At the Corner of 14th Street

Feb. 19, 2005, Saturday 5:30 a.m. 

And so, here at the corner of 14th street, I pass under that same watchlight for yet another time. 

Funny how it seemed to shine a little brighter than the last…I should’ve seen it coming, though. There was a blur somewhere, a cottony wisp I couldn’t quite place…and it nagged on me, tugged at my consciousness…but I chose to turn my back and plunge forward. 

 

For a split second there (though, it seemed much, much faster than that), the blur appeared to clear…

Or so I thought…maybe hoped…I dunno. 

Doesn’t really matter, does it? 

There’s a haze now, thicker than ever…a veil of gray, dimming my watchlight. Maybe I’ll stay just a little while longer, just to see…just to see… 

Feb. 28, 2005, Monday Sometime in the afternoon 

…I’ve decided to drive off for a while now. I need to clear my head, rest my mind, free my spirit from the confines this exploration has ironically boxed me in. Find my touchstone. 

 Perhaps if and when I come back, the fog has lifted, and the watchlight burns brighter, clearer than ever.

…Then again, maybe there was never really any watchlight to come back to in the first place… 

Mar. 14, 2005, Monday 10:30 p.m. 

Now, I’m back out on the corner of 14th street. The air has cleared, and I see that the watchlight still stands. 

All is calm… The storm, it seems, has passed. 

Daybreak nears, and as the night begins it graceful exit, the watchlight flickers…once…twice…three times. Then as brightly as it had shone hours ago, it slowly fades away to black. 

And though I am suddenly in the dark, somehow, in some strange way, I am at peace. 

It is time for me to leave this place. 

It is not without a heavy spirit that I drive away from here. I don’t know where the road takes me to next…I don’t know how this journey ends. Perhaps, on another night such as this, I’ll find myself once again out on the corner of 14th street…that familiar watchlight burning brighter, clearer.

…And through the thin, still air, maybe…just maybe…I would hear the not-so-distant strains of a guitar…softly strumming my favorite song…