sundae monday

I.
Dessert to celebrate a return to teaching: we walk to the ice cream shop with the $3 Sundae Monday special. One with cake batter, one chocolate chip, one cookie dough, each with a whipped cream pinnacle and a cherry redder than nature. The night moves with commuters and bus lights and shoppers. We watch from the window and we joke. As if to render the moment perfect, snow falls.

II.
The idea seemed good but I am weary: a return to teaching has taken more from me than I thought. "Alex stop" and "Katherine stop" are my imperatives, and they are as tired of commands as I am. Still they tease and scream and run when traffic is near. They push those buttons that only siblings know to tap, fights as frequent as fooling. The night should be more magic: the lights are here and the confections and the snow. But I am tired, and they are pushing buttons.