1. The kids went back to school and the high winds from the hurricane blew the caterpillars out of their tents, so they were crawling around everywhere (replacing the kids). I went to the park, where the cool temperatures felt like a resurrection. I was thankful not to be going back to school (or at least any of the schools I attended).
2. I ran laps around the park, which was relaxing until I passed someone (not pictured) who appeared to be staggering down the hill toward me on a pitch-black section of the path where the lights had gone out in the predawn. Having watched my fair share of The Walking Dead (miss u Seasons 2-5), it occurred to me that the zombie apocalypse had arrived; in a way, I thought, it might be a relief to have a new and literal apocalypse to replace the political one that has been unfolding. As it turned out, it was just an older (than me) man who appeared to be a bit stiff. Or maybe it was a zombie: I didn’t stop to figure it out.
3. I was still thinking about a dream I had the previous night where I was sitting next to Elizabeth Warren and asking her about lightbulbs. Clearly, I was reading too many political blogs. I was also thinking about someone from my high school who responded to a very friendly group email from the class secretary asking for updates — kids and/or life achievements — for the alumni newsletter; this classmate was not pleased to have received the email and screamed back to the entire group IN ALL CAPS that he wanted nothing to do with our high school and had repeatedly asked to be taken off this list. He referred to the email as SPAM. (I get maybe one such email every two years or so to give you an idea of the frequency.) I didn’t know him well in high school but I remembered him playing drums in a talent show. It was hard to reconcile that memory with this email. Had I already reached an age where my classmates were suffering from dementia? It seemed possible, maybe inevitable. Still, I thought it was a testament to our class that nobody responded and, as a result, the risk of a ‘reply allpocalypse’ was averted. I wondered if I should send an update to the class secretary but all I could think about in terms of children and/or life achievements was the fact that we had recently replaced the sidewalk in front of our house, which didn’t seem like the right kind of news to share with the rest of my class (although I did take pictures and amused myself by visualizing the usual shots of children or exotic vacations juxtaposed with my new sidewalk). These are a few of the things that occupied my thoughts as the sky turned from black to silver to blue.
4. Meanwhile, Dante’s ashes had arrived in the mail. They were placed in a small, wooden box that Zephyr — who had taken to wandering around in the middle of the night and yowling — immediately curled up next to and fell asleep. Maybe, I thought (not for the first time) animals know more than we think they do. A friend asked if we were going to scatter Dante’s ashes in the garden and we said no; for now, they will live on a shelf next to Beatrice’s, until I can figure out how to achieve my dream, which is to have a big family crypt, ideally overlooking the Hudson River, and ideally falling apart and covered in moss, like the ones at Trinity Church Cemetery in Harlem. My wish was to be forever associated with the eternal beauty of ruination.
5. Like most dreams, however, I’m not so sure how realistic this one is.
6. For now, I’ll continue to enjoy the living dreams of the park, still the best place to escape the nightmares of the world.
