Signs and Omens: 2

The second time it happened was at night. This was well before the transit strike, on an ordinary Wednesday. I had just finished talking to someone who is still in my life so I suppose that's enough about that. The discussion had been fairly intense and it should be said that there are circumstances that seemed impossible to resolve one way or the other.

I was not unhappy but felt at an impasse.

The moment I saw the computer screen go dark there was a loud peal of thunder directly over my building, the sky flashed white with lightening and the TV (where one of the digital music channels had been playing in the background) and all of the lights winked out.

I went to the window and looked out. Half of the street was dark. The first snow of the season had laid a thin white gloss over everything.

It felt as though a window of possibility was suddenly open. I realized I could go out into the neighborhood and walk in the dark and nobody could stop me, nobody would know.

I stood at the window and considered it for a long time, looking into the street and seeing the world as a blank page upon which I might write almost anything. Going to bed felt like surrender. For a long time I thought about it, finally I went to bed.