- [x] Set timer for 20 minutes - [x] Start writing # Down dog With each downward dog, Jessica's skirt would flag up, as if the hands of god were held in the gentle breeze, revealing, from his perch in his bedroom, a spectacular view. His skin heated. At thirteen and overflowing with the hormones of becoming, flag was the right word to use, connected so closely to flagpoles. Each serpent pose caused her head to come up, face pointed towards his perch, he had to back away from the window. His skin cooled off. Downward dog, backside, hot flush, down to serpent, head up. The cycle repeats. This tension and relaxation, tension and relaxation, flushing and cooling, flushing and cooling, kept moving him closer to the lusting conclusion of a young teen. He was like an electric stove top, cycling on and off, the water starting to roll with each round. Would anything bring him to a boil? Never mind that she was Luca's mom, never mind that every Sunday he ate dinner at her table with her son, his best friend. Luca lived behind him, their newly developed cul-de-sac pubescently sprinkled with skinny trees, like his areas growing their first hairs. Luca's yard had a long and narrow swimming pool, which was where he first started watching Luca's mom, as she swam each morning during the summer. He was an early riser, and a watcher. In a room full of people, he rarely spoke. Choosing instead to watch people jockey for attention, he watched how they one-upped each other with stories. He watched how they pulled the attention this way and that, talking over each other. He watched how, each Sunday, Jessica's mom held everyone's attention with her stories of growing up in France. She often held his eyes in hers a little longer than normal. Those gazes, now in his memory as the other time his face heated and body burned, caused him to move his bedroom to the attic. His parents conceded without conversation. They were happy he was giving them privacy, moving further away. They thought he wanted healthy separation, he wanted a view of Luca’s pool. Bozeman, Montana August 30, 2024