Daniel expected to be murdered someday.
It happened to half of the characters in the movies
And at least one person per episode on TV.
As Daniel explored more chapter books during his class’s “silent reading time,”
He found that some character always died at some point.
After school, those books rarely made it out of his backpack.
After walking home and doing his chores and eating his dinner and thanking his mother,
Daniel did his homework by the window in his room while the sun slowly hid away.
“You should read now,” his mother instructed him.
“You should read before bed,” his teachers advised.
In the dark, in his quiet room, in the stillness of his house,
Daniel distracted himself from waiting for his killer.
On his desk sat a radio that didn’t cost his parents anything.
In his chair, Daniel would sit and watch the stars appear in the window.
The radio station played songs from right before Daniel was born
And from only right after.
The disc jockey’s show ran for hours, taking local calls and doing silly voices,
Growing more adult and inappropriate.
But Daniel hardly listened to most of it.
He scribbled notes into his journals.
He drew dragons and long shapes.
He imagined waking up to an empty town.
He let the radio’s noises stop him from listening for his killer.
Before the sun returned the next morning,
Daniel woke to the weather report and the traffic advisory.
With a plastic sword in his hands for protection,
Daniel crept down the stairs an hour before his parents opened their eyes.
He poured an oversized bowl of cereal
And wrapped himself in a blanket in the living room chair
That had the clearest visibility of all entrances and exits.
He knew what the best shows were at five in the morning,
And as the programs grew more baby-oriented
And the sky held fewer and fewer stars (and then none)
And as the cat started hopping around by the front window
And the dog scratched the backdoor to be let outside
And as the alarm clock began wailing in his parents’ room,
Daniel realized that he’d finished the night and his bowl of cereal
Without anyone or anything coming to get him.
Time to worry about school again.
Time to brush his teeth and change his clothes.
His dad let the dog out and turned the volume up on the television
And handed Daniel toast that made the whole downstairs smell of cinnamon.
Daniel worried about school-related things like where his homework was hiding,
Whether he could finish his chapter book before class started,
And if his parents would be dead when he came home
Because every characters’ parents die too soon.
© 2019
The Favoring Wind 