When you don't know where to start, you start in the middle ...

Everything bad happens in October, when leaves succumb to the insistence of the Northern winds and inside houses, people curl up in their winter robes. In the skies, streamline bodies of birds in flight, herald the signs of the first frost to come. The silence of the snow, falling soft on forests of evergreens, and cold against my cheek.

I could sit there for hours, on top of the old dog house, overlooking the pond. Lying back, as the night grew dark, to count the stars, wondering if the stars ever thought to look back at me. Sometimes, I'd pretend that I was a fairy princess and beneath the weeping willow was my home. Warm and toasty, I would curl up against the tree, pressing my back against its bark. "Goodnight tree.", I would say, watching through half closed eyes, her long tresses dancing against the wind, falling asleep in the gentle to and fro.

In the cold, my friends would come and keep me warm, gently nudging beside me while I slept. A silly picture beneath a tree, a sleeping child, a brandy colored dog, and a small flock of ducks who couldn't fly.

Eventually a voice would call me back, accompanied by a shrill whistle, to hurry myself home. From behind the branches, I could see the house, following the lights of movements from room to room. Quietly, I left my kingdom beneath the tree, trailing my way in the familiar steps that led to an outside door. "Come on girl." I said, patting the side pocket of my jeans, "Time to go."