This May Day

It’s a dark, ominous morning, with a cap of charcoal clouds over the valley. Storms will roll over the mountains tonight, and these unseasonably high temperatures, our first heatwave of the year, will be replaced by air thirty degrees cooler. 

When we reached the western edge of the pond in the first half-mile of this morning’s walk, we were greeted by a blast of light from the rising sun on the eastern horizon. All at once, all three of us stopped and turned to let it wash over our faces. It only lasted for a few minutes, then we were plunged into gray soon after, but to step into the contrast of light against the dark was its own kind of treat. 

When we turned back toward the path, I noted we were not alone in admiring the golden glow. A fisher cat sat twenty feet away, upright like you’d see a prairie dog doing. She too was watching the brief bit of sunshine. 

I motioned Samwise and Emily close, squatted between them, and whispered, “Shhh, be gentle.” And they were. Samwise sat. Emily…