Hour 3

The rains came last night in the desert,
the ground already drenched from
last week’s tropical storm.

I followed my usual after work routine –
treadmill, stretching, dinner.

As I was in part 2 of the routine,
the stretching portion,
I heard a crash.

Boxes stashed out of sight had fallen over in the office,
the one room
aside from the garage that had not been sorted.

I stepped in the water as I went to straighten the boxes;
shut the door, returning to my yoga mat
and continued stretching.

Annoyance at the thought of my evening plans being interrupted,
fear of possible damage and of being alone,
dread at lifting the heavy boxes with my poor back
bombarded me.

Getting up off the mat after a final stretch,
I heat up dinner,
text friends
and open the office door to begin.