before I can ask her another question, she’s halfway up the street. I set my book on the chair and walk to the end of the yard. I walk under a large tree and dodge the branches before I reach the alley. Toys and bikes are scattered about. Some kids are playing football up the street in the yard. Another group of kids hover around a bush, trying to flush out a cat that is hiding from them. My son is with them and he has a stick. I slap my forehead and yell for him to put it down.
My neighbor drives by and she waves. I hear an airplane overhead. My upstairs neighbors are arguing again.
****
I’m on the porch again. It’s dark and my kids are asleep. The lights from the street lamps cast a dreary glow on the street, and, what once was a thriving, crazy madhouse is now silent. A calmness canvasses the area. In the corner of my yard is a deer. He sees me and scampers off.
I feel the cool air tickle my skin. Fall is here and winter is nipping at it’s heels. Everything feels so alive and fresh yet so serene and relaxed. I think about the day. I think about my kids and how they are growing up. They are starting to make their own friends and they don’t need me as much anymore. This makes my heart ache a little, but also fills me with wonderment. What’ll they be like in ten years?
I stub my cig and walk inside. In a fast paced and serene world, I’m a tourist. Samples of life exist around me everyday and, for a few brief moments, I reflect on them and appreciate them.
Tomorrow I’m going to wake up and do it all again.
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