mid autumn in the southern great plains:
the AC is finally off, the windows are open. the highway sounds like the waves against a shore, and they say you can see as far on the open prairie, as you can at sea. except at night your mom wants the window closed and the AC on. "it'll get too cold" or "it's too hot" or "it's too humid" or "there's wild animals that will bite" she says. you don't ask how they'll get through the window screens, but it makes you sad to close the windows and not hear the highway and not to feel the cool humid breeze all night.
the Christmas decorations are displayed at the store at the same time as the bright orange pumpkins and giant black plastic spiders of Halloween. you are wearing shorts and it's perfect weather for that.
you keep straining your eyes trying to find colorful trees losing their leaves. you point one out to the person next to you, and they agree that it's a nice shade of yellow. but you both know that's not true, and it's drought again.
last week the tornado sirens went off. it's not just spring here. twisters know no jurisdiction of time.
wood smoke, wood smoke, and more wood smoke. every night the smoke blows in the windows. something is burning again. perhaps a camp fire for hot dogs and s'mores. perhaps something else.
it's hunting season. who is hunting? who is being hunted? that's up for interpretation. there was a dead deer who lay next to a busy road for over a week. flies and other scavengers found it. watch out driving at night. who knows what will come out of that narrow grove of trees and cross the street in front of you.
you don't want to wear a costume that will be too heavy and unbearably hot for Halloween. you're still wearing summer clothes mainly, so you choose a very thin costume. two days before the end of October a fierce wind blows in and rips green leaves from trees. the temperature drops twenty-five fahrenheit overnight. All Hallows Eve turns out to be a clear and sunny, but very chilly day. the next day is hot again. no one can explain the weather.
you could have sworn that the mosquitoes and flies left but still something is biting you. the grass is brown and dead and tall. there are wild turkeys amongst the bushes. they are being chased by something.
the moon is larger and more orange than you think you've ever seen it, but you've thought this every fall. there is hay stuck in your socks and you don't how it got there. you also don't know why your jacket smells like wood smoke. the moon is so large, the sky never ends.
germansingergirl
amandla
jacobvanloon
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