A City of Angels

A day in the life ...

From this primordial cauldron, sulfur and nitrogen compounds fume, ghost-like, out 

into the ether. Here is where stars are born. And stars die. Here, a lizard is apt 

to check you out, up and down, as fast as a rattler snake can rattle. Here is also 

where the trickster Coyote crosses my path. No matter how congested Los Angeles 

becomes, the Coyote finds me. And just yesterday, nine in the morning, driving on the 

Valley side passing Benedict Canyon in my car, an unusually large doe comes 

galloping into my peripheral vision. She charges head-on for my car's front bumper. 

Two seconds before impact she freezes and c***s her head from side to side. 

She stares at me with an unmistakable attitude; a sense of humor. Later in the day, a 

butterfly of uncommon earthly hues glides into my garden circling twice before 

resting on top of Alex's head. I tip my gaze skyward just in time to catch two 

mischievous hummingbirds hover above them, just a moment before they return to their 

frenetic game of tag. I rake the driveway free of the purple jacaranda blooms while 

the cat purrs upturned, side to side with my dogs; all three innocents hypnotized 

by the spring sun. Finally, just as I am thinking I've seen it all for one day, a 

hawk comes charging from the heavens into the avocado tree and lunges at a flock of 

doves cooing blissfully out on a limb. Feathers come raining down upon our heads. 

The hawk seems stunned, as it dawns upon him, and us, all the doves have gotten 

away.