Creeping Above Zero
My window is open right now. The breeze is cold, but wonderful. I can hear a crow somewhere out in the back and, distantly, the sound of traffic.
Outside, the snow and ice are sluggishly melting. Where there were gray ice patches yesterday, now there are piles of sand, thick and wet and brown. The sand will stay there for another few months, until spring actually arrives and the snowplows are exchanged for street sweepers. Everything smells clear.
This morning I spent a good hour walking across town. I went to the library and bought some discarded paperbacks for a quarter each. I wandered downtown (which really is down--this town is built around a valley), thinking, smiling. The sky was blue and the temperature was creeping above zero and it was enough to make me absurdly happy.
