Celia lived alone on the land.
Sometimes there’d be the sound of something scratching
on the walls outside.
She never wavered in securing windows
and locking doors…
until that record-breaking hot and humid week of July.
With no AC, it felt like an oven.
Celia allowed the cooler air
to flow through her locked screen door
every night.
At bedtime, she locked up.
But tonight,
so fatigued from the heat,
she falls asleep on the sofa, watching TV.
And the claws slowly,
methodically, cut into the screen.