Thursday, 11:15, October 2016

Arrives, each fall, one flawless minute.  For one minute, roadway traffic falls silent, all vehicles having receded to nameless and distant roads.  Clouds stop pushing clouds.  Neighborhood dogs crinkle down into the orange and yellow clusters of fallen leaves.  The last visible airliner dissolves into its own contrail.  Birds settle into the nearest trees.

If you are lucky, you will be near water when this flawless minute arrives.  Yesterday morning, at 11:15, I happened to be driving near Lake Helena when the whole valley calmed around me.  I pulled my truck off the road, jumped out, and stood overlooking the perfectly reflective waters.  Not so much as an insect rippled the lake.  The sky and the water were almost indistinguishable in color.

Luckily, I managed to capture a couple of images with my smarter-than-me-phone just before a fly lifted at my feet and spurred everything back into motion.

--Mitchell Hegman