The cat basks in the window but is mostly afraid to come out and explore. I bask in the shadows of the surrounding plants, also afraid of what might eat me. We learn from experience, and she was found in an alley. I was found in a family in Wisconsin.

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The blue sky is perfectly clear but it has been windy. Maybe it comes in off the lake or maybe it just makes itself up. In the distance trees bend with unseen forces and I'm forced to figure they're the same forces I feel.

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A phone rings from the inside. As an outdoor patio, I feel it is my responsibility to make it as inviting as possible. Amy walks into the apartment and greets the cat. I hear of all of this through the open window.

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I've been losing my hair lately, or always. The good news is that my older brother is affected by the same spirit, and can see how it will manifest. Then again, maybe my pace of loss will accelerate and lap his. This way I'll be able to claim the loss as a pioneer.

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There are buildings, mostly square, that make the view into a kind of artificial hillside. The patio is a valley, as most of the buildings in the near distance are taller. There are shorter ones, houses just below the view, but can only be seen while standing up.

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I don't know the names of these plants: ficus, palm root, and frilly thing. We've planted tomato and Cale, a Timoteo plant starting to bloom. Most of the plants we've salvaged and assembled from the edges of the patio, the culmination resulting in a faintly glowing cluster of half-dead cast-offs. But they seem happy together now that they're finally getting some light and water, that someone has noticed.