Dream - Sometime Over Winter Break ================================== I'm walking along 17th Street on the sidewalk by Wildwood Park. I'm just walking out of or past the parking lot near the new pavillion, just short of the playground. It's nighttime, around 1 or 2 am, in the winter...presumably December. A slow snow falls from the sky, in large, fluffy flakes that float daintily to the ground. A thin layer coats the cement of the sidewalk. I'm carrying my sword -- the one I got for my 16th birthday. As I walk, introspective, I become aware of the sound of a lone saxophone far in the distance, hanging over the muted scene like the sound of a churchbell in the mist. It's playing "Goodnight Julia" from Cowboy Bebop (Ep. 12, Jupiter Jazz)...I listen to it and think of Mandy, who is far away, in Florida. As I walk on, the blade of my sword scrapes the ground, leaving a thin trail of exposed gray cement along the white blanket over the sidewalk, disturbed only by the addition of my footprints. I feel alone, yet not alone, and comfortable. The night is like a cloak around me.