And then the garden was built.
And then we hosed ourselves off.
And then there was a fox in the backyard.
And his barking kept me up at 3 AM.
And suddenly I wished I wasn’t sleeping alone.
And suddenly another grievous summer was beginning.
And the cicada shells were stuck on doorways.
It wasn’t even the worst of it yet.
The broods would come next year.
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Cheyenne Rayne is a writer living in Nashville, Tennessee. Her work is published or forthcoming at Belmont Literary Journal, Twig, and Swing.
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image: Ashley Beresch. Check out more of her work on Instagram @ashleyberesch