You can almost read outside in the dark night

At nine-thirty tonight, I put on my warm jacket and sturdy boots and went outdoors to assay the snowfall. Within seconds I began to shiver. Wet snowflakes came down forcefully, sticking in earnest to everything except my warm face. No one was about. The wind hurried by. My car - this is a neighborhood without garages - began to assume ghost-like proportions as did the lamppost, the birdbath, and the hills that are the lawns of the neighborhood.

No lights shown in the houses. Everyone must be in the backs of their houses, all warm and in the brightness of their family rooms or tucked in bed early like I would be soon. But let me pause, here, I thought, and look at this incomparably beautiful white world that by morning will be nearly impassable from the snow.

I call my client Evelyn to see how she is making out.

Did you watch Anne Frank? she asked me.

Couldn't, I said, but thanks for letting me know. Was it with Millie Perkins?

Yes, she said.

I saw it when I was 15. Great movie. How are you fixed for food?

I ate a lot of candy today but finally pulled myself together and went to Bonnet Lane, she said.

Good. How come I don't hear the TV?

I turned it down.

Have you eaten the rye bread I brought you?

Not yet, but I will. I'll have somebody come over tomorrow and drive me to get some cheese.

Tomorrow we'll be snowed in. No one will be able to see you. You'll be fine. You've got plenty of food. You also have the apples I brought you.

Yeah, I know. When can I see you again?

Next week. Sometime next week. Have a good night, Evelyn.

What dyou spose Obama says in private to his wife about all his Republican opposition on healthcare reform? How smart of Obama to televise the proceedings. Now the whole world can view the nay-sayers who not only oppose all the president's ideas but don't even get the facts straight. The price of health insurance will NOT go up as the Rep. minority leader says.

How can these people look in the mirror? Such hypocrisy. Well, maybe not. Maybe they actually believe the lies the insurance companies are feeding them.

I'm gonna spend the night reading some poetry by Frank O'Hara and looking out the window at the white world getting whiter.