Coming and Going

Today the mist that would lie in the basin of the park in Fall lay, instead, like a crystal glaze on the grass blades, leaves, sticks, gravel, rocks, hydrant, benches, seats, and curb. Everything. A pale white frosting lined the ginko leaves like salt on a marguarita glass. The sun lay in long slants across the yellow grass through the tree trunks, making pale shades of rainbow blue, green, orange and mauve out of the field of ice crystals.

Six geese had landed on the only watery looking spot left out just off the center of the park. They stood in line, probably the force of habit, always looking at the quarter profile of their friends. Always from behind. The skies around Lubbock in January fill up with long lines of these geese as they meander around, never clearly southbound, northbound of whatever. Playa hopping and fattening up.

A dog led a person into the park and played kick the ball. The person kicked and the dog chased, caught, shook, and returned. You could tell the dog really liked this game. It would crouch when the person got ready to kick...and then pounce on the ball like a third baseman, stoping it dead in flight. Pinning it to the ground and then trotting back with it to the kicker. I heard her say "Yeah!" to encourage her friend.

I'd never met this playful couple on the park before. It's January and I always see new faces, joggers, pets at the park as a new semester starts. Some stay and show up regularly, most go, their coming over, their going now the only thing to come.

The dog soon found the geese and the ballgame became less interesting. By the time I'd gotten around to the south side of the park I could hear the geese honking as they lifted off the grass. They flew over me so close I could hear the soft whoosh of the wind in their feathers and their grousing murmurs to one another. "Who invited invited invited the dog?" "Let's go go go." I could almost feel their weight soaring under their huge dark wings. I hadn't seen their arrival, but did catch their most satisfactory leaving.