Writer on the Wall

I can’t sleep. Then I remember the Perseids.

I get up quietly and seek out a spot in the backyard – a balance between a good gap in the elm canopy, away from the neighbor’s bright driveway light.

As my eyes adjust, I note how weak our light-polluted Clovis sky is. Haze from summer wildfires doesn’t help.

Nearby traffic sounds – even this early – punctuate a soft cacophony of insect sounds. It’s cooler out here than inside the house.

Probably 10 minutes pass, as I let my mind wander.

Then I see my first meteor – perfectly centered and clear, right where I’m looking. It darts from left to right.

Like a gambler at the slots, I want more. I stay put.

My impatience gnaws at me. Grass tickles my skin. Is that a mosquito?

But I am stubborn.

More time passes. Traffic, bugs, my whirring thoughts.

Finally, double my value, double the fun – I see a second one, barely.

Out of the periphery of my vision, on the right, it skims next to the redwood.

I stay longer. Those are definitely mosquito bites, I can tell now.

But my patience is rewarded a third time.

That’s enough fun for one night. I must not be greedy.

I go, start the coffee and my day.