Alone
Kathleen has gone off to Arizona for an annual convention. We were up before dawn, bundling her into a car that pulled out of the driveway onto virgin snow. The intersection of 86th and Second was hushed and empty, the stoplights signalling to no one. A few neon signs burned here and there; a picture of the scene could have been taken in a much smaller city, perhaps even in a town. I had the unpleasant sensation of being in a picture by Edward Hopper.
My task for the day is to plow through the stack of newspapers that date back to Thanksgiving week. After I read the weekend papers. I shall be sick of newsprint! My reward will be more reading: Tom Perrotta’s The Abstinence Teacher, which for two nights running I have had to put down lest it make falling asleep an impossibility. There is really only one word for this novel, and that is hot. Not as in hot and sexy, though – although the novel is very sexy. Rather, hot as in hot and scary. Forget about North Korea! The true axis of evil runs through the suburbs!
— Calme toi.
We are still waiting for the snow to arrive here, further east. I know what you mean though about the feeling of the city early in the morning when everything is empty.
Enjoy the reading. I may have to look for “The Abstinence Teacher”. I could use a compelling read.
Or, as Elektra might put it, “Allein! Weh! Ganz allein…….”