Bajo la luz

As I stood admidst the crowd, shifting from side to side in time with the cumbias being belted out by Juvenato from the temporary stage, I glanced from time to time at the heavens above the shops on the eastern side of Clark Street. I was looking for the moon. It's full or near-full, it should be rising right around sunset.

I didn't see it, however, until only a little while ago. I went out to the back porch to enjoy the cool air as I read the last twenty pages of Grendel, a novella I'd given up on finishing. Just as I sat down in monshu's smoking seat, it hit me in the face like a beacon, shining bright white above the overgrown tree-of-heaven in the alley.