Our garbage guys come super early to pick up our trash, so I have to get the can out the night before or else I'm left to argue with myself whether it is or is not ethical to tiptoe trash into our neighbors' bins late at night for the next week. But it scares me - the getting the trash can out at night. We have a long driveway to rattle the can down and a road with just one street light. The street light is on a skinny pole and it tries all it can to wham the world into brightness, but it doesn't seem to reach much past the first foot or two of dark. It's a mighty lot of dark that little light is trying to overcome. And that mighty lot of dark creeps me out. I'm not so much afraid of coyotes and wolves or even dinosaurs like the four foot and under crowd here is, I'm afraid of some guy dressed in black hiding behind our neighbors' RV coming out while my back is turned and attacking me with his nun-chucks...that and panthers...no, no, not really with the panthers...I mean its more metaphorical than real...I think.
Anyhow, so I flip on the garage light and pump up my courage before I leave the house. But I can hear the quick leak of chutzpa out of my shoes and ears before I even grab the green handle of the garbage can. I hustle myself down to the bottom of the street with the roar of the garbage can's little wheels grinding over the cement heartlessly declaring my foray from the house to the nun-chuck guy behind the RV. So now he's on the alert. Once I flip the can into the grass and perch it panting on the side of the road I can feel the nun-chuck guy slinking across my neighbor's grass with his chains over his shoulders, focusing in on me. So as soon as the garbage can is secured I turn around and skitter as fast as I can barefoot on my toes into the light of the garage, bound up the steps into my house, and lock the garage door from the inside just as the nun-chuck guy is about to get me.
That's how things usually go. But tonight was even darker than usual. And colder. But instead of making me more scared than usual, it made me notice the stars. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and gosh Orion was a shining tonight like he just did something really gutsy in a battle and felt real good about himself for it. It was so dark and the stars were so shiny that I thought maybe I wanted to go camping with just a tarp under my sleeping bag so I could lay awake and look my fill until I fell asleep. I felt a little kinship with all the people who had passed my piece of property, or maybe even slept on it, over the long lengths of time who had looked up at the same stars with as much contentment or peace or awe or whatever it was that I felt that defeated the nun-chuck man. I stopped for a while and I looked. I walked slowly up my drive without a worry in the world.
Nature will surprise you with her power at the most unexpected moments. I believe there's not a nun-chuck carrying ninja in the world that could stand up to her.
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