Certainty

Certainty floats in the air like a noisome odor. You can smell it oozing from the skin, rising from

hair follicles. You can hear it sweep the room with its sturdy bristles. It tells you there is only one

truth and what could be more convincing than its calm demeanor, how its words whistle through

its lips? It cautions you to beware of the future. It is written, Certainty says, but where is it

written? If you’re smart, it says, you’ll keep your mouth shut and lie low. Then some of your

troubles might not find you. Certainty comes in a gust of bad wind. It kicks up the leaves in fall,

knocks them down in summer. It catches the dust in his net and pours it over your head. It

circulates among your friends, warning them to keep their distance. Certainty backs you into a

corner, ripping into your chest with his savage jaw. Soon, you bleed out all your doubt.