Dampened

Inspirational song: Fantasy (Aldo Nova)

The sounds are changing outside. All morning was sunny and warm. Swarms of butterflies and bees covered my flowers as we left for brunch, getting every last bit of goodness off of the mums and lavender. In the afternoon, the clouds came. Before sundown, the wind arrived, stripping most of the leaves clinging to my neighbor’s giant ash tree, and sending them skittering across my yard and the street in front of my house. It was musical and entertaining. The cars driving by now slosh a little as they go, as misty rain has dampened the streets after nightfall. We went out in a rush, dragging in the flowerpots that I should have moved hours ago. It was cool but not cold. I couldn’t yet smell snow in the air. But it’s coming. Between every sentence I write, I turn and study the little piece of the street that I can see through the branches of the ficus tree who lives in the corner of my front room. Damp leaves are everywhere, but as of yet, I see nothing white.

While we were carrying inside plants, our neighbor came over, wanting us to store some beers that were in the process of brewing when his heater went on the fritz. Not the best night to have mechanical issues like that. He was wearing his Chiefs jersey, only willing to be away from his tv during halftime of that game. He’s the commissioner of the new fantasy football league I joined. I was in the old one, spawned from our community of Marillion fans originally, for twelve years. I did respectively well, up to and including last year when I was undefeated until the very last (championship) game. This year, not so much. Because of crazy schedules and people living in so many time zones around the world (especially once we brought in a few of my military friends), we let the computer draft our teams for the last six or seven years of the old league. The new one is more local, and the new comish is more strict. He said if we auto draft, we won’t be invited back next year. I tried to do research, but I did not make my selections wisely. Or maybe I just wasn’t as prescient as the others. My team has been awful. I have only been close to my opponent’s score once so far. I have not won a single game yet. This is definitely not how my fantasies typically go.