Taste

Every tool is extracted from its storage space
Lifted
Examined
Laid down with care
Everything is exact
A ceremony
The pause
Inhale
Exhale
Being still with all things also still
Then the sound of work

A low rumble reverberates through the ground
A sensation of movement
She stops
Leans the weight of her body onto her outstretched arm
Hand tightening very slightly against the flesh of the Beast
She blinks
Far across the streets and suburbs a cloud of dust begins to rise
Another dull sound
More concussive
Growing cloud in the air
She releases her hand
Slowly draws it to her face
Covers one half
Close eyes
Inhale through the nose
Open
The illusion of the shadow of her hand across her vision
She pans her head
The Beast is gone

Far across the plain of yellowing grass and crop the sky is grey down to the horizon
A mass of cloud inches its way across the fields
Moisture falls in the appearance of a dense mist
Dragged by the movement of the air
Draping a curtain of grey above the land
– Describe it.
Blink
— The earth is sleeping.
Inhale
She turns to regard the Beast
Still
Unmoving
Blue discs facing the clouds on the horizon
– It is necessary.

The concrete beneath her feet shakes
Legs slow to counter
She is thrown
Palms out to meet the road
The spike of pain but skin unbroken
Brown and grey dust approaches
Bursting from the buildings before her
In the midst of the dust she sees the Beast
A large black flowing shadow
The blue discs of eyes
He moves slowly
With grace
Stops
Turns to the tower to the side
Slowly lowers the jaw
A low rumble beneath the earth
Concrete sliding back and forth
And then a force bursting through the building
Beast disappearing in the dust and debris
She blinks
The debris passes through her
Then the whispers of the citizens like ghosts as they rush past unseen
She only hears the noise of the debris
Reverberating across the city

— If I ever had a name, I don’t want it. Not now.
The Beast turns to regard the form of the woman
Examines her bare arm and shoulder
Smooth, unbroken skin
She raises her other hand
Glides over the opposite arm and shoulder
Raises it and settles the fingers at the line of her hair, the temple, thumb beneath the cheekbone
Covering one half of her face
The grey cloud continues to float over the horizon
Sheets of rain dragging across the yellow grass
A jagged flash
Quiet
And then a low rumble