Bright Side

Hoping for any sign from the bright side, he comforted himself with the notion that the sun was always darkest before the dawn. It took him no time to realize that the sun was a giant ball of flame that burned perpetually millions of miles away, except in Britain where the metric system still reigned.

He walked home humming a tune that must have belonged to INXS because he had found it in the freezer thinking it was someone else's tune completely. On second thought, it may have been his own tune to hum found in a dream or on the moon. Maybe the moon was darkest before the dawn, but that made no sense because the moon had no power of persuasion in the first place let alone the capacity for dark, light, and dim.

In Japan, the sun always rose or so he heard or so the flag told him. It did nothing to get the INXS tune out of his head, which was fine for the moment or at least for the walk home. He looked off left and saw where the land ended and the lake began. That was about the time he realized he was walking the wrong way and the tune immediately escaped him. So much for the bright side or the sun or the moon or any damn thing really.

His knees did him no favors and clinched up three blocks from home. He leaned against a sign pole hoping that his shame and the cold metal would ease the pain or even unlock the binding agreements his knees had opted to take. The magical pole did neither and proved itself only to be a mostly normal pole of deadening streetlife persuasion. He cursed the pole and hobbled home stiff-legged and still ashamed.

The pie is always darkest before the dawn. Maybe, just maybe this would bring him salvation. Salvation of apple filling and crumble topping. His knees told him no and his fridge concurred. The bright side proffered him no pie tonight and no pie tomorrow and his heart thanked him for another clogless night.

He lumbered log-legged into bed and dreamed of falling asleep. The night stayed bright no thanks to the city lamps and cars and revel screams below. Sleep is always darkest before the dawn. No. Sheep are darkest before the lawn. Definitely not. Bright night tonight and nothing to show for it. He drifted off several minutes later with thoughts of black sheep eating pie on the moon and admiring the darkening sun.