acceptance: a man is sitting in his car in a filled parking lot. the sun is out and it is midday. he is casually admiring himself in the rear view mirror. the stores and business are being filled with people doing their daily errands. his wallet is thin and his hands are still clammy and moist, and he wonders if it is time to go home. if everything could be as neatly placed as his vehicle in its space then he would not be himself anymore and it would be amiable. he wonders if he will always be this lonely or if it is just a phase, soon to be passed over. regardless, he has a mindset and a plan and he will stay on that road. two old friends, or what is actually recent when they consider all their whole lives, share evening cigarettes on a secluded bench overlooking a playful lake. they both talk of what has been and what may come under bright and fiery pink and orange clouds off in the horizon. there is little silence in all of their reminiscence, but one of the two feels a slight tension inside himself. the one can never figure out, in this moment here and even anytime in these situations, if it is just a far too creative imagination at work or maybe if it is something real. small, thirsty mosquitoes hover overhead, kept at bay by the constant smoke from both their cigarettes. the other friend is sweet and happy, but does not and maybe cannot take their head out from the the glowing clouds above. often it can be better that way. the same man from the lonely car now sits under trees and leaves on cement steps. the day has passed, though regrettably not his worries, and he watches the night come and it has came and now it is all dark. his thoughts are of those fears that no one wishes to speak of, so they do not, and one then pretends they will go away if they remain untouched, but they are still there, if only a little more dirty from being covered. it is a beautifully calm night, he thinks. it is very late in the night now and lights go out in houses all down the street and people go to sleep. sometimes, a few restless people will wake in the night and they will have trouble falling back to sleep because they are thinking of things that are not so cheerful.