I’m so happy that summer is back and that life vibrates on the streets of my hometown. The sights, the smells, the pheromones … I’m closing the circle on a year that I’ve lived here and I’m still very much in love. I am home. For all its problems and pathologies, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like Skagsville.
Things are batty in the state of Skagsville tonight under a full moon. To the chagrin of the skeptic in me, I’ve decided to go for the idea that the moon does have an effect on people. This certainly proved itself to be a compelling notion on my walk home when I saw some of my beloved neighbours accusing each other of some transgression or other from across the street. Three steps later, a notorious charmer complimented me in my divorcée sunglasses:
Notorious Charmer: Hey there, beautiful eyes.
Jenny Donkey: Go on, you.
Tonight in Skagsville, I try to talk myself into going to bed. Just like my best friend Sling Shot * always says, “The worst part about going to bed is waking up” and I just don’t wanna. This hasn’t been the best week for sleep. Sunday night’s rest was interrupted by impetuous pyromaniacs shooting their load of fireworks in the street and while I’m all for the carnival spirit, the noise startled me and set me on edge. Pop pop pop/crack crack crack/bang bang bang! Three cheers for imperialism! Food poisoning got the better of me early Tuesday morning and the extreme heat of Tuesday and Wednesday overnight have made me toss and turn like the neurotic I am perpetually asking the universe, What time is it? Is it time to get up? Did I sleep through the alarm? How much time do I have left? Again, this kind of obsessive compulsion might just be the result of the moon’s pull.
I hope tonight’s sleep is restful. My reluctance to sleep is easing as I perch atop the gargoyle’s stoop that doubles as a kitchen nook and observe the goings-on below. Bosley Skags (Boz for short), the mayor of Beaty, is on his endless patrol of the street and I’m half tempted to bay at the moon through open window, serenading the gentleman on his nocturnal watch. He probably wouldn’t notice anyway being half asleep himself. And thus, my destiny …
*Alias
