sleep-runner

walking over the overpass of bryant irvin at interstate 20, with the very narrow sidewalk area, i saw a blue slipper on the ground.

the slipper, covered in mud like some kind of sponge that had been soaking in a tub of mud until it become slogged in foul mud, patiently slept upside down on the narrow concrete. it was all by itself.

halfway over the bridge, i saw the second slipper. this one had no mud at all. it looked towards the short wall that kept people from falling into the highway and the cars and trucks careening like rockets in texas where people always, always speed on the highways.

i looked over the lip of the bridge, trying to see if there was any splattered blood below, but there was nothing. it looked like someone in slippers was running over the bridge. one slipper fell into a mud patch and eventually the extra weight of mud made it fly loose. the second slipper was lost right at the edge when the sleep-runner tumbled over the side.

i saw nothing below. i looked a while for anything to tell me what happened here, where these slippers pointed to something ominous.

but nothing.

cars and cars drove on casually over the bridge, oblivious to these signs and portents on the ground just outside of their huge steel living rooms driving and driving.