NOISY CREATURES

The fog came swirling in yesterday evening, eddying around the streetlights and obscuring the hilltops. My final smoke last night required a coat. The temperature had dropped twenty degrees. There were several parties audible, evidence that there are large numbers of young people in this quadrant of the city. Thumpy thumpy music, rackety chatter, and gay laughter. One party on a rooftop seemed ill-advised; young folks, beer, and a forty foot drop.
Concrete does not shatter if someone soft falls on it.
There is no give, no bounce.
Hard stuff.

Sometimes I feel old. I doubt that I would enjoy getting drunk under those circumstances. My fudddy-duddy instincts would kick in and I'd find an excuse to go home. Well before I could be a witness. Besides, parties mean too many people. I've never been that social.

Half a dozen middle-aged dudes sitting around with their pipes.
A bottle of tawny port, and a venerable Scotch.
And tea. A pot of tea.

Trust me, that's a positive riot.

I'd be hitting up the tea. Quietly, in my corner, unobtrusively getting whacked to the gills on caffeine. The problem with tea in the evening is that though it's not as perkifying as coffee, it's more long-lasting in it's effect. And therefore more likely to leave you wide awake observing the shadows at two o'clock A.M. out of the corners of your eyes.
Did something just move? I swear I saw a flicker or a twitch!

That's one reason why many families use only one teaspoon of leaves for the entire giant thermos of tea on the kitchen table. It's basically hot boiled water that doesn't taste like the chemicals the municipality uses to kill the bugs, and it won't keep you awake for several hours if you counteracted dehydration in the middle of the night.

That movement you saw a moment ago?
It was just a gecko.




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