Alone

Wow! People sure are easy to distract… and to freak out. All I have to do is run around in their general direction, and they holler and scream and hop around as if someone’s given them the hot foot.

Suddenly, I'm a lot more interesting than the light show in the garden.

They chase me out of the garden, across the pavement, and into the street. I cross the path of a horse-drawn carriage. The horse, a whacking great beast with wild eyes, sees me and starts neighing and rearing. A lady inside the carriage screams. My pursuers stop to calm the horse and soothe the hysterical lady.

Great cheesy pizzas! You’d think I was a cat or something the way they carry on.

I keep running until I reach the other side of the street. I slowly climb onto the pavement, exhausted, and drag myself into the space between a pair of tall buildings. I see lanterns on poles standing here and there down the length of it. They emit a soft, pale green light in the evening darkness.

“Glowworms,” I sigh in relief. “A rodentway. Hallelujah!”

I stumble along until I come to a doorway set between a pair of bricks in the foundation of one of the buildings. I pull myself wearily onto the stoop and collapse.