Only traffic signals, sirens and neon

Stepping out on the porch, I light my smoke, the sky breaks, lakes of rain bury vision in further darkness under an already dark night sky. Only traffic signals, sirens and neon glint vaguely down the street. Close by, a tremendous crack of lightning is followed by someone's true, lost scream of terror, then silence and long minutes of thunder rumbling the dust off a dying town— Land of the Dead. Town of the Dead. Dead town of industry pulled up and moved on. Another stroke strikes a switchbox bringing the train guard down, warning clanging like a shrill metal thunder, screaming hoarse…A ghost train, no train, smoke train, steaming down bloody electric tracks from sky to ground, from the sky under the earth to my door…It was a night like this, about a year ago, surrounded by sound, water, light, dark and raw electric flayed sky that I first asked Sara if I could touch her…