Drinking coffee in the morning with curtains open. One day you wake up and they’re all gone. Every leaf has fallen. Sidewalks are filled with golds, rust, yellows, brown. Sprigs of grass with dew on them. November, 1st is tomorrow.

Sounds of concrete mixers rolling down the streets. Garbage trucks beeping as they back-up. A cop car zooms past. Some things never change. Same as yesterday and the day before. Noise. I look at the leaves for peace.

And upstairs a man and woman argue over breakfast. He complains because his coffee is cold. She says, Get a coffee maker that works. This leads into his lack of employment and her inabilities to make a decent cup of joe. I guess each have a valid point.

Kids walk down the sidewalk kicking the leaves; wrestling in the leaves; laughing till it turns ugly. Two children team up on one. Burying him in the colors of autumn. He begins to cry. They mock him. Bully him. No one is there for his rescue. I watch without opening my window and saying a word. I’m no parent. Not an authority figure.

The buried child is left behind. He lays there in the leaves soaked…wet. The day of Halloween and he was tricked. Tricked into thinking he had friends. Comrades to count on. He brushes the leaves off of him. Grabs his backpack and continues his march to school. I drink my coffee as the rain begins to fall.