TheBanyanTree: A Night in the Life - Casting a Fine Shadow

[B Drummond]

Arrived last night from Gotham and touched down in our fair city late.  
Seems that the weather down our way wasn't conducive to bringing 
airplanes in as promptly as on a clear night with no low clouds.

And the wait for my baggage was long as well, something to be 
expected with a drizzle coming down outside to hinder or discourage the 
baggage handlers.  I tried to stay positive as I paced in front of the 
baggage carousel watching the metal plates move past, sans my luggage.  
When my baggage finally became visible rounding a curve in the belt I 
checked my watch: 30 minutes wait.  Well, at least it wasn't an hour 
like the last trip to Boston's Logan Field, I thought.  I kept my 
"promise".  I had remained as positive as I knew how.

Something is up.  For the first time since September 11th, 2001 the 
airport's two main parking lots were full when I flew out of the city 
earlier this week.  That had become an semi-regular occurrence before 
that date.  Except for the inconvenience of having to park farther away 
from the airport and the associated delays involved, it was good to see 
the increased air traffic at our airport.  I have seen some slow days 
there in the last year and a half.

After the delays mentioned above, along with having difficulty finding 
my car in the huge, off-airport parking lot in poor lighting and 
drizzle, I headed out on the interstate toward home.  Remembering the 
bumpy ride when approaching to land at the airport earlier and the 
clouds that blanketed the area, I wrote off seeing the predicted lunar 
eclipse that was already underway according to what I had read in the 
papers and seen in the press for the last few days.  But to my surprise 
before I got home the sky cleared and the moon was waning into an 
eclipse overhead.

The cat greeted me at the door.  The woofle hound sounded out from his 
cage in the corner.  One of the two is quite demanding and got his way.  
We stepped out into the dew-covered night and I paused while the hound 
left his first territorial mark on a nearby street sign post.  Looking 
up into southwestern night sky revealed the eclipse near its peak.  A 
faint reddish-orange glow covered the face of the moon and the outer, 
left hand edge of the moon was still a bright sliver; not the 
fluorescent light white of a normal moon, but rather the orange-yellow 
of a moon coming out of the fine shadow cast by our spinning orb.

I watched its progression as long as I could stand the night air and 
until my patience to follow the hound's rounds expired.  

It was time to put the hound and his master to bed.  I was glad to be 
home.  Glad to lay my head down on a familiar pillow.  And dream about 
the woofle hound and I walking earth shadows to the edge of the moon 
and back.


  bd
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