This is based on an early morning dream…..
I am filled with a vague disquiet. I look for you in the kitchen…a pot of water is boiling on the stove, drops of water from the steam cling to the glass of the kitchen window. I wander down the hall, longer and narrower then usual. The bed is empty and unmade, then pillow still shows a hollow where your head lay last night. I stop and listen ..only silence inside the house; faints sounds of life filter in through the closed windows.
I walk to the front door and turn the knob. The door will not open…I lean against it and push my feet slipping on on the polished wood floor. The door begins to open slowly, heavy, so much heavier than it should be. I lose my balance and fall onto front porch..I stand up, rubbing my forearms, achy from the impact of my fall.
The air outside is heavy and hot even though it is early morning. The cicadas start up their endless drone.
In the middle of the lawn, there is an air balloon, striped with red, yellow, orange and green. It is small, the basket only large enough for a small child. As I approach, it grows in size and rises off the ground. By the time I reach it, the basket is off the ground straining at the guy ropes. I look up and the balloon fills the sky above me.
I grab hold of the rope ladder hanging of the side of the basket and climb, the ladder swinging freely, the wooden rungs slippery in my hands. I heave my self up over the edge of the basket and fall to the bottom. Standing up, I grab the thick coarse rope attached to the edge of the basket and lift it off; the edge of the basket heaves up and I fall against the other side. I struggle to detach the remaining guy line. As the basket tips further, I managed to slip it off and the balloon lifts rapidly into the air. My legs buckle until my body has caught up with the rising balloon.
The air cools as the balloon rises; I look over the edge and can see our house below, small along with all the other houses, the streets making an uneven checker board at the edge of the city.
I look for you; the balloon looks for you; it takes us over the city.
We want to find you so badly…..
