unlucky seeds

After lunch I took a cigarette break. The building is set right next to a wooded area--a triangle between two highways. The isoceles side, I imagine, is nonexistent, extending into the general forest-ness of northern minnesota. I tramped and stamped, until I found a stump sized to my posterior. Facing the woods, I was almost able to forget the sandlot between me and the office. The air smelled of sweet chlorophyll, and I could feel the chill of autumn for just the second day in a row. Hidden amongst tall grasses I channeled Aldo Leopold and wished for a tree identification guide. When I returned to my office, a cramped windowless space (an affront ameliorated by my good friend Pandora.com), the forest followed me in: scores of bi-barbed seeds clung to my tweed trousers. I spent a few happy minutes plucking them out, regretting they had picked transportation headed out of the woods rather than in.