Securing a park bench on a peculiar, sunny yet empty day in Washington Square Park, a girl shot a glance toward the sky just in time to recognize the outline of a raven marking her nose for lunch.  In gut reaction she quickly raised her hand in a “not me” motion, while simultaneously confusing the predator in a feverish wave like motion that suggested “i’m available for company.”

By the third swoop and with graceful care the raven perched on the girl’s index finger, squeezing tightly as if to say “you’re not going anywhere soon except, you know, exactly where you want to be.”  Elated at her new acquaintance, the girl began drifting belly up down the street with hand – raven still snug – nestled atop sternum – singing lightly and wooing her new silky, airborne love to stay just a few pecks longer.  Alas, things must come to an end, and the raven caught wind of another park bench …

Snowstorms and skatebording can be seductive for just about anyone.

Pursuing a long term crush over his friend at the fruit juice-hot dog carnival stand, a man stopped by for lunch but missed his woman just as she got off shift.  Wandering from one building to the next, hot dog in tow, he found himself in the heights of a concrete skateboard tunnel covered in ice and snow.  Glancing left and right he watched people jump and slide, testing the newest brand of ice-skate-ski hybrid “thingies”.

“The guy said I could try it out if I wanted.  It turned out I was a natural”.  Within minutes, the man forgot his limited experience on snow packed ice and had more fun than he’d had in his life, whizzing up curves and gliding around the embankments of a snowy, icy, blizzard bowl!

An old man with golden locks curls up outside a doorway in Buenos Aires, his head pressed against hers like a cat, snuggling as if to say “no ten duda, te quiero, somos familia”.  His hair was a desperately irrisistable mane – maybe it was the way the sunlight smoothed over the curls, she couldn’t help letting her hand run through the locks.

She repeated again and again, he must be taken.  Looking upward she confronted  a middle aged gypsy woman, invisible to the ear, yet strong enough to leave her feeling weaker than she’d been in days.   Her hand slowed, rummaging through a curl, waiting for direction as if one of the three would find fault for the other, running into the back corners of a midnight Milonga.  She watched the gypsy’s eyes follow a frozen palm, waiting for a decision which wasn’t coming.  As the woman’s fingers slid upward on an ankle, “la sur”, the pair kneeled, reading palms until the sun rose and silence broke at morning.

And so, without hesitation, the world appeared to disappear.  And so, without hesitation two women found themselves in the Sahara.  And so, just kidding.  The Sahara dried up.

Because, as we all know, the desert can always use a little more drought.

Accompanied by flocks of pifomathes, a unique blend of the pigeon, Flamingo, and mocking bird only found during solstice in Mali, a Manhattan socialite spread her wings and found an arid sensation of wicked yet gleeful delight as she tumbled through the arid, cracked, bony surface.

As most manhattan socialites are, this little lady was not easily distracted and kept her flock focused on the horizon.  Nearing sunrise with the air coaxing an easy breeze and forgiving chill, the pack felt smaller and more aware of their presence on the open grounds, spreading her grin as wide as her wingspan until stepping two bare feet onto the cuff of a rocky cliff.

MMM. Pause.  And so, presumably, this isn’t exactly the Brooklyn Bridge.  Presumably, even a pifomathe knows the difference.

Standing over the stove last night feeling slightly out of her element amidst steamy stir fry and thunderstorms, an Oregon native asked a stranger for wardrobe suggestions.  “I’ll be a kangaroo if you want me too”, although, as the rain poured in and steam rose, she adjusted her mark, “or a crocodile”.

“That’d be beautiful”, said the stranger, then ceased, before spinning off, envisioning herself a crocodile embraced in the rain, and held her breath.

Like so many fantasies come true, fixing your porche is really a hop skip and jump away … to a lush green Spanish village, that is.

Arm in arm with his lady in waiting, a Seattle native spent the night searching for the missing mechanical piece of his best friend’s Porche.  Set out on an epic journey, the couple walked through ocean-side meadow, entranced by the warm air and lush green views, reminding them of far away villages in the southern Spain.

Reaching their destination the couple entered a Spanish castle where they found movie director Harrod Blank waiting patiently behind a carved wooden table.  Surrounded by skulls and medieval iron tools and candles, the three conversed over axle tubes before Harrod presented the couple with their 911 Porche missing piece as a final parting gift.

After a drought in Seattle’s long standing coffee culture, a woman dived in head first with a 4-drip, 2-latte in 24 hour run.  Walking home from a local coffee shop late last night on Capitol Hill, the woman passed her new neighbor.  Being anything but passive agressive (given the recent intake of drizzle and lattes), the women exchanged greetings,”She looked very new york and I dig it”.

Debating neighborly conversation, the woman noticed as houses became more and more unique:  small beach homes, a tree house, bright blue cottages … all lined up in a row until a pausing in front of a long fencepost covered in a sweet, white, snowdrift.

Wiping her hands through the snow and glancing to the horizon, the woman felt an overwhelming sense of calm pleasure and bliss.

Within minutes she stepped into an abandoned house lot, avoiding an unstable snow bank and greeting another woman and her child playing in the Seattle snow.

Early this morning while walking home from the night shift, a man paused for some daybreak fishing at a local Native American creek bed.  With faith in his miniature kids fishing rod and giant treble hooks, the man set out to catch the seasonal giant salmon until somebody hinted that fish “like gum”.

Within seconds, the man caught a fish but failed to see anything until rising to the surface, when a startled eye gave way to something truly mythological:  part dog with a cut on its head, part sea lion, and part dolphin. “One big furry creature with seal eyes”.

Caught in a trance by the phenomenal water-muse, the man watched as the creature stared into his eyes and with a mixed look of trepidation and willing trust, floated out of the water with great ease.

While the Gum Man hollered “let’s kill the dolphin!” in the distance, the man placed two hands on the head of the creature, a faith healing preacher in the making, silently apologetic for misconduct and fear and thus “I cured him”.

Within moments, the man awoke to a rainy fall Seattle day with Ozzy’s “You Can’t Change Rock and Roll” cranking in his head.

Sunday evening a female metal smith in the making discovered the secret to Ebay.

“Hey mister, where’d you get that blow torch?”

With a gas tank strapped taught against his back and a torch gripped in the left hand, the blond curly locked stranger whizzed past the starving artist whispering in a robotic tone, “Ebay”

The manhattan mogul soon disappeared around a widened street corner leaving the woman transformed by the potential for cheap fire and affordable burnt toast.

A Chihuahua was released from complete darkness and found zigzagging through a labyrinth of bicycle traffic when a toyota corola managed to nibble just the toes of the Chihuahua’s well groomed pedigree.  As Chihuahuas have a natural tendency for endurance, the blood was actually tomato juice and the Chihuahua, while startled, walked a sobering straight line down the center-lane before being picked up by a woman in a pale white truck as bike passengers gave a sigh of relief.

The Chihuahua is now in custody and is sworn to have not lost any critical appendages while crossing Taipai’s major intersections.