Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Prologue

Looking out tonight over this still lake with the full moon shining over the pines, it’s hard to draw the line between the real trees and the reflections of trees. It is nearly impossible to separate reality from illusion. And so it has been with the last several years of my life. I’m no longer certain from one minute to the next what is fiction and what is truth. So many stories and images blur together in patterns that I can’t really focus on clearly. With the lake at least, I can toss out a rock and momentarily shatter the illusion. There are no rocks to throw at the real world. I’m no longer certain about the reality of anything.

A bat swoops inches above the water surface. The mosquitoes in its path are swallowed without ceremony, simple victims of nature’s daily ritual. I’m reminded of a line I heard somewhere. It went something like this: before the bat completes its blind flight, some dreadful deed will be done tonight. It was an odd thing to think of on such a peaceful night. Maybe I am crazy.