Another old scrap from an old notebook—


Thunder woke me up in the middle of the night, and Jan had already gone.  I rolled up my pack, figuring I’d get moving before the rain hit.  The donut shop at the edge of the park was open all night and usually quiet.

In fact there was nobody there but Jeff behind the counter.  He shaded his eyes as I came in—even though I was half asleep, my light was the brightest in the place.

“Hey Shine,” he said, reaching under the counter.  “The usual?”

“Yeah,” I said, taking my seat facing the wall.  He brought me a tray with a dozen jelly donuts.

It started raining.

“You know, tiger,” he said, sitting across from me.  “I’m sure you’d have a place of your own by now if you eased up on the food a bit.”

“Man,” I said, “I’ve told ya, you have no idea what it’s like when this light burns down.”

I tore into the donuts.