Nothing but the smell of cat poop and bleach in the air and some distant barking. It was so quiet and peaceful; so much in fact, that it felt like the day after the world explodes. I was left to explore this part of the world on my own. All that remained of houses were bathroom tiles and their front steps. There were broken lawn chairs, chipped tiles, melted gas cans, pieces of ice-cube trays, and a kitchen sink.

As long as there were no zombies I could get used to this feeling, but as I continued to walk I noticed tires, mulch, bug spray, beer cans, and a lonely blanket. Perhaps this wasn’t the premonition of 1-12-12 but just a lonely abandoned lot that was meant for future houses and was left to the hoodlums to decorate with some spare shoes and spray paint. I see kids use the secret entrance and cops parked by the other, not doing their job.

The secret entrance is also used by the Cat Lady cats; she has 13. I saw squirrels, and birds, and raccoon tracks. I’ve taken my dogs there before. Sometimes the best place to play really is in your ‘backyard’, even if that means crawling through the fence to get there or walking down the street and walking on the ‘was going to be a road’ street. There are lots of little plants that love to stick to anything and spots where rain collects to cool your paws off. I feel lucky to have found a secret path to relax between an ever sprawling society.