Fort Rosarito / Mark Rogers

Photo by Mark Rogers

Like most people living through COVID lockdown, there's a lot on my mind right now.

For example, in the grocery store parking lot, with my hand on the open car door, I said to my wife Sophy:

“There's one thing we have to remember.”

I got in the car and Sophy asked, “What's that?”

Long pause. “I don't remember.”

***

We have a neighbor—a woman who raises expensive dogs and sells them. She’s also in the process of opening a veterinarian office in her home.

She and Sophy were talking about a problem with another member of our community—a minor problem, nothing major at all.

This would-be vet had a solution: “I could poison his dogs.”

Sophy was quick to react. “You can’t do that. You can’t go around poisoning people’s animals.”

The woman nodded. “No… no. I guess you’re right.”

***

The wind kicked up in the night—a powerful wind that mingled the desert and the ocean. It blew all the buds off our lime tree.

The buds are scattered on the ground and the small birds are coming, as though a picnic has been laid out for them.

Right behind the birds are our two cats, hunting, catching, and eating the least wary of the birds.

From the memoir in progress, Fort Rosarito

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MARK ROGERS is a writer and artist whose literary heroes include Charles Bukowski, Willy Vlautin, and Charles Portis. Rogers lives in Baja California, Mexico with his Sinaloa-born wife, Sofia. His award-winning travel journalism has brought him to 56 countries. His crime novels have been published in the U.S. and UK. Uppercut, his memoir of moving to Mexico, is published by Cowboy Jamboree Press. NeoText publishes his Tijuana Novels series and Gray Hunter series. You can reach him at markrogers627@gmail.com.