Heat Wave

The end doesn't just happen. It sneaks up on you, slowly, intimately, while your back is turned. You may see some of its signs out of the corner of your eyes, but when you swirl around, determined to catch whatever is hiding behind you, you get a big, fat nothing. It makes you crazy, desperate to see the dots, and when you do, you quickly close your eyes again wishing you hadn't seen anything. Denial is the most prominent of human flaws.

So when you see the dry grass in front of the library you shrug and sit down beneath the canopy of leaves, basking in the shade. After all, it was just a particularly dry summer.