Sleepers

Today the warm November air filled my lungs with wind fuel. Easy energy, not the kind you have to work for. I sometimes think I use too much muscle power gasping and drawing. Where's the balance between what it takes to get the air in and what you really need? I try to rest on the fly, put my non-running muscles to sleep as best I can. Loosen my hands and relax my face. Of course, a good workout for the hands and face must count for something. Any burn will do I guess.

The park gives burn and rest. It claws at my lungs and lulls them too. It offers a good resting place. Sleepers, campers, travelers, animal and human, use the park to stop off. Two days ago I lopped past a couple with asleep in their car. Their seats back like open cell phones, no blankets, windows cracked not moving. Conked where they landed. The park a rest stop with no facilities. I've seen others at the park. Sleeping bags out under the trees. Two or three undefined and tired ones. Finding a place, overcome with fatigue, dropped and dozed on the soft grass. The trees whispering above, the houses along the side silent watchers, their own eyes closed for the night. A mighty camper bus parked near one of the barrier-non-barriers, just room for it and the little matching Jeep it pulled. The generator hummed softly somewhere inside, a steady snoring. Blinds drawn.

I see nappers galore at the park. It's a nap magnet. They stop, munch, smoke, read, listen, and doze. A universal waiting room for something, for people with little to wait for. But waiters nevertheless. Geese snoozing with their beaks bent over like soda straws, exhausted, waiting for light. Cats with eyes half open catching the morning sun on the bricks.

I pass by with my quiet tread, not stopping, barely sneaking a look, respectful of their bedrooms. On my way where they have had to stop, wait, sleep, get another gasp of muscle energy, put a dark bar of shut-eye between them and the distraction of going. Soon they'll stir, shudder, stretch like cats on a brick wall, look out over the basin of the park, and turn the key again.