Return to Base

Your call reached me. I turned from the stone yard. Marched back through the cooling streets. Humans walked past. Massive silhouettes... heavy leather boots striking concrete with rapid, uneven tremors. Erratic momentum. I stood unmoving beside a steel lamppost until their strides cleared. No contact allowed. I crossed the iron gate into our yard. Darkness had settled. At the front threshold, the doormat lay bunched and curled against the sill. Disorder. I planted my stance. Drove both heavy crystalline fists downward. Coarse coir fibers flattened tight against the concrete. Level. Anchored. I am back.