Shallow Breath

I lost my footing yesterday, and I thought this is it. This is how I will be found - sprawled on my back, skull denting the ground, looking up at the grackles flying overhead like they do everyday.

My balance fought back just in time, as always, and gripped the earth. I survived with only a sore muscle in my back, one that hadn't been used in a while.

Later, I ground the muscle into the cold rim on the claw foot tub and massaged the lump under my skin, slightly embarrassed by the fading agility of youth. There had been nothing foreseen to cause the unsteadiness; no branch on the ground to stumble upon; no stripped spiky corn stalk to grab hold of my skirt, only the earth changing expressions beneath me.