TV, Stickers, and Peter Rabbit

Winter Is Coming, they all say.

Some because of Game of Thrones.

The rest just mean that it’s late August and they’re sick of summer.

I sucked the sunshine through my teeth.

Not Yet. Don’t Go Away Yet. I Need You.

School is starting and the nesters with young are buying their soccer minivans and stickers showing how many stick figure kids they have and the My-Kid-Will-Kick-Your-Honor-Student’s-Ass stickers to put on the back of those new soccer minivans. They’re buying the long-sleeved long johns at Walmart and galoshes and hats with things that cover your ears lined with fake fur for $9.99.

They’re checking their heaters and pulling out the film and the hair dryer to insulate their windows and buying out all the kid costumes at Costco.

Not Yet. Don’t Leave Me.

The sun isn’t hanging out as long now.  He’s thinking about taking a nap.  He yawns and trips over the mountain.

Please.  Just a Little More. I Miss You Already.

But then he’s gone.  It’s another evening peppered with coyotes calling their buddies to let them know Peter Rabbit’s cousin moved in down by the big rock in the gully.

And the stars come out and the Big Dipper is out there dull and happy without the brilliance of frost in the air.

The silky night air.  Warm and delicious.

Warm enough to forget that long-sleeved items exist.

Cool enough to wash away the burning afternoon sun.

Barbeque-inducing, campfire-longing, sing-song making.  Summer Air.

They say I am a fool not to prepare.  Denial is a River in Egypt.

Winter is not coming.  Winter will never come.  They are all wrong.

They just watch too much TV.