Eternal Life

Little Harbour, Nova Scotia     Sept 3/2017, 4 AM

She hears a strange clicking noise. Alone in her house deep in the country. She’s just gotten up. Down from her bedroom loft.

In the kitchen, her dog is shivering and her teeth are clicking. That’s what's making the noise.

It’s the end of August. But the cool weather comes early here. She threw a blanket over her dog and fired up her wood stove.

Today I will drive to Shelburne, a bigger town than my nearest here, Lockeport of just 300 souls. They have a population of over 1000 there.

There I’ll check into getting a wood stove for my sun porch. I should probably just get another electric heater. I won’t stay here through the winter.

But I’ve decided to stay another month beyond this one. It will be even colder in October. And a wood stove would really do the job of heating the porch and be real cozy.

My barn is filled with logs. Accumulated over the years as I’ve chopped up the trees as they’ve fallen in the woods in the winter storms.

Do they make a sound when they fall if no one’s here? Not here in winter, I’m not to know.

But I do know the tide comes in and out. Every 6 hours. A huge event. A massive movement of water.

And it's been doing that since the dawn of time.

Long before we were here.

I must stop writing.

I'm shivering.It's too cold.

I'm going back to bed.