There’s a fearsome wind prowling the city streets tonight. Sending leaves scurrying across the pavement, spiraling pieces of garbage into the lanes like any other vehicle rolling down the road. The flags flap desperately on the lampposts, banging and struggling like they’re trying to break free. Above the mountains, lightning strikes, illuminating the darkness behind the skyline in its intermittent flashes. My hair flies in every direction, obscuring my vision, but I walk on anyway.
Outside the bar, I sit at a metal picnic table and stare at the neon signs as I wait for the show to end so I don’t have to pay the cover. Sit there and listen to the wind. Sit and stare into the windows of the pizza place. Sit and just breathe it all in until the regular door guy calls out to me and I head inside.