This Moment: 7:03 A.M. March 3, 2012

The sky is the color of ice that holds the faintest hue of blue. Forced air pushing through the hotel vent has an insistent voice. I have been up for over two hours watching the day emerge ever since the alarm on the bedside table sounded. I don't remember setting it. I do remember pulling the plug out of the socket when I couldn't shut it off. The pine tree outside my window obstructs the sky framed by the large rectangular window. A solid, stubborn looking cloud has settled itself within the frame and will not be moved. Checkout is in four hours. I am not yet ready to go home and reenter my life there. A bird trills and whistles and I am taken back to when I was a girl walking through a forest's thick trees, the only sound, birds singing warnings and threats. A door opens and shuts. The sky brightens a few degrees. The cloud remains.