Hair dark and damp were stirring in the wind

and I sat on a rock and looked at her

naked back as night made his descent.

The reddening sky background to flocks of gulls;

no voice, nor song of other son of Man

was to disturb our tendersome farewell.

My best friend works on a tugboat out in the gulf pushing barges loaded with tens of thousands of tons of raw materials.

I was having a rough day eight hundred miles away on dry land seven hundred feet above sea level.

Work was tiring, my children were…

Rachael slipped into the bathroom, eyes on the hallway beyond. She rested her back on the shelves and tensed her thick soled shoes against the door. Stupid place to hole up, she figured. The door didn't even close properly, let alone lock; there was a k…