The Word-a-day Writing Challenge

Day Sixty-Three: Snowflake

I lost some money at the race track,

you said.

Whatever. No big deal.
Glaciers melt;
humans fall into the sea;
earth wins. 
Again.

I wanted to tell you
I'd lost some money at the racetrack too.
I wanted someone to know
but it didn't fit
with the tone of casual irritation
that slipped through the gates of your
simplified account.

I didn't know how to say,
Actually, there was no racetrack, and
no horses were involved. I didn't know how to say,
I'm out of control.

In the silence between us
are the stories we don't tell.
Behind all our words,
other words.

And so I said nothing
and my breath became
a tightly held secret,
blazing a trail through snowflakes and deceit
down darkened sidewalks in the middle of the night
where no one could see
me lose.