Three Bumps
Near the wall, the echo comes back so fast it is almost the same breath as the chirp. You swerve. You hit anyway, on the left, on the side with the notch in the ear. That's one.
The second bump is a ledge you could have sworn was a draft. The third is the one you knew about.
Three bumps, and you hang up for the night. Nobody is hurt. You check anyway.
You hang by your feet with your wings folded round you. Your heart slows until you could count it.
Through the roof and into your feet, the small buzz comes again, even and far off, from somewhere up the hill.
- Chirp once more, toward the hill. Found in the chute “You have a coworker like this. You never see them. They never leave.” this page is not cut yet; the path bends to Congress Avenue Ends at the Sea
- Stay hanging. It is late.
- Hang near the seam where the paper goes in.
The book · Colophon and credits
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