081413 #worm He walks his bike between the serpents. He pats one of them on its lichen-covered, cool, hard head. Love is a brisk leaf caught off guard on a day like this. A tiny leaf-tornado tugs at Me's ankles as it carries its whirling jetsam on down the street. A man at the bus stop smokes. Me doesn't. A bus rumbles by without stopping. The trembling air it leaves behind stirs the smoking man's trenchcoat collar. It's two degrees colder than it was.