I drop you off on the college road with traffic queuing the other way and the drivers sit in rank of thankfulness with their windows down and lets say it was my prayer among a million others that caused the weather to develop a consciousness among other things and stay hot for your birthday and before you make your way through the park to meet the girls for evening coffee you thank me for this and this and this and with both palms upturned a pause and a catch in the throat I say that I am doing nothing more than what a good woman deserves and it is only after we part and you disappear through the fold of green that I notice the two hyphens in matter-of-fact had served as footholds as I said it and it is is only when I negotiate my way back down to car level that I can use my feet to pull away.