In the Air

By Laurie Wheeler

October has been red in the face
For twenty-six days
Holding its breath
Prowling the pavements of Los Angeles
A heat wave on a power trip
The air conditioning in my car is out
I put an E-Z ice pack
On the back of my neck
And get impatient at stoplights
Thirsty for wind
There is a big cloud of smoke
Eating the city from the left of my windshield
And the mountains glow a hazardous orange

But fall has come tonight
Somber evenings are finally ready to talk
Wind settles the leaves like folded hands
Fingers locked
With orange robes and
The dispositions of Buddhist monks

My clothes feel like friends again
Catching like cotton sails
I drive with the windows down
Along dark streets
The dry leaves bound out of their piles on the side of the road
Running alongside the car like excited dogs
Trying to keep up and then
Whirling behind my wheels
In a cloud of goodbyes

Near the restaurant on Lexington
A transvestite crosses the street
In a cropped tank top and jeans
She shivers as she shimmies
And looks grumpy
I think the cold might be cramping her style
She walks to the happy calls of three men
Come over here, baby, they say
And she smiles
It’s nice to have friends

It is all glowing faces inside the restaurant
The woman at the counter calls me sweetie
And looks right at me with the teeth of her smile
There aren’t many customers tonight
Everyone is at costume parties
Laughing with purple tongues
Wearing strange shoes
Under a real Halloween moon
Bandaged with clouds

Something is in the air
The sign on the flower store
Says it is “the scent of oak leaves and rose hips”
But I think it is an awakening
A fervent energy
Trembling over pavement
And through skeleton trees
A finger digging at a tight knot
Stitching me with something rough
Keeping my hands feeling empty
When they are holding nothing
I thought maybe it was waiting for me
I’ve been holding my breath, too
Anticipating some noisy release
But here I am, and here is fall
And all we have is this small sigh

This article was originally published in Slake No. 2 To read all of the stories from that issue, purchase or subscribe at shop.slake.la.