Neil San Francisco — 1991 Small Time Gods

Neil slides down the fire escape, landing so hard he knocks the breath from his lungs. He crouches in the street, inhaling and exhaling slowly, deeply, deliberately, trying to fill his chest and still his heart. Then he races through the dark streets toward home, shoes sliding on mist damp streets. Night fog tugs at him with tiny wet hands. Huck silently glides above, barely visible.

The moon is full, glowing above the foggy dark, the mist pulses with light. A howl rises out of the dark. It tickles the hair on the back of Neil’s neck. It throws him backward into memory. He is lost a child alone in the dark. He is walking to Bert’s, feeling a body’s impact from behind. He is seeing a long wolf face narrow into a man’s.