Pronoia ...

Porters at the Dalhousie hill station attending to a little dog who broke his leg.

For weeks I haven't looked at the night sky. It's been cloudy, I've been indoors, or I just did not look up. Walking out from home at 7.00 in the night for something, I look up homeward and see, an unexpected delight, among the frail branches of a tree, rising with lots of mist around, an almost full moon.

Its one of the very blue Mondays and the traffic seems to have gotten worse by just the week thats past, stuck among a long line of vehicles I look sideways. The little girl, who used to beat the make-shift drum, they're not performing now, she's sitting by the wall and is weeping. Tears rolling down her cheeks spotted with some red paint. The little boy, much younger than her, who would twist the fur ball on his cap to her drum beats, is looking on. Slowly he walks up to her, he can just reach her forehead, he leans and plants a firm kiss on her forehead and smiles. She looks up, smiling through her tears.

After having dinner, I am walking back home, alone, and through the buzzing night crowd on the sidewalk. It must have rained and the roads are wet, all street dogs curled up and dozing. And as I walk, it surges up my nostrils sending a warm pleasant wave through my head; roasty smell of fresh ground coffee beans. That coffee powder shop, they're not closed yet.

Am standing at the rails of this mall's floor and looking down. A cute, jumpy little girl, with a teddy bear bag on her back, is pulling her dad along to come to the railing. She perches herself on the railing, looks down and shouts, and shouts, but I hear a lot of bells clinging. It seems her mom and grand mom are standing at the railing a floor down and opposite to us. Her mom hears her but is not quite able to place where its coming from, she's looking in every direction, up, down and sideways, with an eager face. The lil girl, she wouldn't give up. Finally, the grand mom spots her and prods the mom to look at her. Mom looks up at her, laughing. The lil girl's eyes sparkle, and she yells, in such pleasure.

I wake up at 2.00 O' clock in the night, startled, from a wild dream ending in a furious machine gun fire. Eyes opened now, I listen - it's raining outside.

I smile.