walking at night

i walked home from starbucks at 9:45 pm for two miles, up two hills and down some very dark roads.

i held in my pocket my car keys like spiked knuckles. i watched the shadows that the streetlights gave me. i had visions of a darkness slipping out from between fences and wrapping around me.

mostly, all i saw were headlights from the cars driving here and then away and away. i saw a stray yellow dog jogging into a park.

i was thinking, at the time, how more pedestrians would make such a thing safer -- if people got out of their cars and walked places regularly.

then, i figured that no one would. i was walking around with my hands wrapped around a weapon in my pocket -- if even only my keys -- and i'm a big man with a dark hood over my head trying to give off that street vibe that says "don't f*** wi' me".

so all these people that should be out walking are going to see me, and hop in their cars.