She Cried

When I was younger, I lived in an apartment building overlooking a supermarket. It was small, and on my journalist's salary, I could barely afford the rent, so to make things even more cramped, I had a roommate who was taking classes at the nearby university.

After we had lived together for about six months he brought Shayla home for the first time. In two months she was a regular guest in our tiny home. Mick seemed very smitten with her, until he discovered that she was being unfaithful.

The city was in the midst of a powerful heat wave, and the sun's intensity seemed as though it would soon cause the entire city to erupt in flames. One day as I was crossing the supermarket parking lot, a bag of groceries in each hand, I saw them both standing in front of our building. The heat rising from the pavement made it difficult to see them clearly, but I could see the blurred image of Mick angrily speaking to her. I could not see the expression on Shayla's face.

It was then that something strange happened. As traffic passed between us, I saw Shayla cover her face with her hands. Mick stopped speaking and stood still for a moment. Through my blurred vision, an urban mirage I learned later was caused by the refraction of light by the heat of the ground, I saw Mick embrace her. I had difficulty sleeping that night.

A month later it was fall, and the trees were consumed by red and orange, and the falling leaves were like sparks. I returned home from work one night to find Shayla's coat on the chair and Mick's door closed. When I came in, he began to speak lower, but there were no secrets in an apartment so small, and I could tell that he was angry.

His speech was interrupted by the sound of sobbing from Shayla. Mick began to speak more softly, and her sobbing became muffled. I went to the television and turned the volume up.

Mick graduated in December, and shortly after New Years he left to live with Shayla. I did not hear of them again until I was assigned to the wedding section of my paper. I ran into Mick a few months after the wedding and he informed me over a cold beer that he was filing for divorce.

Today I came across the article I wrote on their wedding as I was looking through old clips for a job interview. Mick was a practicing doctor in his father's office, and the ceremony was well-furnished. Shayla's bridesmaids were hysterically crying for the better part of the event.

The paper I worked for then was small and understaffed, so I was also responsible for the photograph of the couple standing in front of an ice sculpture Mick paid for with his doctor's salary. One of the things Shayla said was blown up and prominently featured in the article: "I know we're going to have a healthy, happy, and secure life together." I had never seen her as happy as I did that day.

The Flock's Wake

I drove away from her house for the last time, tearful and defeated. The sun hung low in an orange sky. In my mind I replayed and relived the last five months of mine - of our lives in my head. Something terrible began to rise into my throat that I refused to let out, but it stayed in my mind, festering.

In five minutes, I was parked in front of my house and I turned my engine off. Still sitting in the car, I saw my mother through the window, wearing headphones and using a vacuum. She moved to the rhythm of whatever song she was listening to as she worked her way around our living room. I cycled through the stations on the radio, trying to match a song to her movements until I found a likely match.

After having found success, I moved to open the car door and go inside, but I stopped. I turned my engine back on and the radio up and I drove away. I wiped the moisture out of my eyes as I went on, dangerously fast down my street. The houses, the trees, and everything blurred in my sight and slipped away. Ahead I saw a sparkle; the local duck pond. I slowed and turned into its parking lot.

I stopped the car and moved slowly and mechanically outside, stopping briefly after every motion and staring into space. I made my way unconsciously over to the nearest bench. It overlooked the pond, which reflected a dark orange as I sat down. Above me, a flock of geese floated down to the pond's surface, disturbing the surface of the pond and distorting the sun's reflection. The geese huddled together near the area of the shore closest to me as the water calmed again. Entranced, I watched them glide on the water.

I became aware of someone walking toward them, recognizing her after a while to be one of my classmates. She had bread crumbs in her hand and was tossing them onto the water. She smiled, and I watched her with her free hand draw her hair back behind her ear, revealing her face. Noticing me, she turned her head and locked eyes with me from a distance.

As she did so, the geese took flight, again distorting the reflection of the setting sun. They were on the move again.