Preparations

Preparations

The breeze dances across the dinner table.
It scatters my
carefully arranged name
places onto the floor.
I stare in disbelief.

An hour ago I discovered the spool in the camera had expired.
No hard copy memories
– well, that’s just too bad -
It was last month
when I promised myself
a decent digital camera.
It didn’t happen.
I should’ve followed up.

I’ve prepared this event for over a year, our so called “bachelor’s dinner”.
Last night one of the guests cancelled.
A close friend.
His man is working, sorry can't make it.
I say, well, this invite went out several months ago, surely you would have had enough time to cancel well in advance instead of make up some silly excuse that’s been used to death.

Touch wood, so far everything has run smoothly, except for this strong wind that started off as a gentle breeze,
and the hurricane chime
turning wildly out
on the front porch…