TheBanyanTree: cave days

[Julie Anna Teague]

These are the days it gets hard for small creatures whose natural 
habitat is gardens and woodlands and other outdoor spaces.  Small 
creature like me who must work indoors in close, dark places the entire 
day, lit only by the glow of computers and a few florescent fixtures.  
The days when the temperature starts into the 50's and the sky is blue 
and the air is so perfect and cool, and small creatures are stuck in 
their caves, writing their code, making a living, storing their nuts 
away--these are the hard days to get through.

I emerge from my cave to run a suddenly remembered errand.  Something, 
I decide in desperation, which can't wait until five.  I emerge, 
blinking, and my bright black creature eyes contract to pinpoints.  I 
see my shadow but I am not afraid.  I scurry to the credit union to do 
my importantized errand, taking the long way around the castle (student 
union), following the brick paths under the towering sycamores, along 
the creek and over the wood and stone bridge, duck into the Union for a 
minute, and then reverse my path back to the cave.  The whole walk is 
under 10 minutes.  Next time I will try to walk more slowly, but I get 
bouncy and energized in all that air and sunshine and I go too fast.  I 
don't make it last.  The air in the cave is that much more stifling and 
the oxygen to carbon dioxide ratio is all wrong and the work is still 
there, waiting for me.

Small creature sits in her cave and suffers in silence, plotting her 
next escape.

Julie