perceptions

Heel scritches the curbway.
Vertiginous jolt and stumble, barely recovered.
Head snaps, hair swings and vertabrae crackle.
Did anyone see me?

"We did."
Park kids poking sticks.
Woman caged by her body's obsolescence.
Afraid that response evokes pack instinct.
Survey the threat and head drops, slump-shouldered in utter defeat.
She shuffles away.

A corner turned, harsh laugh barks through silent tears.
Head up, subservience sloughed as water on steel.
Photographic memory is a wondferful thing she tells the constable.