Another Kind of Rescue

One night, I couldn't find Sore Side at all. I felt almost desperate then, unable to sleep. It was a small matter, but one that I felt could enlarge, widen and spread in me like fire from a fuse box. Then I realized who else I missed, and the absence of both of them became a fact I didn't want to accept. I refused to accept it, even as, for the last time, I turned out the lights.

Osborne lives in Mill Valley, Calif.

© 2007