The Sticky Note Wave

The Corridor of Shade

Afternoon sun chases an old street dog from doorstep to doorstep along Marigold Lane. One by one the shopkeepers begin cranking out their awnings at two o'clock sharp, building him an unbroken corridor of shade.

The Mitten on the Railing

A small red mitten waits on the park railing through a week of weather, lifted a little higher by every passerby who spots it. On Sunday, small fingers finally claim it — and tuck a paper heart where it hung.

The Armchair on the Ridge

Bad knees keep MRS. KOVAC from the ridge where the warblers return each spring, so she listens from her porch. At dawn the hiking club appears at her gate — carrying her armchair, her blanket, and her binoculars uphill.

The Meadow Already Lit

Town kid ESA has never once seen a firefly, and bedtime always beats the dusk. Tonight his grandmother wakes him, wraps him in his blanket, and carries him out to a meadow that is already glowing.

The Trail of Cairns

Alone each autumn, trail keeper WREN repaints two hundred fading blazes and figures nobody ever notices. This year a small stone cairn stands beside every fresh mark, stacked by the hikers walking a day behind her.

The Fence Post Walnuts

One stiff wing keeps an old crow hopping below the walnut tree, forever a branch short of the good nuts. Now three walnuts wait on the fence post each morning, cracked just enough, while the farm boy watches from the barn.