One Acquainted with the Night

Tea: Blood Orange

Music: Evanescence, "Bring Me To Life"

Time: Almost midnight.

I took a walk to get a bite tonight. The independent options were all closed, so I chose Sonic. It's a chain, yes, but it's a cook-to-order chain -- and it was part of my childhood. (Plus, they make a killer vanilla lime Coke -- extra vanilla, no ice -- which is perfect for washing down a chili cheese dog and tater tots.)

It's a gorgeous night, and there's a place to sit outside, so I took a book: Christopher Moore's "Bloodsucking Fiends," which I have had for a while but had not yet started.

Rarely have a night and a book been so well-matched.

I'm only 70 or so pages in, but already I've burst out laughing at least three times -- and made that low, growly, back-of-the-throat noise that tells humanity we're not so far out of the dark ourselves.

On the way home, the night half-bright despite the clouds filtering the full moon, I had the streets largely to myself. Near the end of the trek, though, a young couple detached themselves from the shadows of a church door and walked ahead of me, hand in hand.

I wonder if his lips and her neck -- or vice versa, or both -- are still tingling ...