cemetery. michelle slosser

There is a smell cemetery behind my apartment complex (the old suites off university place) that is owned by a baptist church somewhere else in the city. It has a few huge oak trees in it, some pines, some dogwoods, and other trees. The grass is not kept up too well, but it is not overgrown. There are a few simple benches along the small loop made in the middle to walk or drive by the graves. During the first few days of warmth back in late march, i went to read and think on the benches after classes, or in the mornings before classes. During that time the birds were all trying to attract mates, and they just filled the air with songs all day long. I loved to lay in the partial shade made by the oaks and watch the twitterpated birds scurry up trunks chirping away, or vultures and hawks circling hundreds of feet above the trees. The titmouses were my favorite, they are so fast, so agile, and so tiny and cute! My mind and body would be flooded with peace during and after those times of rest under the trees and with the birds. One night I was waiting for my friend to pick me up around 11 pm, and I decided to just wait in the cemetery and listen to the night life. So I layed on a bench, on my back, and just looked up at the stars and talked to God. The ground was covered with fallen leaves, and I could hear little critters scuffling around under my bench. I figured it was just a little mouse looking for food or making a nest, or maybe it was just some crickets. A few more minutes went by, I sang a little song I had just heard at IV (quietly because it was barely able to be called singing, coming from me) and out of nowhere an image popped into my head of fingers digging through the ground from in the graves, the fingers of the dead poking up through the leaves under my bench and grabbing me. I immediately RAN home, and when i sat down in my computer chair and realized what had just happened I couldnt help but laugh at myself. How could such a silly thought take complete control over me instantaneously?!? I was having such a nice time on the bench. We are such silly people, with silly brains. I hope that I can control my fear better next time, but I have no yet gone back to the cmetery at night.