MindSpinner

This is the second day Catapult Kid has spent out in the cold with his Guard unit. Surely there are heaters in the tents. Surely. I putter in a warm house and think of what it must be to spend all night in the cold. I think of the thousands who do this every night in the city by the river. I read about a man who carries propane to people weathering winter in tents in Ocean County, New Jersey. I find I am not quite prepared to think all at once of thousands more in each of hundreds of cities. I live in a house with more rooms than people and every one of those rooms heated to a quite bearable 67 degrees.

I wash my son’s sheets and replace them on his bed. Clean sheets, a hot bath, fresh-baked bread and a bowl of chili will welcome him home.