The snails had it coming. Those breathing holes were far too generous, by my call anyway..

i adorned stealth, and focus. and sashayed through the african grass. knees met with swift sharp blades. i had intended to finish what i had begun. i had a promise to keep. with deep set eyes, and my hands armed, and ready to charge. it was the time of the sun. i felt a sweat bead roll down the back of my neck. it wasn't the first. but there were many. my eyebrows squinted in the heat. there was no ulterior motive. things had never been this real. things had never really been at all. i felt the distant grass disappear. it blended in with the rays. not a sound to the left. not sight to the right. there would be questions later. and there would be answers i could not give. a gentle breeze blew past my side. my hair tied up in a ponytail. a messy one, it had become. but there was more to fix out there, than just my hair. the hair could wait. but this couldn't. i'd thought about this breeze before. it was different from what i knew. more... epic. the sharp african summer gave fire to my flesh. and there it was. i saw him. he saw me. he sat pensive on the edge. i waited. we'd been here before. but this was it. i knew it. the breeze giving him flair. and fueling the feel of it all. i drifted smoothly. and took him by the hands. i was there. and he was there. i had dreamt of it for so long. it felt unreal. but so right. i had won. and they would never understand.


in the summer of kindergarten, i was in senegal (west africa). in class we were raising fat green caterpillers. and every kid in class had a pet at home. i asked my parents to settle for a pet. they said no. the next day, i spent my afternoon class hunting for grasshoppers in the football field.