Last one of the year!

I know we have all had a challenging year, so let’s look forward to the next one.

A vision of 2021

I came home from work yesterday like it was any other day. I wanted to pretend it was, or maybe hope it was. Nothing special. Just a January Tuesday. The news was wrong, people are not that crazy. The orderly transfer of power will happen like it always has, despite the huffing and puffing of all the King’s men.

Dinner was heated up leftovers, and I take a shower early so I can get into my nice comfy pajamas sooner. I check my favorite sites, and play a game for a while. Normal night. Nothing special I tell myself.

Sleep does not come easily, so I break down and take a sleeping pill. The dogs are restless and keep wanting outside. The air is cold and frost is going to cover the grass before morning. I let them back in again.

I am still not asleep, and the pill is making me see things again. This time great sepia waves like a dust storm over the red clay desert in some distant world. It makes me sad, not afraid. I watch the roiling clouds until my eyes close and I finally sleep.

My alarm wakes me. Not the dogs. They have missed breakfast. Startled, I look around. They are on the bed and are looking out the window, bodies tense, ears back. I see flashes and think it might be rain, but the sky looks red in the brief strobes of light. The rumble increases, it is not thunder. I open my phone and it is filled with messages and news stories and urgent requests.

Chaos. Not just here. Not just the country. Not even just this continent.

It was not a normal Wednesday. It was the first day of the year that made 2020 look like a pool party.