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pushing and cracking

I like night, mostly. As neighbors and citizens go to sleep, one by one, they leave me with the quiet.

I like to listen to ordinary sounds when it is that quiet, like the flick of a lighter. It's a scrape, then a crackling and a thump, and the raspy sound of gas escaping.

On the porch at a friend's there is a beam stretching over open space, supporting the roof. I like to plant myself under it and push up on it. The roof cracks and groans in protest, but it moves, almost imperceptibly.

It's a small symphony of cracks and a losing battle between man and architecture, but I'm still Samson for the fleeting moment before I get tired and my back hurts.

Sometimes I just smoke my cigarette and look at the fingerprints I have left on the beam. They are a dusty portrayal of a pyrrhic victory. I won the cracks and groans, but the beam and the roof still stand.

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