Tennis Match

Men surround me, some are old boyfriends, most are actors from films I have seen. The actor from Donnie Darko and the actor from Into The Wild. My former fiancé, now friend is coming to visit. He's bringing a tennis match with him. I need sneakers to avoid slipping in the mud. My friend is with me. I want to introduce this friend to my former fiancé. I know they'll get along. They are similar in their ways of viewing the world. They both view their sadness as an opportunity for discovery.  We convene inside a mid-century house. My former fiancé snacks on popcorn while rushing around looking for his tennis gear. We leave the house by foot and trapse across the set of a film. All actors sit in a row at the base of a grassy hill that meets a road. We pass them by and they roll their eyes. We shouldn't be on set with muddied feet. The actor from Donnie Darko gets up. He's wearing a black suit. He leaps into the air and catches a hawk. 

On the same level

An earthquake shakes the theatre I'm in. Beckett is with me, Michael too. We are watching something about lions when the ground shakes and pillars crumble. The lights go out and everyone assesses what's happened. I'm worried about my friend across town. I'm supposed to meet him and I don't know how I can get to him. People bring in bags of food from the concessions and start eating loudly around me. An announcer says we should not drive, the roads are dangerous, there might be another earthquake coming. Everyone checks the news on their phone. Michael, who is now a blend of himself and my former boyfriend decides to go grab more food from his mom's house in Oregon city. There is a giant trunk filled with provisions for two weeks. I worry about him going alone, I don't want our family apart if another earthquake comes. Still he leaves. Beckett and I head downstairs to see some friends. They are all distraught and quiet. A homeless man eats what's been left in the fridge in a lazy boy chair. He's unfazed by the earthquake, thinks we are now all on the same level. He chews raw pork sausages from styrofoam. I wince. 

Wants and Needs

Seven year olds surround me. They ask for candy and toys, trinkets from high-end venders. A girl asks me for half of a banana. Their parents buy them anything. My arms are pulled by tiny hands.  

Flying four feet from the ground

Perhaps I'm in Colorado. Fraser, in the driveway of my father's old house next to the totem he had carved by a Native American to represent his siblings and parents. There are people around me, young, beautiful people from the fashion industry. The outside shifts to inside a room lined with books and a table in the center. We are going over the weekly report. Someone in the room decides to show off his flying skills. Others follow. I push my chair out from under me and attempt to do the same. It's a pressured flying, more of a levitation than a float, more of a float than a fly. Still I'm impressed we are all on our way.