Running at Night

“Are all the doors locked?”
Eddie asks from his dingy call room.
When darkness falls, our house
Is locked up tight, sealed like a vault.

I always thought everyone was like us,
Closing our shades,
Flipping our deadbolts,
And Switching on our TVs.

Tonight I went for a run.I
gnoring Eddie’s worries that I might be snatched off the street,
And disappear into the night.

Two women sitting in their garage,
cooled by industrial fans
One paints her toenails while the other lounges on a couch
And watches tv.

A dad lifts weights in his garage gym.
Getting up to change a load of laundry
And watch his girls, hopping and chanting as jump ropes fly.

Kids on bikes with water guns,
Soaking each other,
Politely hold them at their sides while I sprint by.

Blonde preteens look embarrassed
When I say hi,
Interrupting salsa dancing to music in their heads.

I pass the regular crew of dog walkers, runners, and bikers,
And run through all of the sprinklers that are never on during the day
When I could really use some cooling off.

Rounding a corner, smoke pours from a trailer.
Worried at first, I my nose recognizes barbecue.
Friends spill into the street
As kids crack into the piñata suspended above the driveway.

During the day the houses all look the same.
Perfect lawns, identical brick.
Eight year-olds dressed in school uniforms.

At night I see posters on walls,
Messy kitchens,
Kitschy Halloween decorations.
And house after house with darkened rooms, lit by the shadowy flicker of tv sets.

originally published 1/06